Life in Norway: a practical guide for newcomers
Living in Norway means meeting a lot of systems at once — UDI, Skatteetaten, HELFO, NAV, your fastlege and your landlord. These guides explain how things work in plain English, with the Norwegian words you will meet, and link to the official source for your own case.
Norsk Buddy is an AI-powered app. Explanations, translations and corrections may sometimes be incorrect or incomplete. Always verify important information with official sources. Do not rely on Norsk Buddy alone for legal, medical, financial or immigration decisions.
Moving to Norway
Your first months: residence permit or EU/EEA registration, the ID check with the Tax Administration, your national identity number or D-number, then a bank account, a doctor and a place to live.
- Residence permit (UDI) or EU/EEA registration with the police
- Registering your move and the ID check with Skatteetaten
- Fødselsnummer or D-nummer, and why almost everything needs it
- Opening a bank account and getting BankID
Health, tax and work
Healthcare runs through your fastlege (regular GP) with legevakt for urgent problems. Tax is mostly automatic through skattekort and the annual skattemelding, and employment terms sit in your arbeidskontrakt.
- Choosing and changing your fastlege; using legevakt out of hours
- Skattekort, tax deduction card and the yearly tax return
- Employment contracts, holiday pay (feriepenger) and notice periods
- What NAV covers and when to contact them
Everyday things
Housing contracts and deposit accounts, public transport tickets, recycling rules, opening hours, and the small habits that make daily life smoother.
Learn the language behind the letters
Every guide includes the Norwegian terms in context, so the next official letter is less of a wall of text. When one arrives anyway, you can have it explained line by line.
Keep exploring
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