The move takes a day. What comes with it takes a year, and most of that year is paperwork.
What is in it, by phase and by side
Two ways to look at the same thing. In order of time, because that is how you live through it. And by country, because two administrations are running past each other the whole way.
Phase by phase
Each phase has its own kind of work. Before you leave it is closing things down. On
arrival it is clocks and counters. The first year is money and paperwork. After that it
finally turns into living somewhere.
Before you leave
From the moment the decision is final
Deregistering with your gemeente, and what that does to your health insurance
Finding a rental from a distance, and what Norwegian landlords ask for
The sums on your furniture: ship it, store it, or sell it
Your car: take it, sell it, or leave the decision until after you land
Preparing your EU and EØS registration before you get on the plane
Papers you will need in Norway and can only get in the Netherlands
Your Dutch bank, your insurance and your post, sorted before your address changes
Toeslagen, DUO and SVB: who you tell, and when
Getting the children ready: language, school, and the right moment in the school year
Arriving
The first weeks, and the things with a clock on them
Flyttemelding, your change of address, within eight days
ID-kontroll at one of the skattekontor that carry it out
Fødselsnummer or D-nummer: what you get, when, and what the difference is
Applying for a skattekort, and what your employer withholds while you have none
A Norwegian bank account and an electronic ID, in that order
Registering with a fastlege, and knowing where the legevakt is
Applying for barnehage and school outside the hovedopptak
Electricity, internet and insurance: what will not work without a fødselsnummer
Giving your address to the Norwegian post and to the Dutch side
The first year
Tax, money, and the things that come round once a year
Checking your skattemelding: the pre-filled return is not correct by default
The Dutch M-form, for the year in which you left
Applying for barnetrygd at NAV, and the overlap with Dutch child benefit
The yearly hovedopptak for barnehage, and what to do when you miss it
Your driving licence: when you have to exchange it and when you do not
Feriepenger, OTP and notice periods: reading your Norwegian terms of employment
Insurance that is a given in the Netherlands and goes by another name here
Membership of the folketrygd, and what the dentist is and is not covered for
The first winter: tyres, clothing, and what it costs to keep a house warm
Settled
Once the move is behind you and the choices get bigger
Buying a house: budrunde, forkjøpsrett, tinglysing, and what an estate agent does here
Borettslag or sameie: what you are actually buying and what you pay every month
Permanent right of residence, and whether you ever want to become a citizen
Renewing your Dutch passport from Norway
Voting: where you still have a vote and what for
Pension on two sides: AOW, folketrygd, and what stays behind in the Netherlands
Learning Norwegian to the level where you can look for work here
Wills and inheritance when you own property in two countries
This is a selection of the topics, not the full table of contents. Which steps you get to
see depends on your intake: with or without children, employed or self-employed, renting or
buying.
Country by country
Emigrating is not one administration but two, and they do not talk to each other. What
you leave lying in the Netherlands comes back a year later, usually as a letter you never
receive in Norway.
The Dutch side
This stays yours, even once you no longer live there. Part of it can only be arranged
while you are still on the register.
The BRP: declaring your departure, and the proof of deregistration you will need four more times
Belastingdienst: the M-form, your toeslagen and your mortgage interest deduction
Your health insurance: the end date, and the gap until your Norwegian cover starts
SVB: child benefit and the AOW state pension you are building up
DUO: a student debt travels with you, but the calculation changes
Your Dutch bank: what a bank makes of a foreign address
Your eenmanszaak or BV: keep it running, wind it up, or move it
Your passport, your DigiD and your right to vote
A house you hold on to: letting it, the mortgage, and the tax return that comes with it
Not shortened and not tidied up. This is a complete topic from the arrival phase, with
the heading, the date of the last check, the checklist and the sources underneath. They
all look like this.
Phase: ArrivingAgency: Skatteetaten Last verified
Flyttemelding: registering your address in Norway within eight days
You are here. The boxes are in the hallway and nobody has slept. This is the first
thing with a clock on it, and it takes twenty minutes.
What it is
The flyttemelding is the notification to the folkeregister, the national population
register, that you live at a new address. Skatteetaten keeps that register. The address
in it decides which kommune you belong to, and so who arranges your barnehage, which
school is yours and where your post goes. Almost every agency you deal with after this
looks in the register first and at you second.
The eight days
You report a move within eight days. The clock starts on the day you actually began
living at the new address. Not the day your lease starts, not the day the container
was unloaded. Everyone who moves with you gets reported, children included.
From abroad, or within Norway
These are two different notifications. Moving within Norway, you file it electronically
with Skatteetaten using your electronic ID. Coming from abroad, you report that you are
moving to Norway, and that comes with an ID check you attend in person. Not every
skattekontor carries out that check, so find out beforehand which office near you does,
and whether you need an appointment. To be registered as a resident, you have to intend
to stay in Norway for at least six months.
Where people get stuck
You do not have a permanent home yet. You report the address where you really live
now. If you move to your permanent address two months later, you report again and
the eight-day clock starts over.
Registering as an EU or EØS citizen with UDI or the police is a different thing from
this notification. They stand apart, with their own conditions and their own papers.
An address that is wrong works its way into everything that follows: your skattekort,
your post from NAV, and the school attached to your address. It can be corrected, but
that costs more time than getting it right the first time.
What to bring
A valid passport or ID card for everyone moving with you
The rental or purchase contract, with the address written out in full
The date you actually started living at this address
Birth certificates for the children, and your marriage certificate if you have one
Your electronic ID, if you already hold a Norwegian one
Last verified:
. What an office
asks of you can differ per situation. The agency itself stays the source.
In the platform this topic sits where it belongs in your timeline: just after your arrival
date, with a reminder, with the form next to it and with the Norwegian words explained on
the line where you meet them.
Nothing here is personal legal, tax or immigration advice. It is an explanation of how
things work with the official source alongside, so you can check for yourself what applies
to your situation. Want to see how the platform is put together?
Take the tour.
Everything above, once, for your whole household
Lifetime access, also when your move slips. Both adults log in with their own email address.