Norway residence permit: how long can you stay outside Norway?

Permanent residence: more than 2 years abroad and it lapses

Section 62 of the Immigration Act says a permanent residence permit lapses when you’ve stayed outside Norway continuously for more than 2 years. The Directorate of Immigration (UDI) decides on the lapse. Section 11-8 of the Immigration Regulations sets out how the 2 years are counted:

• Visits back don’t break it. One or more shorter stays in Norway don’t stop the stay abroad being continuous.
• 2 years in total within 4. Several stays abroad that add up to more than 2 years within a 4-year period count as continuous too.
• Short trips don’t count. Stays abroad totalling less than 2 months per calendar year aren’t treated as stays abroad.
• 15 months in Norway resets it. After 15 months in Norway between two stays abroad, a new 2-year period begins.

A change adopted on 15 June 2026 removes this paragraph of section 11-8 from the Regulations, on a date the ministry hasn’t set yet. Until then, the rules above apply.

Staying abroad longer: apply first

UDI can let you stay outside Norway for more than 2 years without losing the permit, if you apply and it’s clear you’ll settle in Norway again, and you are:

• doing military service, or similar service, in your home country;
• abroad for work, or for education beyond ordinary upper secondary school;
• abroad with a spouse, partner, mother or father who is there for work or education.

How long you get depends on how long you’ve lived in Norway and why you’re away. Apply more than 6 months before the 2 years run out, and the permit doesn’t lapse if you come back within 2 weeks of a refusal.

Outside Norway more than 2 years? What happens next

The decision on a lapse is UDI’s, and its guidance describes the steps:

• A notice first. If UDI believes there are grounds for a lapse, it sends you a prior notice and asks you to explain if its summary of your travels is wrong. Your own dates of leaving and coming back are what show it.
• A decision you can appeal. If UDI decides that the permit has lapsed, you get a decision, and you can appeal it to the Immigration Appeals Board (UNE).
• Another permit is considered. UDI always looks at whether you can get a different kind of residence permit. To go on living in Norway after a lapse, you need a new temporary residence permit.

You may also keep the permit after a long absence if you, or your child, were a victim of domestic abuse in a relationship you held a family immigration permit for, the relationship has ended, and you contact the Norwegian authorities as soon as you can.

British citizens: up to 5 years outside Norway

For British citizens and their family members, a permanent residence permit granted under the Brexit rules survives up to 5 years in a row outside Norway. It’s a right — there’s nothing to apply for — and the limit is firm: after more than 5 years the permit is lost, and you can’t apply to stay away longer.

Temporary permits: 7 months in 3 years

A temporary permit has no limit of its own on time abroad, but it decides when you can get permanent residence. After 3 years on a qualifying permit, you have a right to permanent residence only if you haven’t been outside Norway for more than 7 months in total in those 3 years. With protection (asylum), it’s 5 years and 10 months. Skilled workers and specialists may be away up to 15 months in total if at least 8 were assignments for their employer.

Worked example

Your time abroad	Counted as	Permanent residence
1 August 2027 – 31 July 2029, with two weeks in Norway each summer	2 years in a row	Kept — but more and it lapses
12 months, then 10 months in Norway, then 13 months	25 months within 4 years	Lapses: more than 2 years in total
12 months, then 15 months in Norway, then 13 months	Two separate periods	Kept: 15 months in Norway started a new 2 years
Three weeks a year	Under 2 months a year	Not counted

Other Nordic countries: Sweden, Denmark and Finland. All countries, side by side: residence permit absence rules by country.