Content
About the statistics
Definitions
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Name and topic
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Name: Naturalisations
Topic: Population
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Responsible division
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Division for Population Statistics
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Definitions of the main concepts and variables
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Resident
Who is regarded as a resident of Norway and where in Norway a person shall be regarded as a resident, are laid down in Law on Population Registration from 16 January 1970. The regulations of the law have been amended several times, most recently with effect from 1 February 1998. For details about the term resident, read here under the point "Definitions".
Acquisition of Norwegian citizenship
Pursuant to the Act on Norwegian nationality of 1 September 2006, it is possible to become a Norwegian citizen automatically, by notification or upon application. The main rule on acquisition upon application is that any person has a right to a Norwegian citizenship if the applicant at the time the administrative decision is made fulfills the following criteria and that the application is not in conflict with the interests of national security or foreign policy:
- has provided documentary evidence of or otherwise clearly established his or her identity
- has reached the age of 12
- is and will remain a resident of the realm
- fulfills the conditions for a settlement permit laid down in § 12 of the Immigration Act
- has spent a total of seven years in the realm in the last ten years, with residence or work permits of at least one year's duration
- satisfies the requirements regarding Norwegian language training
- has not been sentenced to a penalty or special criminal sanction or has observed the waiting period
- satisfies the requirement regarding release from another nationality
Other conditions apply for certain other groups, including:
- persons who arrived in the realm before reaching the age of 18 must have spent a total of five years in the realm.
- persons who are married to a Norwegian national and share a residence with his or her spouse. For these persons the period of marriage to a Norwegian national with a shared residence in the realm must add up to a total of at least seven years. The period of residence and the period of marriage to a Norwegian national may be concurrent. In practice, the residence permit provisions require that the applicant has been resident in the realm for the last three years. The same rules apply for registered partners and cohabitants.
- Nordic nationals may be entitled to Norwegian citizenship after having resided in the realm for two years.
- former Norwegian nationals. The applicant must have resided in the realm for the last two years.
- stateless persons must have resided in the realm for the last three years.
- children of persons who are acquiring or has acquired Norwegian nationality must have resided in the realm for the last two years.
A child becomes a Norwegian national at birth if his or her father or mother is a Norwegian national. If the father dies before the child is born, it is sufficient that the father was a Norwegian national when he died.
A child who is adopted by a Norwegian national becomes a Norwegian citizen by adoption if:
- the child is under the age of 18 at the time of the adoption. The adoption order must be issued by Norwegian authorities pursuant to the Adoption Act.
- through a foreign adoption that is valid in Norway.
Nordic nationals can also become Norwegian nationals upon application. Among other things, the requirement is that the applicant has been resident in the realm for the last seven years. If the applicant is a former Norwegian citizen there are no requirements of residence period. The application is accepted if he or she is resident in Norway.
Age is a person’s age at the time of the naturalisation.
Marital status
After the Act on Registered Partnerships from 1 August 1993 the following marital status were effective 1 January 1994: Unmarried (not previously married), married, widow/widower, divorced, separated, registered partner, separated partner, divorced partner and surviving partner. Before 1994 only the first five codes applied.
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Standard classifications
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Follows the Standard for Countries and Citizenship in Population Statistics.