Municipalities
Services provided by the local authorities (municipalities)
The local authorities (or municipalities – for example the City of Reykjavík) offer various types of services. All local authorities are obliged by law to offer basic services in certain fields.
The local authorities run pre-schools (kindergartens) and junior (compulsory) schools (for children up to the age of 16), and are responsible for social services. Social services include, for example, financial assistance and support for housing. The local authorities are also responsible for child protection.
Social services are intended to ensure financial and social security of the people in the local community. To qualify for these services, the person in question must be legally domiciled in the local government area where assistance is applied for.
Due to requirements in the Foreign Nationals Act, which states that the foreign nationals must be capable of supporting themselves, receiving financial assistance from a local authority (municipality) may affect the right to register your legal domicile and apply for citizenship. Receiving other assistance from a municipality, such as due to family difficulties, for children and adolescents, divorce or domestic violence, does not have any effect.
The fact that you receive rent benefit has no effect either on the registration of legal domicile or on application for citizenship.
If you need services from your local authority, you can ask for an appointment at the office.. Some local authorities offer the services of an interpreter (someone who speaks your language) for this purpose. Pre-schools (kindergartens) and junior (compulsory level) schools are to seek ways to provide parents with the assistance of an interpreter in their dealings with their children's schools.
| When you move to Iceland and register your legal domicile in a specific municipality, you apply for services there. For example, you can apply for rent benefit, services of day parents and a place for your child in a pre-school (kindergarten); you can also register your children in junior (compulsory-level) school. The local authority (municipality) will also provide you with information on companies that sell hot water and electricity, on sorting waste, leisure activities, Icelandic teaching and many other things. |
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- Municipalities in Iceland are 76. Click here to see the municipalities
- For further information see The Association of Local Authorities in Iceland (website)

