Every person who lives in Iceland is registered at Registers Iceland and has a national ID number (kennitala) which is a unique, ten-digit number. Your national ID number is your personal identifier and is used widely throughout Icelandic society. ID numbers are necessary to access a wide range of services, like opening a bank account, registering your legal domicile and obtaining a home telephone.

To apply for Icelandic ID number, you must fill in an application called A-271 that can be found here.

As an EEA or EFTA citizen, you may stay in Iceland for three to six months without being registered. The time period is calculated from the day of arrival in Iceland.

The first six digits of a national ID number show the day, month and year of your birth. Connected to your the national ID number, Registers Iceland maintains vital information on your legal domicile, name, birth, changes of address, children, relationship status, etc.

More information can be found on the website of Register Iceland.