I´m not from EEA/EFTA - General information
EU/EFTA citizens are nationals of one of the member states of The European Union (EU) or the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
British citizens in Europe after Brexit (by the Institute for Government).
Information for British citizens (by the directorate of Immigration in Iceland).
Residence permit
Owing to international agreements, those who are not EEA/EFTA nationals must apply for a residence permit if they intend to stay in Iceland for longer than three months. The Directorate of Immigrants issues the residence permit.
Please check whether the applicant has a permission to stay in Iceland while the application is being processed. This is important as it may affect the processing of the application. Here you may find the ground rules regarding this.
Processing time of applications for residence permits can be a couple of months.
The majority of first time applications is processed within six months and the largest part of renewals within three months, see status in table above. However, it can sometimes take longer to evaluate whether an applicant fulfills the permit requirements.
There are basic requirements that apply to all applicants as well as specific requirements that apply to each kind of permit.
Information about the basic requirements can be found on the webpage of the Directorate of Immigrants.
In addition to these basic requirements the residence permit applied for must be in accordance with the purpose of the applicant´s stay in Iceland.
Further information about residence permit based on work, such as requirements and documents to be submitted, as well as the application form, can be found on the website of the Directorate of Immigration.
Permanent residence permit
A permanent residence permit entails the right to a permanent stay in Iceland. As a general rule an applicant must have stayed in Iceland for four (4) years on grounds of a residence permit to be able to apply for a permanent residence permit. In some cases, where special requirements are met, an applicant may have the right to a permanent residence permit after a shorter stay than four (4) years.
Requirements, further information on documents to be submitted and an application form can be found on the website of the Directorate of Immigrants.
