Studying abroad does not directly affect your refugee status in Iceland, unless you go to study in your country of origin. A refugee who voluntarily re-avails themselves of the protection of their home country may risk having their international protection status revoked.

Although studying abroad generally does not affect your refugee status in Iceland, it may affect your residence permit in Iceland.

If you stay abroad continuously for more than three months, your residence permit may be revoked. Your residence permit will automatically be revoked once your legal domicile has been registered abroad for three months.

Even if your residence permit has been revoked, it is possible to apply for a renewal if the application is submitted within the validity period of the previous permit and there are reasonable grounds for doing so.

It should be noted that one of the requirements for obtaining a permanent residence permit is that the holder must not have stayed abroad for more than 90 days in total per year during the validity period of each previous residence permit, counted from the date the permit was issued.