All applicants for a residence permit must
prove their identity with a valid passport
give correct information about their purpose of stay in Iceland
meet the following basic requirements
Applicants must demonstrate that they have secure means of support for the period they wish to reside in Iceland. To have secure means of support means that you are able to financially support yourself independently.
The Directorate of Immigration may obtain tax returns and documents from tax authorities in confirmation of this.
Amount
The minimum amount required as secure means of support is:
239.895 ISK for individuals per month.
383.832 ISK for married couples per month.
119.948 ISK additionally for family members 18 years of age or older.
The amount corresponds to the basic amount of financial assistance from the City of Reykjavík, see rules on financial assistance (in Icelandic). The amounts are based on income before taxation.
Duration
A foreigner’s means of support must be secure for as long as the residence permit is valid. This means that if a residence permit is issued for one year, secure means of support for one year must be demonstrated.
Exemptions from the condition of independent means of support
All applicants for a residence permit must prove secure independent means of support, except in the following instances:
For a child under the age of 18, provided for by a parent or legal guardian residing in Iceland, there is no need to demonstrate independent financial support.
For persons 18 years or older,
who have held a continuous residence permit in Iceland since they were children,
are studying or working in Iceland,
live with a parent and
are neither married nor cohabiting,
the minimum amount of funds required is 50% of the regular amount for an individual (119.948 ISK per month), in addition to the amount of funds that a parent or legal guardian has to demonstrate for themselves and other family members.
Applicants must demonstrate independent funds if they are working and not studying. An applicant studying may be a dependant of a parent.
A marital spouse does not need to demonstrate independent funds. Due to the maintenance obligation between marital spouses under the Marriage Act, it is enough that one party in a marriage demonstrates sufficient funds for both.
Note that cohabitation is not equivalent to marriage in this respect. There is no maintenance obligation between cohabiting spouses. A cohabiting spouse must therefore demonstrate independent funds.
For parents aged 67 or older, dependent on their child/children in Iceland, the minimum amount of funds required is 50% of the regular amount for an individual (119.948 ISK per month), in addition to the amount of funds needed to support other adults in the household.
A host family must prove support for their au pair. The additional support is based on 50% of the minimum support for an individual, 119.948 ISK per month, plus the wage costs for the au pair, ISK 60.000 for every four weeks in au pair service.
The following is not considered secure means of support
Payments in the form of social assistance, by the state or municipality (other than housing compensation (húsnæðisbætur)). If an applicant has received such compensation and is unable to demonstrate satisfactory support through other means, a residence permit will be rejected.
Alimony payments and child allowance, since their purpose is to support a child.
Support by a third party, in other instances than stated above.
Assets other than bank-account balances (for example real estate) and dividend from companies, interest or other payments that cannot be reliably expected to be available for payment.
Cash is not considered as satisfactory confirmation of support.
An insurance certificate must be submitted, confirming that the applicant has taken out (purchased) a health insurance
that is valid in Iceland,
for at least six months from the date of the registration of the applicant's legal domicile in Iceland,
with a minimum coverage of ISK 2,000,000.
Six months after registering your legal domicile with Registers Iceland you will be automatically covered by the national health insurance.
When applying for a residence permit no matters may exist that could cause the applicant being denied entry or stay in Iceland.
This means that you may not have
during the past five years, served a prison sentence abroad or been sentenced there to punishment for conduct which under Icelandic law would be subject to imprisonment of longer than three months
been sentenced for a punishable offence in Iceland, or to be subject to security measures for conduct liable to imprisonment, for longer than three months or have been sentenced to imprisonment more than once in the past three years
Special requirements for a spouse permit
You were 18 or older when you got married or started cohabitation.
You are married to or in cohabitation with an individual that lives in Iceland and meets the requirements below.
If you apply on the basis of cohabitation, you must have lived with your spouse for at least one year before applying.
You will have a permanent address at the same place as your spouse.
The marriage meets the requirements for registration according to the law on legal domicile.
Granting you a residence permit must not violate the conditions of your spouse's residence permit.
Requirements that your spouse must meet
an Icelandic citizen,
a Nordic citizen,
a holder of a permanent residence permit,
a holder of a temporary residence permit
for work requiring expert knowledge
for athletes
due to a shortage of labour
on the basis of a collaboration or service contract
for students
on grounds of international protection
on humanitarian grounds or
based on special ties to Iceland.
If your spouse has a residence permit in Iceland on grounds of international protection, humanitarian grounds or based on special ties to Iceland, he/she must have worked or studied in Iceland in legal stay for at least the last four years before an application is submitted.
An exemption from this may apply, for example, if you were married before the spouse residing in Iceland moved to Iceland, if you both had a residence permit when you got married or if you expect a child together. Other special circumstances may also apply.
Your spouse may not, in the past five years, have been convicted or subjected to security measures for offences against the following chapters of the General Penal Code: Offences regarding family relationships (Chapter XXII), sexual offences (Chapter XXII), manslaughter or physical injury (Chapter XXIII), violations of personal freedom (Chapter XXIV), violations of a restraining order or an order to leave the home (Article 232), threats (Article 232 a) or insults (Article 233 b).
Your spouse may never have been sentenced or subjected to security measures for taking the life of his/her previous spouse (Article 211).
If a residence permit refusal, due to a sentence or security measures for the reasons listed above, would constitute an unfair measure against you or your spouse, you may be granted a residence permit.
Your spouse must consent to you being issued a residence permit in Iceland based on your family ties.
Other reasons that may lead to a rejection
The Directorate of Immigration may reject an application for a residence permit for a spouse if there is serious grounds for believing that the sole purpose of the union is to obtain a residence permit. This is referred to as marriage/cohabitation of convenience.
In the existence of serious grounds to assume that a marriage/cohabitation is a union of convenience, the applicant must prove in a clear manner that such suspicion is unfounded. A marriage/cohabitation of convenience does not grant the right to a residence permit and is punishable according to Article 70 of the Act on Foreigners. In order to examine whether a marriage/cohabitation is possibly a union of convenience, the Directorate of Immigration may call in the applicant and his/her spouse for interviews at the offices of the Directorate of Immigration, according to Article 10, paragraph 4, of the Regulation on Foreigners 540/2017. A rejection of a residence permit on grounds of marriage/cohabitation of convenience is based on assessment made by the Directorate of Immigration.
One of the reasons for refusing a residence permit to an applicant in a marriage/cohabitation of convenience is to protect persons vulnerable to pressure or any kind of abuse.
If marriage is in breach of Icelandic law and the rule of public order, this will result in rejection of a residence permit. This applies, for example, to a marriage ceremony if one or both parties was a minor at the time of getting married, or if only one or neither party attended the marriage ceremony (referred to as proxy marriage). The same applies to a marriage ceremony where the person conducting the ceremony is not authorized to do so in the country of the ceremony and also in case of polygamy or polyandry.
A violation of the rule of public order or the principal rules of law, in an international civil-law context, refers to an activity in one country, however, the same activity being considered as such violation of the rules of law in another country, where the activity is to be exercised, that rejecting it is considered appropriate.
The provision is inter alia intended to prevent forced marriages.
Service provider
Directorate of Immigration