Settlement

Settlement with public assistance is a voluntary service offered by the Norwegian state. You will only receive one offer of settlement in a municipality, and this could be in any municipality in Norway. Under Section 46 of the Integration Act, applicants cannot appeal the decision on settlement. 

The Norwegian Directorate of Integration and Diversity (IMDi) will decide which municipality you are going to be settled in.

To the extent possible, IMDi will take into account close family, education and career plans and any other needs in the choice of settlement municipality. 

If you find accommodation and manage financially on your own, you can live in any municipality in Norway. In order to be eligible to take part in the Introduction Programme, receive introduction benefit and other financial benefits from the municipality, settlement must take place through an agreement between the municipality and the state (IMDi). 

You must have a residence permit in order to be settled with public assistance, and the permit must have been granted on the basis of an application for protection. 

If you are staying in an asylum reception centre, in emergency accommodation or in alternative accommodation, you do not need to apply to be settled, as you will automatically be allocated a settlement municipality. This happens after you have undergone a simple assessment. 

If you are staying in private housing, you must apply to IMDi to be settled. If you do not contact IMDi within six months of being notified by the police that you have been granted a residence permit, you will lose the opportunity to be settled with public assistance. 

On IMDi’s website, you will find a link to a digital application form for settlement with public assistance. The application form is available in Norwegian, English, Ukrainian and Russian.

Apply for settlement with public assistance here.

Refugees who have not been allocated a settlement municipality can find somewhere to live themselves and ask for it to be approved by the settlement municipality. The scheme is called ‘agreed self-settlement’.

If you find a place to live on your own, you must contact the municipality where the accommodation is located to clarify the possibility of being settled there. You should not sign a housing contract until you have clarified this with the municipality. It is up to the individual municipality to decide whether to allow agreed self-settlement and, if relevant, whether to impose restrictions on the number of such agreements. 

The municipality will then contact IMDi to determine whether you can be settled with public assistance in the municipality. If you are not in the asylum reception centre system, you must nevertheless apply for settlement with public assistance. 

If you already have somewhere to live that you would like the municipality to consider with regard to the ‘agreed self-settlement’ scheme, please contact the relevant municipality. If the municipality accepts the accommodation, the municipality will contact IMDi. You must nevertheless apply for settlement with public assistance. 

The fact that you are staying in private housing means that you are not using the UDI’s accommodation services (asylum reception centre, emergency accommodation or alternative accommodation) while you are waiting to be granted a residence permit.

Examples of places to stay include: 

• with family members already living in a municipality
• with other private individuals who have offered you a place to stay
• in your own rented home 

The Directorate of Integration and Diversity (IMDi) settles people staying in private housing who are in the target group eligible for settlement with public assistance. You must have a residence permit in order to be settled with public assistance, and the permit must have been granted on the basis of an application for protection.

If you are staying in private housing, you must contact IMDi when you have been granted a residence permit to apply for settlement with public assistance. 

On IMDi’s website, you will find a link to a digital application form for settlement with public assistance. The application form is available in Norwegian, English, Ukrainian and Russian.

Apply for settlement with public assistance here.

It is possible to fill in and submit the digital form before you have been granted a residence permit, but IMDi will not consider the application for settlement with public assistance until the application for a residence permit has been granted by the UDI. If your application for a residence permit is granted, IMDi’s systems will be updated automatically and IMDi will be able to process the application for settlement with public assistance.

It usually takes three weeks to process applications for settlement with public assistance for those staying in private housing. Processing times may be longer during periods when many people apply at the same time. In some cases, more information may be needed. If this applies to your case, IMDi will contact you.

You will only receive one offer of settlement, and you can be offered settlement in any municipality in Norway.

Under Section 46 of the Integration Act, you cannot appeal the decision, but you are free to refuse the offer and settle elsewhere on your own. 

Please note that, as a rule, refusing an offer of settlement will mean that you lose the right to take part in the introduction programme and to receive introduction benefit, and you will have to support yourself financially.