Norway - Financial assistance
This section provides information about who is entitled to financial assistance (økonomisk stønad) and supplementary allowance for persons who have lived in Norway for a short period (supplerende stønad for personer med kort botid I Norge), and what conditions apply to the benefits.
In what situation can I claim?
Financial assistance
If you are legally living in Norway and cannot provide for your basic subsistence costs through paid work, your savings, social security entitlements or other financial entitlements, you may be entitled to financial assistance.
Supplementary allowance
If you are 67 years old or older, or have formal refugee status, are resident in Norway and entitled to permanent residency, but have lived only a short period in Norway and therefore only receive a small amount or nothing at all from the National Insurance Scheme, and you have no other income on which to live, you may be entitled to supplementary allowance.
What conditions do I need to meet?
Financial assistance
You must be legally resident in Norway.
You must have a permanent address.
You are not able to provide for your basic subsistence costs, and have exhausted all other options to provide for yourself.
Supplementary allowance
You must be aged 67 or older, or you are aged between 18 and 67, and have a formal refugee status, with reduced earning capacity because of an injury, illness or defect by at least 50%.
You must be resident in Norway and be entitled to permanent residency in the Kingdom.
You may not spend more than 90 days abroad, consecutively or during the allowance period of 12 months.
To apply for supplementary allowance, you must apply to your local NAV office. You will be invited to appear at your local NAV office twice during the allowance period.
The allowance is means-tested. Any other income earned by you and/or your spouse, e.g. a pension from Norway or abroad, will be directly offset against the allowance.
Neither you nor your spouse may have savings of more than 0.5 G (Basic Amount), that is NOK 50 676 as of 1 May 2021.
What am I entitled to and how can I claim?
Financial assistance
Financial assistance is means-tested. Your need for assistance will be specifically and individually assessed. The NAV office is entitled and obliged to use its discretion, which means that it will assess what funds are necessary to ensure that you have sufficient funds to cover your subsistence costs. The assistance that you receive is intended to ensure that you become financially independent.
National advisory guidelines for assessing financial assistance have been issued, and some municipalities have set their own rules. These guidelines/rules are only intended to be used as a guide in assessing financial assistance.
In practice, it would be difficult to provide assistance for anyone under the age of 18, since parents are responsible for providing for children under the age of 18.
In order to receive financial assistance, you must submit an application to your local NAV office. As well as submitting your application, you are usually also required to attend an interview in person.
Read more about financial assistance here:
Supplementary allowance
Supplementary allowance is intended to ensure a minimum level of income for persons who have attained the age of 67, or have formal refugee status, and who have only lived in Norway for a short period and thereby accrued little or no entitlement to a retirement pension or a disability benefit from the National Insurance Scheme.
Supplementary allowance is means-tested. The maximum amount of the allowance for persons who have attained the age of 67, corresponds to the guarantee pension. For persons aged between 18 and 67 with formal refugee status, the maximum amount of the allowance corresponds to the minimum annual disability benefit. Any income or savings that the recipient and/or spouse may have will be taken into consideration and deductions taken from this maximum amount accordingly. Capital assets may also in principle be taken into account.
If you spend more than 90 days abroad, consecutively or during the allowance period, you will lose your entitlement to supplementary allowance.
You will be invited to attend your local NAV office twice during the 12 months' allowance period, and requested to present your passport or other travel documents. If you intend to travel abroad, you must notify NAV before you travel.
The allowance is granted for 12 months at a time, but the allowance period can be extended, in which case you would be required to attend your local NAV office in person. The allowance is granted without conditions of qualifying periods or completed periods of insurance.
Supplementary allowance is taxable.
If you wish to apply for supplementary allowance, you should contact your local NAV office.
Read more about supplementary benefit here.
Jargon busters
- G: Abbreviation for National Insurance Basic Amount (see Basic Amount below). 1 G = 1 x Basic Amount, 2 G = 2 x Basic Amount, etc.;
- Basic Amount: A standard amount that is used to calculate benefits and pensions, and which is set on 1 May each year. As of 1 May 2021, the Basic Amount is NOK 106 399;
- Minimum annual disability benefit: The absolute minimum that you can receive in disability benefit if you have earned full entitlement (40 years in Norway), regardless of what was calculated on the basis of your previous earnings.
- Guarantee pension: A guaranteed minimum retirement pension benefit from the National Insurance Scheme. In order to receive a full guarantee pension, you must have been a member of the National Insurance Scheme for 40 years. If you have been a member of the National Insurance Scheme for less than 40 years, the pension will be reduced accordingly.;
- You can find the rates for the guarantee pension level here (in Norwegian only);
- You can find the rates for the minimum annual disability benefit here (in Norwegian only).
Forms you may need to fill in
Supplementary allowance: Follow link below and push "Form and application" on the right hand side:
Know your rights
The links below direct you to websites that describe your legal rights, but they are not part of the European Commission's websites. The Commission is therefore not responsible for the content.
- Act relating to supplementary benefit for persons who have lived in Norway only for a short period (in Norwegian only)
- Your rights as a member of the National Insurance Scheme
The Commission's publications and websites:
Who do you need to contact?
NAV: Via NAV's website https://www.nav.no/en/Home, or at your local NAV office.