Employees from the EU/EEA or Switzerland who work in Norway but do not live here

If you are an employee and carry out your work in Norway, you will normally be a member of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme. You will then be covered for expenses for essential healthcare services provided by the national health service. You will normally have to pay user fees for the treatment you receive.

If you have any questions about membership of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme, visit the NAV (Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration) website.

The web portal «Work in Norway – The Official Guide», which is a collaboration between NAV, the Norwegian Tax Administration, the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority and the Norwegian Police, also contains a lot of useful information for people who plan to work in Norway.

Even if you work in Norway and are a member of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme, you are entitled to be covered for your healthcare in the country where you live.

You will normally be considered a resident where your immediate family (your spouse, cohabiting partner and/or children) live. You can be considered a resident in another EU/EEA country or Switzerland even if you are registered as a resident in Norway.

Certificate S1

To document your rights, you must obtain certificate S1 from Helfo. You must submit this certificate to the National Insurance authorities in the country in which you live. Alternatively, you can contact the National Insurance authorities in your country of residence and ask them to apply for document S072 for you. S072 corresponds to S1.

The certificate will be valid once Helfo has received feedback from the National Insurance authorities in your country of residence.

Certificate S1 documents your entitlement to essential health services provided by the national health service in your country of residence. The legislation there will determine the proportion of your expenses that will be covered and which user fees you must pay.

It is not necessary to apply for certificate S1 within the Nordic region. This document is not used between the Nordic countries. If you work in Norway and are resident of another Nordic country, you will be entitled to be covered for healthcare there without having certificate S1. Contact the National Insurance authorities in the country where you live in order to get more information about your rights and which documentation you need.

Dependent family members

If you have dependent family members in your country of residence, they must contact the National Insurance authorities there to determine their rights.

If you receive one of the following benefits from NAV, you might be entitled to be covered for expenses for healthcare services both in Norway and your country of residence:

• unemployment benefit
• sickness benefit
• work assessment allowance
• maternity benefit
• parental benefit
• care benefit
• training allowance
• care allowance

You can apply for an S1 certificate using a digital form in Altinn. To log in to Altinn you need electronic ID. Click here for information about how to get an electronic ID.

You can also give power of attorney to someone with an electronic ID – for example your employer. A person with power of attorney and electronic ID can log in and submit applications on your behalf.

Using a digital form, you get customized questions along the way, contributing to faster case processing.

Altinn displays in Norwegian by default. Here is a guide on how to change the page to English.

If you are working, you must ensure that you enclose the following:

• a copy of your employment contract
• if the employment contract is more than one year old, confirmation from your employer that you are still employed

Please note the following:

• If you are self-employed, you must attach confirmation that you have paid all outstanding advance tax or confirmation from your accountant that your enterprise is a going concern.
• If you receive any benefits from NAV, you must attach a copy of the letter of approval for the benefit from NAV.
• If you receive unemployment benefit, you must also attach certificate PD U2 from NAV. If you do not have a PD U2, only any dependent family members you have will be entitled to receive this certificate. If you receive temporary layoff benefits, you do not need a PD U2.

You will find useful information about submitting the digital form here (in Norwegian). 

Paper form

If you are unable to use our digital form, you can fill in and submit the following form instead:

Send your application to: Helfo, P.O. Box 2415, 3104 Tønsberg.

Parents/guardians must also have power of attorney from any children aged 18 or over. In the case of health information, you must have power of attorney from any children aged 16 or over. This is because the age of majority under health law is 16.

Health information is sensitive information and should not be sent by e-mail. You should therefore send the power of attorney to Helfo as an attachment to a digital form, or by letter post to Helfo, Postboks 2415, 3104 Tønsberg. Remember to enclose a copy of valid identification.