This page explains your health rights as a posted worker in another EU/EEA country or Switzerland.
Illustration: Morten Rakke / Helfo
You are considered to be a posted worker if you are temporarily working in another EU/EEA country or Switzerland for your employer in Norway and you receive your wages from this employer.
You will retain your mandatory membership of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme if you work for up to two years in another EU/EEA country or Switzerland for your Norwegian employer and are a citizen of Norway, another EU/EEA country or Switzerland.
If you have citizenship of a country outside the EU/EEA and are posted to another Nordic country by an employer in Norway, you will have the same rights as EU/EEA citizens.
If you have citizenship of a country outside the EU/EEA and will be working outside the Nordic region, you should check with NAV whether you will retain membership of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme during your period of work. If you do retain membership, you may be entitled to benefit for treatment abroad. This means that your expenses relating to certain health services will be covered. We recommend that you also take out private insurance if the amount of benefit you will be entitled to from Helfo is limited.
Petter is employed by a Norwegian oil company and is going to work for them on the Dutch continental shelf. The place where he is going to work is operated by another company, but he receives his salary from his original employer. Petter retains his mandatory membership of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme because he is considered to be a posted worker.
Before you leave Norway, you must apply to Helfo for certificate S1. This certificate confirms your healthcare rights in the country in which you are going to work.
If you are a posted worker from another Nordic country, you will be entitled to receive healthcare services even if you do not have an S1 certificate.
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 do not need to attach certificate A1 if you are posted as a government official.
You will find useful information about submitting the digital form here (in Norwegian).
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.
Petter applies digitally to Helfo for certificate S1. He attaches his employment contract and a confirmation of his posting in the Netherlands.
After Helfo has approved your application, you must send the certificate S1 to the appropriate National Insurance authorities in the country in which you are going to work.
The certificate will not be valid until Helfo has received feedback from the National Insurance authorities in your country of residence.
Note: Special rules apply if you are working in one of the following countries: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Find out more about these rules here (in Norwegian).
Petter takes the certificate with him and contacts the National Insurance authorities in the Netherlands in order to register it.
As a mandatory member of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme, you will retain your right to receive healthcare services in Norway.
Because you retain your entitlement to receive healthcare services in Norway, you can choose to travel home to receive treatment, but you will have to cover your travel costs yourself.
If you take dependent family members to the country in which you are going to work with you, they must contact the National Insurance authorities there in order to find out their rights. They may be entitled to their own document confirming their entitlement to receive healthcare services in both the country of work and Norway.
If you opt to receive treatment in the country in which you are working, you will be entitled to receive healthcare services in accordance with the EEA rules. This means your rights will essentially be the same as those who live in the country. You will therefore have to pay the same personal contributions as other inhabitants of the country. Healthcare services that you receive in the country must be provided by the national health service.
After Petter has been working in the Netherlands for a month, he gets acute food poisoning. He visits a national health service doctor for treatment. Because he has registered his S1 certificate with the Dutch national insurance system, the doctor can see that he is entitled to treatment in the same way as a Dutch citizen. Petter must pay a user fee, just like other inhabitants of the Netherlands.
The United Kingdom is no longer a member of the European Union. From January 1. 2021 only some groups of people will have the right to be reimbursed for health care expenses .
If you have any questions, please call Veiledning helsenorge.no (user service): +47 23 32 70 00
If you contact Helfo on behalf of anyone else, you must have power of attorney for them.
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.
Complete the power of attorney form and send it to Helfo as an attachment to a digital form, or send it by post to Helfo, PO Box 2415, 3104 Tønsberg. Remember to enclose a copy of valid identification for the person granting power of attorney.
Content provided by Helfo
Last updated Monday, February 6, 2023