Students in the EU/EEA and Switzerland

You must normally be a Norwegian citizen or the citizen of another EU/EEA country in order to be entitled to reimbursement for your expenses relating to health services, but students who are family members of an EU/EEA citizen, stateless persons and refugees may also have the same entitlement.

As a student, you must be a member of the National Insurance scheme of the country in which you are considered to be resident. If you are considered to be resident in Norway before you leave the country in order to study, you will normally still be considered as being resident in Norway even if you are studying abroad.

There are exceptions, however. You may for example be considered to be resident in the study country if your immediate family members live there with you. Other factors which may be of importance include where you receive your student finance from, the duration of your stay and how much time you spend in Norway.

To find out where you will be considered as being resident, you should check with the relevant National Insurance institution in the study country or the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV).

You will normally lose your membership of the Norwegian National Insurance scheme if you take work of any kind in the study country. You should then contact the National Insurance institution in the study country in order to find out whether you are covered by the National Insurance scheme there. If you are not covered by this scheme in the study country, you should contact NAV to find out whether you are a member of the Norwegian National Insurance scheme.

Read more about membership of the National Insurance scheme on NAV's web.

Note that specific rules apply in the following countries: Bulgaria, Estonia, Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary (in Norwegian).

This will entitle you to the same essential health services in the study country as if you were a citizen there. Read more about the European Health Insurance Card.

In some countries, you will be asked for your student identity card in addition to your health insurance card if you wish to receive planned treatment.

In the Nordic region, students will be registered in the national registry of the study country and will therefore have access to health services without having to show their health insurance card. In the Nordic region, there is also no requirement for you to be a citizen of an EU/EEA country or Switzerland.

If you cannot use the European Health Insurance Card

If a treatment centre will not accept your European Health Insurance Card or you have forgotten to take it with you, you must pay your expenses yourself and apply to Helfo for reimbursement afterwards (see the next step). If you have left your card at home, you can ask Helfo for an emergency form. Read more about this on the page about the European Health Insurance Card.

Students who are a citizen of a country outside the EU/EEA or Switzerland

If you are a citizen of a country outside the EU/EEA or Switzerland and you are a member of the Norwegian National Insurance scheme, you will have the same rights as citizens in the EU/EEA or Switzerland during your study stay in the Nordic region. The same applies to stays in Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Hungary and Austria.

If you intend to study outside one of the countries mentioned above, you should find out whether you are entitled to the European Health Insurance Card. If you are not entitled to this card, you should check with NAV whether you will retain your membership of the Norwegian National Insurance scheme while you are studying. You may be entitled to extended benefit in the study country in the same way as students outside the EU/EEA if you retain your membership as a resident abroad. You must document your membership if you apply to Helfo for reimbursement.

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Note that the dental treatment provider must also complete a form that you have to enclose with your application. You will find this further down this page.

The appropriate forms and documentation must be sent to Helfo within six months from the date of each treatment.

Paper form

If you are unable to use our digital form, you can send a paper form instead.

Complete and send in

In the case of dental treatment, you must complete and send in

Please note that also the dental treatment provider must complete a form that you have to enclose with your application:

Send the application to Helfo, Postboks 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.

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.