Waiting times for Norwegian citizenship for convicted persons and people who have been fined
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Who has to wait longer?
You do not have to wait longer to become a Norwegian citizen if you
- have been issued a fixed penalty notice
- have been issued a parking ticket
- have participated in mediation in the Norwegian Mediation Service
- have been suspected of or charged in a criminal case and the case has been dropped, or it was decided not to bring charges.
You have to wait longer to become a Norwegian citizen if you
- have been sentenced to imprisonment for a term of ten days or more
- have been sentenced to community service lasting ten days or more
- have been sentenced for youth penelty lasting ten days or more
- have been fined by the police (and the fine states that the 'alternative prison sentence' is ten days or more)
- have been sentenced by a court to undergo enforced psychiatric treatment or care for ten days or more
- is sentenced to long term custody of 10 days or more
- are under investigation by the police or have been charged in a case that has not been decided yet
- if you have been senteced and have not served the prison sentence, or have endured probation yet.
How long do you have to wait?
The disqualification period starts from when you were sentenced or accepted the fine.
| The prison sentence (or the 'alternative prison sentence' stated in the fine) | Disqualification period (the period you have to wait after you were sentenced or accepted the fine) |
|---|---|
| from 10 up to 15 days | 2,5 years |
| from 16 up to 20 days | 3 years |
| from 21 up to 90 days | 5 years |
| from 91 days up to 6 months | 6,5 years |
| Up to 1 year | 8 years |
| Up to 2 years | 10 years |
| Up to 3 years | 12 years |
| Up to 4 years | 13,5 years |
| Up to 5 years | 15 years |
| Up to 6 years | 16,5 years |
| Up to 7 years | 18 years |
| Up to 8 years | 19,5 years |
| Up to 9 years | 21 years |
| Up to 10 years | 22,5 years |
| Up to 11 years | 24 years |
| Up to 12 years | 25,5 years |
| Up to 13 years | 27 years |
| Up to 14 years | 28,5 years |
| Up to 15 years | 30 years |
| Up to 16 years | 31,5 years |
| Up to 17 years | 33 years |
| Up to 18 years | 34,5 years |
| Up to 19 years | 36 years |
| Up to 20 years | 37,5 years |
| Up to 21 years | 39 years |
If you are charged with or are put under investigation for a criminal offence
If you are charged with or are put under investigation for a criminal offence while your application is being processed, the case processing will be suspended. Once the criminal case has been decided, you must yourself contact your local police district and request that the processing of your application be resumed.
If you have been convicted or fined several times
If you have a criminal conviction or have been fined multiple times, you will be subject to a lengthy disqualification period during which you will not be eligible for Norwegian citizenship. We calculate the length of the disqualification period based on the following:
- If you have multiple disqualification periods, we will use the most recent period with the latest end date as our starting point.
- We then add half of the disqualification period for each of your other convictions or fines.
- We assure you that the total disqualification period will not be more than twice the length of the period that expires last.
If you were sentenced to fines and imprisonment in the same court case, you must add together the length of the prison sentence and of the alternative prison sentence that applies if you are unable to pay the fine. You can then use the total number of days, months or years to find your disqualification period in the table above
If you have been convicted abroad
If you have been convicted or fined abroad, you will be given the same disqualification period as you would have been given if convicted in Norway.
This does not apply if the offence you have been convicted of is not a criminal offence in Norway.
If you were given a stricter sentence than the maximum sentence for the same offence in Norway, your disqualification period will be based on the maximum sentence you could have been given in Norway.
If you haven't completed your prison sentence
Even if your prison time has expired, you will not be able to obtain Norwegian citizenship if you have not completed your prison sentence or the probation for a conditional prison sentence has expired. Then you have to wait until the sentence is completed or your probation has expired.
If you have been denied citizenship because of a criminal offense in the past
Tables on calculating the waiting period were changed on 1 June 2020.
If you previously had your citizenship application rejected due to the disqualification period, and you do not have any new criminal offenses after this, no new and longer disqualification period will be calculated for the same crime. This applies even if you re-apply 1 June or later.
It is the disqualification period stated in your decision that still applies. If you are convicted again after you were given a disqualification period, your total waiting period will be longer.
The rules in the table above will apply, and you add half the waiting time for each of your old judgments in addition.