The Remote-Work Route Survived May 2026 But Stopped Being a Visa, and the Regulation Carrying Its Million-Krona Income Test Still Calls It One
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Norway on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
195 exceptions recorded across 74 countries · none match Norway to Iceland · Residency on passive income
Iceland has no residence permit for living on your own money. Chapters VI to X of the Aliens Act set out every ground on which a permit may be granted - work, study and cultural exchange, family reunification, protection, special connections to the country, and a lawful and special purpose - and not one of them is means-tested income from abroad. What Iceland does have is a stay rather than a residence: section 21 of the Aliens Act lets Utlendingastofnun grant a skammtimadvalarleyfi, a short-term residence permit, where the applicant wants more than 90 days for a purpose that is not in any permit category and does not intend to settle. It runs to a maximum of 180 days, may be granted only once in any 12-month period, cannot found a permanent residence permit, and cannot found a registered domicile. Until 12 May 2026 the same words sat in the same section under a different name: langtimavegabrefsaritun, a long-term visa. Act 37/2026 converted it into a residence permit and added the once-a-year cap and the domicile exclusion to the Act itself. The conditions a remote worker actually has to meet are in Regulation 540/2017, article 5 a - foreign income equivalent to 1,000,000 krona a month, 1,300,000 if a spouse comes too, and a ban on working for Icelandic parties or on the Icelandic labour market - and that regulation still describes the thing it is regulating as a long-term visa.
At a glance
- Longest stay
- 180 days, and only once in any 12-month period
Section 21(1) of the Aliens Act. Regulation 540/2017 article 5 a gives the same 180 days where the application is made before arrival and 90 days where it is made from inside Iceland.
- Income required
- Foreign income equivalent to 1,000,000 krona a monthas of 2025-06-19
Article 5 a, fourth paragraph of Regulation 540/2017. The regulation sets a krona figure rather than a multiple of anything, so it does not move with wages or prices.
- Income required where a spouse comes too
- 1,300,000 krona a monthas of 2025-06-19
Article 5 a, fifth paragraph of Regulation 540/2017. The test is on the principal applicant's income, not on the couple's.
- Does it lead anywhere
- No - it cannot found a permanent residence permit and cannot found a registered domicile
Section 21(3) of the Aliens Act, naming the Act on Domicile and Residence. Section 78(5) separately excludes time spent under section 21 from the special-connections ground.
- Residence permit for passive income
- None in chapters VI to X of the Aliens Act, which carry every ground of residence
The grounds are sections 61 to 64 (work), 65 to 68 (study, agreements with foreign states, volunteers and missionaries, au pairs), 69 to 72 (family), 73 to 77 (protection and trafficking), 78 (special connections) and 79 (lawful and special purpose). None of them is means-tested income from abroad.
- What currency your means may be in
- A currency that is internationally recognised and convertible into one quoted by the Central Bank of Iceland
Section 56(2) of the Aliens Act, added by Act 56/2023.
Requirements
- A purpose of stay that falls into no residence-permit category in the Aliens Act, and no intention to settle in Iceland
- Exemption from the visa requirement, for the remote-work form of the route
- Foreign income equivalent to 1,000,000 krona a month, or 1,300,000 where a spouse applies alongside
- Confirmation from a foreign employer that the work may be done from Iceland, or evidence of genuine self-employment in your country of residence
- Secure support, health and accident insurance, a return ticket or the means to pay for the journey home, and documents evidencing the purpose of the stay
- No work for Icelandic parties and no other work on the Icelandic labour market
In detail
What changed on 12 May 2026, in one table of two columns
The repealed section 21 read: a long-term visa may be granted where the applicant seeks a stay beyond 90 days but the purpose is not in any permit category and the applicant does not intend to settle; not longer than 180 days; revocable for unauthorised work; cannot found permanent residence. The new section 21 reads: the Directorate of Immigration may grant a short-term residence permit on the same test; not longer than 180 days and only once in any 12-month period; revocable for unauthorised work, now specified as work on the Icelandic labour market; cannot found permanent residence or a registered domicile; and an application shall be refused where the applicant is thought unlikely to leave. The once-a-year cap and the refusal ground were already in Regulation 540/2017 articles 3 and 7 and have been lifted into the Act; the domicile exclusion is new.
The number is a flat krona figure and has not been indexed
A million krona a month is written into the regulation as a number, not as a multiple of a minimum wage or a social-assistance rate, which is how most of this corpus states a threshold and is why most of them move every January. It is also stated as erlendar tekjur - foreign income - and the remote-work definition in the seventh paragraph closes the other end: the holder may not work for Icelandic parties or on the Icelandic labour market at all. The money has to come from outside and the work has to be done for outside.
A regulation describing an instrument that no longer exists
Chapter II of Regulation 540/2017 is headed Langtimavegabrefsaritun and every article in it grants, conditions and refuses a long-term visa. That visa was repealed in May 2026. Article 22(2) of the Visa Act keeps regulations made under the Aliens Act in force so far as they do not conflict with the new Act, until new ones are issued, so the chapter is still operative - but a reader comparing the regulation with the Act finds the instrument named in one and absent from the other, and the regulation is the only place the income figures appear.
Against the other Nordic records
Finland has no route for living on your own money either, and its Aliens Act lists three grounds from abroad of which two are work. Denmark has none, and its one retirement-shaped provision is for people who spent twelve years working for an international organisation. Sweden has a single sentence that says may. Iceland is the only one of the four with a published income figure for a stay of this kind, and the reason is that the figure is not about residence at all: it conditions a stay that is capped at 180 days, barred once a year, and cut off by statute from both permanent residence and the population register.
Country-level policy
Almost everything a person needs in Iceland hangs on one registration: the logheimili, the registered domicile kept by Registers Iceland under the Act on Domicile and Residence 80/2018. Health insurance counts three months of residence and the insurance agency looks first at the domicile register. The Income Tax Act decides who is domiciled for tax by reference to this Act. The Nationality Act defines resident here as having a logheimili, and counts the years from it. Marriage-based residence permits require spouses to have the same registered domicile. Section 14 of the Act then says who may have one: a person staying or intending to stay for work or study for three months or more may register, and anyone staying six months or more must. An EEA or EFTA national may stay three months without registering, six if seeking work. Anyone else intending to stay longer than three months needs a valid residence permit from the Directorate of Immigration before they can register at all - and article 23 of Act 37/2026 added a sentence excluding one permit from that: the short-term residence permit in section 21 of the Aliens Act, the one the remote-work route now runs on. Section 14 also names the instrument that governs a move of domicile to or from the other Nordic countries: the Nordic Agreement on Population Registration, as it stands from time to time.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Norway
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«Útlendingastofnun er heimilt að veita útlendingi skammtímadvalarleyfi þegar umsækjandi óskar eftir dvöl umfram 90 daga en tilgangur dvalar er ekki af ástæðu sem tilgreind er almennt í dvalarleyfisflokkum og ekki er ætlun umsækjanda að setjast að á landinu. Skammtímadvalarleyfi samkvæmt þessu ákvæði verður ekki veitt til lengri tíma en 180 daga og skal aðeins veitt einu sinni á hverju 12 mánaða tímabili. Útlendingi er ekki heimil dvöl hér á landi umfram gildistíma dvalarleyfis.»Our translation - not official
The Directorate of Immigration may grant a foreigner a short-term residence permit where the applicant seeks a stay beyond 90 days but the purpose of the stay is not for a reason generally specified in the residence-permit categories and the applicant does not intend to settle in the country. A short-term residence permit under this provision shall not be granted for longer than 180 days and shall be granted only once in any 12-month period. A foreigner is not permitted to stay in this country beyond the period of validity of the residence permit.
This provision was put here by article 23 of Act 37/2026, in force 12 May 2026. The section number is unchanged and the opening words are nearly those of the long-term visa it replaced.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The consolidated collection of Icelandic Acts, published under section 9 of the Act on Stjornartidindi and the Legal Gazette 15/2005. The minister is responsible for publishing it and a three-member editorial board appointed for five years at a time oversees it, one member nominated by the Speaker of Althingi; it is hosted on the parliament's own site. Each edition carries a number and a date - the one read here is Utgafa 158a, Islensk log 1. oktober 2026 - and an Act is served at a pinned address of the form https://www.althingi.is/lagas/<edition>/<year><number>.html, with /lagas/nuna/ as an always-latest alias. Every Act's header prints the date it came into force and a Breytt med line naming every amending Act with its own commencement. Amending Acts are worked into the parent Act, new Acts are added and repealed Acts are removed at each update. Passages inserted or substituted by a later Act are printed inside square brackets with a numbered footnote naming the amending Act and section, and repealed provisions are printed as an ellipsis with the same kind of footnote, so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Treaties given the force of law are printed in full as schedules, which is how the EEA Agreement and the Nordic Convention on Social Security are readable in Icelandic inside the statute book. The parliament separately serves each Act as passed at https://www.althingi.is/altext/stjt/<year>.<number>.html.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The lagasafn is a statutory consolidation and it is still subordinate to the gazette: section 9(1) of Act 15/2005 says that where the lagasafn text and the text published in Division A of Stjornartidindi diverge, the Stjornartidindi text governs. It must not be cited as the authentic text. It is a snapshot and not a running text - the Um lagasafn page says it is updated as a rule three times a year, at the start of the year, in spring and in autumn, with the edition numbered by legislative session and lettered a, b or c - so an Act passed since the edition date is simply not in it, and the site keeps a separate Nylega samthykkt log page for those. The square-bracket convention means a figure substituted by a later Act is printed inside brackets with a footnote marker beside it, so the number is in the collection but is not quotable as a clean sentence; the amending Act's own text has to be used instead. The collection publishes Acts only: regulations are at island.is/reglugerdir and are a different publisher. It says nothing about how an agency applies an Act - no subsistence amount, no fee, no processing time and no country list is in it.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Dvöl samkvæmt ákvæði þessu getur ekki verið grundvöllur ótímabundins dvalarleyfis eða skapað grundvöll lögheimilis hér á landi samkvæmt lögum um lögheimili og aðsetur.»Our translation - not official
A stay under this provision cannot be the basis for a permanent residence permit, nor create a basis for a registered domicile in this country under the Act on Domicile and Residence.
The second half of the sentence is new in 2026. The repealed long-term visa excluded permanent residence only.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The consolidated collection of Icelandic Acts, published under section 9 of the Act on Stjornartidindi and the Legal Gazette 15/2005. The minister is responsible for publishing it and a three-member editorial board appointed for five years at a time oversees it, one member nominated by the Speaker of Althingi; it is hosted on the parliament's own site. Each edition carries a number and a date - the one read here is Utgafa 158a, Islensk log 1. oktober 2026 - and an Act is served at a pinned address of the form https://www.althingi.is/lagas/<edition>/<year><number>.html, with /lagas/nuna/ as an always-latest alias. Every Act's header prints the date it came into force and a Breytt med line naming every amending Act with its own commencement. Amending Acts are worked into the parent Act, new Acts are added and repealed Acts are removed at each update. Passages inserted or substituted by a later Act are printed inside square brackets with a numbered footnote naming the amending Act and section, and repealed provisions are printed as an ellipsis with the same kind of footnote, so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Treaties given the force of law are printed in full as schedules, which is how the EEA Agreement and the Nordic Convention on Social Security are readable in Icelandic inside the statute book. The parliament separately serves each Act as passed at https://www.althingi.is/altext/stjt/<year>.<number>.html.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The lagasafn is a statutory consolidation and it is still subordinate to the gazette: section 9(1) of Act 15/2005 says that where the lagasafn text and the text published in Division A of Stjornartidindi diverge, the Stjornartidindi text governs. It must not be cited as the authentic text. It is a snapshot and not a running text - the Um lagasafn page says it is updated as a rule three times a year, at the start of the year, in spring and in autumn, with the edition numbered by legislative session and lettered a, b or c - so an Act passed since the edition date is simply not in it, and the site keeps a separate Nylega samthykkt log page for those. The square-bracket convention means a figure substituted by a later Act is printed inside brackets with a footnote marker beside it, so the number is in the collection but is not quotable as a clean sentence; the amending Act's own text has to be used instead. The collection publishes Acts only: regulations are at island.is/reglugerdir and are a different publisher. It says nothing about how an agency applies an Act - no subsistence amount, no fee, no processing time and no country list is in it.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Heimilt er að veita útlendingi sem er undanþeginn áritunarskyldu langtímavegabréfsáritun í allt að 180 daga til að stunda hér á landi fjarvinnu sæki hann um slíka áritun áður en hann kemur til landsins. Sé útlendingur kominn til landsins þegar sótt er um langtímavegabréfsáritun í þeim tilgangi að stunda hér á landi fjarvinnu er heimilt að veita hana í allt að 90 daga.»Our translation - not official
A foreigner who is exempt from the visa requirement may be granted a long-term visa for up to 180 days to carry out remote work in this country, provided he applies for such a visa before he comes to the country. Where the foreigner has already arrived when the application for a long-term visa for the purpose of remote work is made, it may be granted for up to 90 days.
Known to be out of date. Article 23 of Act 37/2026 replaced the long-term visa with the short-term residence permit in section 21 of the Aliens Act on 12 May 2026. This chapter of the regulation has not been rewritten and still speaks of a long-term visa. Article 22(2) of the Visa Act keeps regulations made under the Aliens Act in force so far as they do not conflict with it, until new ones are issued.
About this source
The Icelandic collection of regulations, served at island.is/reglugerdir/nr/<4-digit number>-<year>; the older address reglugerd.is/reglugerdir/allar/nr/<number>-<year> redirects to it and the two store identical text. Each record prints the regulation number, its title, the full consolidated text with later amendments worked in, and a header line giving either the date of last amendment - Reglugerd med breytingum sidast breytt 22. juni 2026 for the driving-licence regulation - or a Stofnreglugerd marker. A Syna breytingar link carries the date of the version being shown, and a Fyrri utgafa link the date of the one before it, so the version history is navigable by date.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The collection is subordinate to the gazette by its own notice: regulations are published in Division B of Stjornartidindi under section 3 of Act 15/2005, and the footer on every page says that where the text in the collection and the text published in Division B diverge, the latter governs. The version date is not always stated in words. The driving-licence regulation 830/2011 prints Reglugerd med breytingum sidast breytt 22. juni 2026; Reglugerd um utlendinga 540/2017 prints Stofnreglugerd, Reglugerd an breytinga, which is wrong on its face - that regulation has been amended at least by 1048/2020 and 818/2022, both named in the lagasafn's footnotes - and the only version date on the page is inside the Syna breytingar link, 2025-06-19. A cut-off taken from that link is an inference from a URL rather than from a sentence, and should be treated as the weaker of the two forms. The collection also keeps regulations alive that the parent Act has overtaken: chapter II of 540/2017 still grants and conditions a long-term visa that Act 37/2026 repealed in May 2026, and article 22(2) of that Act is what keeps it operative.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Útlendingur sem sækir um langtímavegabréfsáritun samkvæmt 1. mgr. skal auk almennra skilyrða sýna fram á erlendar tekjur sem samsvara kr. 1.000.000 á mánuði.»Our translation - not official
A foreigner applying under the first paragraph shall, in addition to the general conditions, demonstrate foreign income corresponding to 1,000,000 krona a month.
About this source
The Icelandic collection of regulations, served at island.is/reglugerdir/nr/<4-digit number>-<year>; the older address reglugerd.is/reglugerdir/allar/nr/<number>-<year> redirects to it and the two store identical text. Each record prints the regulation number, its title, the full consolidated text with later amendments worked in, and a header line giving either the date of last amendment - Reglugerd med breytingum sidast breytt 22. juni 2026 for the driving-licence regulation - or a Stofnreglugerd marker. A Syna breytingar link carries the date of the version being shown, and a Fyrri utgafa link the date of the one before it, so the version history is navigable by date.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The collection is subordinate to the gazette by its own notice: regulations are published in Division B of Stjornartidindi under section 3 of Act 15/2005, and the footer on every page says that where the text in the collection and the text published in Division B diverge, the latter governs. The version date is not always stated in words. The driving-licence regulation 830/2011 prints Reglugerd med breytingum sidast breytt 22. juni 2026; Reglugerd um utlendinga 540/2017 prints Stofnreglugerd, Reglugerd an breytinga, which is wrong on its face - that regulation has been amended at least by 1048/2020 and 818/2022, both named in the lagasafn's footnotes - and the only version date on the page is inside the Syna breytingar link, 2025-06-19. A cut-off taken from that link is an inference from a URL rather than from a sentence, and should be treated as the weaker of the two forms. The collection also keeps regulations alive that the parent Act has overtaken: chapter II of 540/2017 still grants and conditions a long-term visa that Act 37/2026 repealed in May 2026, and article 22(2) of that Act is what keeps it operative.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Í þeim tilvikum þegar útlendingur sækir um langtímavegabréfsáritun samkvæmt 2. mgr. þarf auk almennra skilyrða að sýna fram á að sá sem fékk áritun samkvæmt 1. mgr. hafi erlendar tekjur sem samsvara kr. 1.300.000 á mánuði.»Our translation - not official
Where a foreigner applies under the second paragraph, it must in addition to the general conditions be shown that the person who obtained the visa under the first paragraph has foreign income corresponding to 1,300,000 krona a month.
About this source
The Icelandic collection of regulations, served at island.is/reglugerdir/nr/<4-digit number>-<year>; the older address reglugerd.is/reglugerdir/allar/nr/<number>-<year> redirects to it and the two store identical text. Each record prints the regulation number, its title, the full consolidated text with later amendments worked in, and a header line giving either the date of last amendment - Reglugerd med breytingum sidast breytt 22. juni 2026 for the driving-licence regulation - or a Stofnreglugerd marker. A Syna breytingar link carries the date of the version being shown, and a Fyrri utgafa link the date of the one before it, so the version history is navigable by date.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The collection is subordinate to the gazette by its own notice: regulations are published in Division B of Stjornartidindi under section 3 of Act 15/2005, and the footer on every page says that where the text in the collection and the text published in Division B diverge, the latter governs. The version date is not always stated in words. The driving-licence regulation 830/2011 prints Reglugerd med breytingum sidast breytt 22. juni 2026; Reglugerd um utlendinga 540/2017 prints Stofnreglugerd, Reglugerd an breytinga, which is wrong on its face - that regulation has been amended at least by 1048/2020 and 818/2022, both named in the lagasafn's footnotes - and the only version date on the page is inside the Syna breytingar link, 2025-06-19. A cut-off taken from that link is an inference from a URL rather than from a sentence, and should be treated as the weaker of the two forms. The collection also keeps regulations alive that the parent Act has overtaken: chapter II of 540/2017 still grants and conditions a long-term visa that Act 37/2026 repealed in May 2026, and article 22(2) of that Act is what keeps it operative.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Með fjarvinnu skv. 1. mgr. er átt við skipulag og framkvæmd vinnu með notkun upplýsingatækni þar sem vinna sem einnig væri hægt að inna af hendi á starfsstöð erlendis er unnin utan þeirrar starfsstöðvar hér á landi. Þeim sem sinnir fjarvinnu, sbr. 1. mgr., er óheimilt að starfa í þágu innlendra aðila eða starfa á annan hátt á innlendum vinnumarkaði.»Our translation - not official
Remote work under the first paragraph means the organisation and performance of work using information technology, where work that could also be performed at a place of business abroad is performed outside that place of business in this country. A person doing remote work under the first paragraph may not work for Icelandic parties or otherwise work on the Icelandic labour market.
About this source
The Icelandic collection of regulations, served at island.is/reglugerdir/nr/<4-digit number>-<year>; the older address reglugerd.is/reglugerdir/allar/nr/<number>-<year> redirects to it and the two store identical text. Each record prints the regulation number, its title, the full consolidated text with later amendments worked in, and a header line giving either the date of last amendment - Reglugerd med breytingum sidast breytt 22. juni 2026 for the driving-licence regulation - or a Stofnreglugerd marker. A Syna breytingar link carries the date of the version being shown, and a Fyrri utgafa link the date of the one before it, so the version history is navigable by date.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The collection is subordinate to the gazette by its own notice: regulations are published in Division B of Stjornartidindi under section 3 of Act 15/2005, and the footer on every page says that where the text in the collection and the text published in Division B diverge, the latter governs. The version date is not always stated in words. The driving-licence regulation 830/2011 prints Reglugerd med breytingum sidast breytt 22. juni 2026; Reglugerd um utlendinga 540/2017 prints Stofnreglugerd, Reglugerd an breytinga, which is wrong on its face - that regulation has been amended at least by 1048/2020 and 818/2022, both named in the lagasafn's footnotes - and the only version date on the page is inside the Syna breytingar link, 2025-06-19. A cut-off taken from that link is an inference from a URL rather than from a sentence, and should be treated as the weaker of the two forms. The collection also keeps regulations alive that the parent Act has overtaken: chapter II of 540/2017 still grants and conditions a long-term visa that Act 37/2026 repealed in May 2026, and article 22(2) of that Act is what keeps it operative.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Heimilt er að veita útlendingi dvalarleyfi á grundvelli lögmæts og sérstaks tilgangs að uppfylltum skilyrðum 1. og 2. mgr. 55. gr. sé hann eldri en 18 ára og falli ekki undir ákvæði um önnur dvalarleyfi samkvæmt lögum þessum. Dvalarleyfi samkvæmt þessu ákvæði skal einungis veitt til eins árs í senn. Heimilt er að endurnýja leyfið haldist tilgangur dvalar óbreyttur.»Our translation - not official
A foreigner may be granted a residence permit on the basis of a lawful and special purpose, the conditions of section 55(1) and (2) being met, if he is over 18 and does not fall under the provisions on other residence permits under this Act. A residence permit under this provision shall be granted for one year at a time only. The permit may be renewed so long as the purpose of the stay is unchanged.
The closest thing in the Act to a catch-all. Section 79(2) says it cannot be the basis of a permanent residence permit, and section 79(3) leaves what counts as a lawful and special purpose to a ministerial regulation.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The consolidated collection of Icelandic Acts, published under section 9 of the Act on Stjornartidindi and the Legal Gazette 15/2005. The minister is responsible for publishing it and a three-member editorial board appointed for five years at a time oversees it, one member nominated by the Speaker of Althingi; it is hosted on the parliament's own site. Each edition carries a number and a date - the one read here is Utgafa 158a, Islensk log 1. oktober 2026 - and an Act is served at a pinned address of the form https://www.althingi.is/lagas/<edition>/<year><number>.html, with /lagas/nuna/ as an always-latest alias. Every Act's header prints the date it came into force and a Breytt med line naming every amending Act with its own commencement. Amending Acts are worked into the parent Act, new Acts are added and repealed Acts are removed at each update. Passages inserted or substituted by a later Act are printed inside square brackets with a numbered footnote naming the amending Act and section, and repealed provisions are printed as an ellipsis with the same kind of footnote, so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Treaties given the force of law are printed in full as schedules, which is how the EEA Agreement and the Nordic Convention on Social Security are readable in Icelandic inside the statute book. The parliament separately serves each Act as passed at https://www.althingi.is/altext/stjt/<year>.<number>.html.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The lagasafn is a statutory consolidation and it is still subordinate to the gazette: section 9(1) of Act 15/2005 says that where the lagasafn text and the text published in Division A of Stjornartidindi diverge, the Stjornartidindi text governs. It must not be cited as the authentic text. It is a snapshot and not a running text - the Um lagasafn page says it is updated as a rule three times a year, at the start of the year, in spring and in autumn, with the edition numbered by legislative session and lettered a, b or c - so an Act passed since the edition date is simply not in it, and the site keeps a separate Nylega samthykkt log page for those. The square-bracket convention means a figure substituted by a later Act is printed inside brackets with a footnote marker beside it, so the number is in the collection but is not quotable as a clean sentence; the amending Act's own text has to be used instead. The collection publishes Acts only: regulations are at island.is/reglugerdir and are a different publisher. It says nothing about how an agency applies an Act - no subsistence amount, no fee, no processing time and no country list is in it.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Sýna þarf fram á framfærslu í gjaldmiðli sem er alþjóðlega viðurkenndur og unnt er að umbreyta í mynt sem er skráð hjá Seðlabanka Íslands.»Our translation - not official
Support must be shown in a currency that is internationally recognised and can be converted into one quoted by the Central Bank of Iceland.
Section 56(1) requires any applicant over 18 to show that support is secure for the period applied for; section 56(3) excludes state and municipal social assistance from counting.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The consolidated collection of Icelandic Acts, published under section 9 of the Act on Stjornartidindi and the Legal Gazette 15/2005. The minister is responsible for publishing it and a three-member editorial board appointed for five years at a time oversees it, one member nominated by the Speaker of Althingi; it is hosted on the parliament's own site. Each edition carries a number and a date - the one read here is Utgafa 158a, Islensk log 1. oktober 2026 - and an Act is served at a pinned address of the form https://www.althingi.is/lagas/<edition>/<year><number>.html, with /lagas/nuna/ as an always-latest alias. Every Act's header prints the date it came into force and a Breytt med line naming every amending Act with its own commencement. Amending Acts are worked into the parent Act, new Acts are added and repealed Acts are removed at each update. Passages inserted or substituted by a later Act are printed inside square brackets with a numbered footnote naming the amending Act and section, and repealed provisions are printed as an ellipsis with the same kind of footnote, so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Treaties given the force of law are printed in full as schedules, which is how the EEA Agreement and the Nordic Convention on Social Security are readable in Icelandic inside the statute book. The parliament separately serves each Act as passed at https://www.althingi.is/altext/stjt/<year>.<number>.html.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The lagasafn is a statutory consolidation and it is still subordinate to the gazette: section 9(1) of Act 15/2005 says that where the lagasafn text and the text published in Division A of Stjornartidindi diverge, the Stjornartidindi text governs. It must not be cited as the authentic text. It is a snapshot and not a running text - the Um lagasafn page says it is updated as a rule three times a year, at the start of the year, in spring and in autumn, with the edition numbered by legislative session and lettered a, b or c - so an Act passed since the edition date is simply not in it, and the site keeps a separate Nylega samthykkt log page for those. The square-bracket convention means a figure substituted by a later Act is printed inside brackets with a footnote marker beside it, so the number is in the collection but is not quotable as a clean sentence; the amending Act's own text has to be used instead. The collection publishes Acts only: regulations are at island.is/reglugerdir and are a different publisher. It says nothing about how an agency applies an Act - no subsistence amount, no fee, no processing time and no country list is in it.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The general support threshold for an ordinary residence permit - the krona amount an applicant must show under section 56 of the Aliens Act - was not located in Regulation 540/2017 and is not in the Act. Nothing published by Utlendingastofnun was read for this record.
The ministerial regulation under section 79(3) defining a lawful and special purpose was not located and not read.
The claim that no ground of residence in the Act is means-tested passive income rests on reading the headings and opening paragraphs of sections 61 to 79, which are the whole of chapters VI to X. The stored reading of the Act carries sections 1 to 125 with no gaps.
Whether Utlendingastofnun is issuing short-term residence permits on the Regulation 540/2017 conditions, or on something published since May 2026, was not established.
- consolidatesLog um utlendinga, 2016 nr. 80 16. juni
Lagasafn, Althingi · consolidated to 2026-10-01
About this source
The consolidated collection of Icelandic Acts, published under section 9 of the Act on Stjornartidindi and the Legal Gazette 15/2005. The minister is responsible for publishing it and a three-member editorial board appointed for five years at a time oversees it, one member nominated by the Speaker of Althingi; it is hosted on the parliament's own site. Each edition carries a number and a date - the one read here is Utgafa 158a, Islensk log 1. oktober 2026 - and an Act is served at a pinned address of the form https://www.althingi.is/lagas/<edition>/<year><number>.html, with /lagas/nuna/ as an always-latest alias. Every Act's header prints the date it came into force and a Breytt med line naming every amending Act with its own commencement. Amending Acts are worked into the parent Act, new Acts are added and repealed Acts are removed at each update. Passages inserted or substituted by a later Act are printed inside square brackets with a numbered footnote naming the amending Act and section, and repealed provisions are printed as an ellipsis with the same kind of footnote, so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Treaties given the force of law are printed in full as schedules, which is how the EEA Agreement and the Nordic Convention on Social Security are readable in Icelandic inside the statute book. The parliament separately serves each Act as passed at https://www.althingi.is/altext/stjt/<year>.<number>.html.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The lagasafn is a statutory consolidation and it is still subordinate to the gazette: section 9(1) of Act 15/2005 says that where the lagasafn text and the text published in Division A of Stjornartidindi diverge, the Stjornartidindi text governs. It must not be cited as the authentic text. It is a snapshot and not a running text - the Um lagasafn page says it is updated as a rule three times a year, at the start of the year, in spring and in autumn, with the edition numbered by legislative session and lettered a, b or c - so an Act passed since the edition date is simply not in it, and the site keeps a separate Nylega samthykkt log page for those. The square-bracket convention means a figure substituted by a later Act is printed inside brackets with a footnote marker beside it, so the number is in the collection but is not quotable as a clean sentence; the amending Act's own text has to be used instead. The collection publishes Acts only: regulations are at island.is/reglugerdir and are a different publisher. It says nothing about how an agency applies an Act - no subsistence amount, no fee, no processing time and no country list is in it.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- consolidatesReglugerd um utlendinga nr. 540/2017
Reglugerdasafn, Domsmalaraduneytid · consolidated to 2025-06-19
About this source
The Icelandic collection of regulations, served at island.is/reglugerdir/nr/<4-digit number>-<year>; the older address reglugerd.is/reglugerdir/allar/nr/<number>-<year> redirects to it and the two store identical text. Each record prints the regulation number, its title, the full consolidated text with later amendments worked in, and a header line giving either the date of last amendment - Reglugerd med breytingum sidast breytt 22. juni 2026 for the driving-licence regulation - or a Stofnreglugerd marker. A Syna breytingar link carries the date of the version being shown, and a Fyrri utgafa link the date of the one before it, so the version history is navigable by date.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The collection is subordinate to the gazette by its own notice: regulations are published in Division B of Stjornartidindi under section 3 of Act 15/2005, and the footer on every page says that where the text in the collection and the text published in Division B diverge, the latter governs. The version date is not always stated in words. The driving-licence regulation 830/2011 prints Reglugerd med breytingum sidast breytt 22. juni 2026; Reglugerd um utlendinga 540/2017 prints Stofnreglugerd, Reglugerd an breytinga, which is wrong on its face - that regulation has been amended at least by 1048/2020 and 818/2022, both named in the lagasafn's footnotes - and the only version date on the page is inside the Syna breytingar link, 2025-06-19. A cut-off taken from that link is an inference from a URL rather than from a sentence, and should be treated as the weaker of the two forms. The collection also keeps regulations alive that the parent Act has overtaken: chapter II of 540/2017 still grants and conditions a long-term visa that Act 37/2026 repealed in May 2026, and article 22(2) of that Act is what keeps it operative.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- consolidatesLog um utlendinga, 2016 nr. 80, lagasafn edition 157a of 17 January 2026
Lagasafn, Althingi · consolidated to 2026-01-17
About this source
The consolidated collection of Icelandic Acts, published under section 9 of the Act on Stjornartidindi and the Legal Gazette 15/2005. The minister is responsible for publishing it and a three-member editorial board appointed for five years at a time oversees it, one member nominated by the Speaker of Althingi; it is hosted on the parliament's own site. Each edition carries a number and a date - the one read here is Utgafa 158a, Islensk log 1. oktober 2026 - and an Act is served at a pinned address of the form https://www.althingi.is/lagas/<edition>/<year><number>.html, with /lagas/nuna/ as an always-latest alias. Every Act's header prints the date it came into force and a Breytt med line naming every amending Act with its own commencement. Amending Acts are worked into the parent Act, new Acts are added and repealed Acts are removed at each update. Passages inserted or substituted by a later Act are printed inside square brackets with a numbered footnote naming the amending Act and section, and repealed provisions are printed as an ellipsis with the same kind of footnote, so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Treaties given the force of law are printed in full as schedules, which is how the EEA Agreement and the Nordic Convention on Social Security are readable in Icelandic inside the statute book. The parliament separately serves each Act as passed at https://www.althingi.is/altext/stjt/<year>.<number>.html.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The lagasafn is a statutory consolidation and it is still subordinate to the gazette: section 9(1) of Act 15/2005 says that where the lagasafn text and the text published in Division A of Stjornartidindi diverge, the Stjornartidindi text governs. It must not be cited as the authentic text. It is a snapshot and not a running text - the Um lagasafn page says it is updated as a rule three times a year, at the start of the year, in spring and in autumn, with the edition numbered by legislative session and lettered a, b or c - so an Act passed since the edition date is simply not in it, and the site keeps a separate Nylega samthykkt log page for those. The square-bracket convention means a figure substituted by a later Act is printed inside brackets with a footnote marker beside it, so the number is in the collection but is not quotable as a clean sentence; the amending Act's own text has to be used instead. The collection publishes Acts only: regulations are at island.is/reglugerdir and are a different publisher. It says nothing about how an agency applies an Act - no subsistence amount, no fee, no processing time and no country list is in it.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source