No Salary Floor Anywhere: the Test Is the Collective Agreement, and in June 2026 the Work Permit Changed Hands From the Labour Directorate to the Immigration Directorate
This replaces the general rule for you
No Work Permit, No Collective-Agreement Test, No Directorate: the Exemption Is the First Item on the First List in the Act
The two-permit structure of the base rule - a residence permit under sections 61 to 64 of the Aliens Act conditional on a work permit under the Foreign Nationals' Right to Work Act - does not reach an EEA or EFTA national. Section 22(a) of that Act exempts nationals of the states party to the EEA Agreement and the EFTA Convention from the work-permit requirement entirely, in the same breath as nationals of the Faroe Islands. What is left is chapter XI of the Aliens Act: section 84(1)(a) makes being an employee or a self-employed person in Iceland a ground for staying beyond three months in its own right, with no money test attached to it, and section 89 then requires registration within three months of arrival. Section 84(3) keeps the status of worker through temporary incapacity, through involuntary unemployment after more than a year of work, for at least six months after involuntary unemployment at the end of a contract shorter than a year, and through vocational training connected to the previous job.
Working in Iceland takes two permissions under two statutes. Section 50(2) of the Aliens Act says a foreigner who intends to take employment needs a residence permit as well as a work permit where the Foreign Nationals' Right to Work Act requires one, and each of the four work-based residence permits in sections 61 to 64 is conditional on the matching work permit having already been granted. Until 30 June 2026 the work permit came from Vinnumalastofnun, the Directorate of Labour. Act 79/2026 substituted Utlendingastofnun for it throughout the Act in a single amending article and provided in terms that the Directorate of Immigration takes over the Directorate of Labour's duties for administering and issuing temporary work permits, including the applications already in the queue. One body now decides both halves. What the Act does not contain is a salary number. The general condition in section 7(1)(c) is a signed contract securing the foreigner wages and other terms equal to locals in accordance with the Acts and collective agreements in force, and where a job falls outside any collective agreement the same equality test applies with the tax authority's imputed-income reference figures, Statistics Iceland data and independent pay surveys as evidence. Iceland is the only Nordic country in this corpus with no figure at all.
At a glance
- Minimum salary
- None stated - the test is equality with locals under the collective agreement covering the job
Section 7(1)(c) of the Foreign Nationals' Right to Work Act 97/2002. Where no collective agreement covers the job the same equality test applies, evidenced by the tax authority's reiknad endurgjald reference figures, Statistics Iceland data and independent pay surveys.
- Who issues the work permit
- Utlendingastofnun, the Directorate of Immigration, since 30 June 2026
Article 23(2) of Act 79/2026. Before that it was Vinnumalastofnun, the Directorate of Labour, and article 1 of the same Act replaced the word throughout the 2002 Act.
- First expert permit
- Up to four years, never longer than the work permit
Section 61(2) of the Aliens Act, as amended by Act 56/2023. Renewable for up to four years at a time.
- First shortage permit
- One year, renewable for up to two years at a time
Section 62(2) of the Aliens Act. Section 62(3) allows a longer first permit for a clearly delimited and time-limited project.
- If the job ends
- One year to look for other expert work, or six months on the shortage route
Sections 61(3) and 62(4) of the Aliens Act, both added by Act 56/2023. The permit may be granted without an application and without a work permit in place.
- Agency work
- No work permit may be granted for a job at a temporary-work agency
Section 7(2) of the Foreign Nationals' Right to Work Act, inserted by Act 78/2008.
- Which permits lead to permanent residence
- The expert, shortage and athlete permits do; the service-contract permit in section 64 does not
Sections 61(4), 62(5), 63(3) and 64(3) of the Aliens Act, each saying so in its own closing sentence.
- Self-employment
- Prohibited unless you are exempt from the work-permit requirement
Section 50(2) of the Aliens Act and section 6 of the Foreign Nationals' Right to Work Act. There is no self-employed work permit in the Act's list.
Requirements
- A residence permit under section 61, 62, 63 or 64 of the Aliens Act, and the matching temporary work permit under the Foreign Nationals' Right to Work Act
- A signed employment contract for a fixed period or a project, securing wages and terms equal to locals under the applicable collective agreement
- For the shortage route and generally, that staff cannot be found in Iceland, the EEA, the EFTA states or the Faroe Islands, after a search with the Directorate's help
- For the expert route, a university, trade, artistic or technical qualification recognised in Iceland, or equivalent expertise
- The employer's undertaking to pay for your repatriation at the end of the work period in the cases the Act names
- Secure support and health insurance, and the other general conditions of section 55 of the Aliens Act
In detail
The number that is not there
Denmark names 400,000 and 375,000 kroner in its Aliens Act. Sweden writes ninety per cent of the median wage into chapter 6 of its Aliens Act. Finland carries 1,134 euros borrowed from the Unemployment Security Act and 1,600 from a government decree. Iceland names nothing. The whole of the pay condition is that the contract must secure wages and other terms equal to locals in accordance with the Acts and collective agreements in force, which means the floor is whatever the agreement covering that job says, and there is no single figure to publish. The effect is that an Icelandic work permit cannot be priced in advance from the statute book the way the other three can, and that the floor moves when the sector's agreement is renegotiated rather than when Parliament acts.
One amending article moved an entire function
Article 1 of Act 79/2026 is a list of subsection references followed by the words: in place of the word Vinnumalastofnun there shall come Utlendingastofnun. It touches sections 4, 7, 8, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25 and 34 of the 2002 Act. Article 23(2) then states the transfer in substance, article 23(3) sends the pending applications across, and article 23(4) leaves appeals already lodged with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Housing with the Immigration Appeals Board. Anything written about Icelandic work permits before July 2026 names the wrong authority.
Four permits, and only three of them go anywhere
Section 61 is the expert permit - a job that by law or custom requires particular expertise, and a university, trade, artistic or technical qualification recognised in Iceland, or expertise equivalent to one. Section 62 is the shortage permit, for a job that cannot be filled from Iceland, the EEA, EFTA or the Faroes. Section 63 is for athletes at a club inside the Icelandic sports federation. Section 64 is for specialists sent here by an employer with no establishment in Iceland under a service or cooperation contract, is granted for a year at a time on the same contract, and is the only one of the four that section 64(3) says cannot found a permanent residence permit.
The labour-market test names the Faroe Islands
Section 7(1)(a) requires that staff be obtainable neither on the Icelandic labour market nor within the European Economic Area, the EFTA states or the Faroe Islands. The Faroes are part of the Kingdom of Denmark and outside both the European Union and the EEA, so they are not covered by either of the first two phrases; Iceland adds them by name. The same subsection, as amended by Act 79/2026, now lets the Directorate decide that a search for staff is plainly unnecessary in view of the supply and state of the labour market, which is a second way past the test alongside the older one that a search would foreseeably be fruitless.
What applies to you
No Work Permit, No Collective-Agreement Test, No Directorate: the Exemption Is the First Item on the First List in the Act
The two-permit structure of the base rule - a residence permit under sections 61 to 64 of the Aliens Act conditional on a work permit under the Foreign Nationals' Right to Work Act - does not reach an EEA or EFTA national. Section 22(a) of that Act exempts nationals of the states party to the EEA Agreement and the EFTA Convention from the work-permit requirement entirely, in the same breath as nationals of the Faroe Islands. What is left is chapter XI of the Aliens Act: section 84(1)(a) makes being an employee or a self-employed person in Iceland a ground for staying beyond three months in its own right, with no money test attached to it, and section 89 then requires registration within three months of arrival. Section 84(3) keeps the status of worker through temporary incapacity, through involuntary unemployment after more than a year of work, for at least six months after involuntary unemployment at the end of a contract shorter than a year, and through vocational training connected to the previous job.
- A valid passport or national identity document
- Employment or self-employment in Iceland, or one of the other grounds in section 84(1)
- Registration within three months of arrival, which produces a registration certificate
What the law says
«Útlendingur sem hyggst ráða sig til starfa hér á landi þarf að hafa dvalarleyfi auk atvinnuleyfis þar sem það er áskilið í lögum um atvinnuréttindi útlendinga. Útlendingi er óheimilt að starfa hér á landi sem sjálfstætt starfandi einstaklingur nema viðkomandi sé undanþeginn kröfu um atvinnuleyfi samkvæmt lögum um atvinnuréttindi útlendinga.»Our translation - not official
A foreigner who intends to take employment in this country must hold a residence permit as well as a work permit where one is required under the Act on the right of foreign nationals to work. A foreigner may not work in this country as a self-employed person unless he is exempt from the work-permit requirement under that Act.
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
«Fyrir liggi undirritaður ráðningarsamningur til tiltekins tíma eða vegna verkefnis milli atvinnurekanda og útlendings sem tryggi útlendingnum laun og önnur starfskjör til jafns við heimamenn í samræmi við gildandi lög og kjarasamninga þar um.»Our translation - not official
There shall be a signed employment contract for a specified period or for a project between the employer and the foreigner, securing the foreigner wages and other terms of employment equal to those of locals in accordance with the Acts and collective agreements in force on the matter.
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
«m.a. heimilt að líta til viðmiðunarfjárhæða samkvæmt reglum ríkisskattstjóra um reiknað endurgjald sem og upplýsinga frá Hagstofu Íslands og launakannana sem gerðar hafa verið af óháðum aðilum»Our translation - not official
may have regard among other things to the reference amounts under the Director of Internal Revenue's rules on imputed remuneration, and to information from Statistics Iceland and pay surveys carried out by independent parties
This is how the equality test is evidenced where the job falls outside any collective agreement. The reiknad endurgjald rules are a tax instrument and were not read for this record.
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
«Starfsfólk fáist hvorki á innlendum vinnumarkaði né innan Evrópska efnahagssvæðisins, EFTA-ríkja eða Færeyja eða aðrar sérstakar ástæður mæli með leyfisveitingu.»Our translation - not official
Staff can be obtained neither on the domestic labour market nor within the European Economic Area, the EFTA states or the Faroe Islands, or other special reasons favour granting the permit.
The Faroe Islands are named beside the EEA and EFTA. They are in none of the three and the labour-market test treats them as if they were.
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
«Óheimilt er að veita atvinnuleyfi samkvæmt lögum þessum vegna starfa hjá starfsmannaleigum.»Our translation - not official
A work permit may not be granted under this Act for work at a temporary-work agency.
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
«Við gildistöku laga þessara tekur Útlendingastofnun við skyldum Vinnumálastofnunar um umsýslu og útgáfu tímabundinna atvinnuleyfa.»Our translation - not official
On the entry into force of this Act the Directorate of Immigration takes over the Directorate of Labour's duties for the administration and issue of temporary work permits.
Article 23(1) says the Act enters into force at once. Article 23(3) sends the unfinished applications to the Directorate of Immigration; article 23(4) leaves appeals already lodged with the ministry to the Immigration Appeals Board.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Althingi's service of each Act as passed, at https://www.althingi.is/altext/stjt/<year>.<number>.html. The page is the parliamentary document for the bill as enacted - it prints the thingskjal number, the session, the case number and the line Log nr. N <date> - and gives the Act's own text including its amending articles and its commencement article. This is the only way to read what an amending Act actually said, which matters because the lagasafn folds amendments into the parent Act and prints only the result. It is also where the words being replaced are recorded: an Icelandic amending article is written as in place of the words X there shall come Y, so the Act itself is the evidence of what the rule used to be. A PDF and a WordPerfect version are linked from each page.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: This is Althingi's reproduction of the enacted text, not the gazette. The authentic publication is Division A of Stjornartidindi at stjornartidindi.is, and section 8 of Act 15/2005 ties legal effect to publication there. An amending Act read here is also the text as passed and carries no later amendment of itself, so it must never be cited for what the law is now - only for what a particular Act did on a particular day. It does not say whether the change it makes is still in force.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Útlendingastofnun er heimilt að leita umsagnar stéttarfélags eða landssambands launafólks í hlutaðeigandi starfsgrein um laun og önnur starfskjör útlendings telji stofnunin þörf á.»Our translation - not official
The Directorate of Immigration may seek the opinion of the trade union or national federation of employees in the relevant occupation on the foreigner's wages and other terms of employment, if the Directorate considers it necessary.
Added by article 3 of Act 79/2026. The union's view on pay is now a step the immigration authority may take inside its own decision.
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
«Dvalarleyfi samkvæmt ákvæði þessu skal í fyrsta skipti ekki veitt til lengri tíma en eins árs, þó aldrei til lengri tíma en nemur gildistíma atvinnuleyfis.»Our translation - not official
A residence permit under this provision shall not be granted for the first time for longer than one year, and never for longer than the period of validity of the work permit.
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
Practical notes
No pay figure is published here because the Act publishes none. The collective agreements that set the floor are made by unions and employers and were not read.
Regulation 339/2005, made under section 4 of the Foreign Nationals' Right to Work Act, and Regulation 707/2023, which carries the list of occupations in temporary shortage under section 8(3), were not read.
The exemptions in chapter III of the Foreign Nationals' Right to Work Act, which say who may work without a permit, were not read in full for this record.
Nothing published by Utlendingastofnun or Vinnumalastofnun was read. Whether the transfer of function in June 2026 has changed processing times or practice is not something this record can say.
- consolidatesLog um atvinnurettindi utlendinga, 2002 nr. 97 10. mai
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
- 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
- issuesLog nr. 79 30. juni 2026 um breytingu a logum um utlendinga og logum um atvinnurettindi utlendinga (utgafa dvalar- og atvinnuleyfa)
Althingi, Stjornartidindi A-deild texts
About this source
Althingi's service of each Act as passed, at https://www.althingi.is/altext/stjt/<year>.<number>.html. The page is the parliamentary document for the bill as enacted - it prints the thingskjal number, the session, the case number and the line Log nr. N <date> - and gives the Act's own text including its amending articles and its commencement article. This is the only way to read what an amending Act actually said, which matters because the lagasafn folds amendments into the parent Act and prints only the result. It is also where the words being replaced are recorded: an Icelandic amending article is written as in place of the words X there shall come Y, so the Act itself is the evidence of what the rule used to be. A PDF and a WordPerfect version are linked from each page.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: This is Althingi's reproduction of the enacted text, not the gazette. The authentic publication is Division A of Stjornartidindi at stjornartidindi.is, and section 8 of Act 15/2005 ties legal effect to publication there. An amending Act read here is also the text as passed and carries no later amendment of itself, so it must never be cited for what the law is now - only for what a particular Act did on a particular day. It does not say whether the change it makes is still in force.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source