English

I. General information about the benefits

Child benefit

• Child benefit is granted from the month following the birth of the child or from the month after you and the child arrive in Norway. If the child is born in Norway after you have been registered in the population register, Child benefit will, as a general rule, be granted automatically.
• If you are caring for a child on your own, you may, under certain conditions, receive Child benefit for one more child than you actually have.
• Child benefit is given up to and including the month before the child reaches the age of 18.
• Child benefit amounts to NOK 970 per child per month.

Cash benefit

• Cash benefit is granted for children between the ages of one to three years, and for adopted children who have not started school.
• The condition for receiving cash benefit is that the child does not have a full-time place at a publicly supported day care institution. A full-time place means that the child has been accepted for attendance of 33 hours or more a week at the day-care institution. If the agreed attendance time is less, partial cash benefit will be given according to a graduated scale.
• Cash benefit will be granted for a maximum of 23 months.
• Full cash benefit amounts to NOK 3,303 per month for one child.

Payment dates

• Both Child benefit and cash benefit are paid at the end of every month.

II. Child benefit and cash benefit may be given in accordance with several option criteria

Option 1:

You live in Norway together with your family

• When the whole family lives in Norway and will be residing here for at least 12 months, you are entitled to Child benefit and cash benefit. This applies to all foreign nationals who are resident in Norway and registered on the Norwegian population register.
• If you are a national of an EEA country and are working in Norway, you are entitled to Child benefit and cash benefit even if you have been residing in Norway for less than 12 months.

Option 2:

You are a national of an EEA country and are working in Norway whereas your family are living in your home country

• If the child’s other parent is working in their home country, either as a wage earner or as self-employed, and has the right to the same type of benefit there, the benefit in the home country will be taken into account when the Norwegian benefit is assessed. The same will apply if the other of the child’s parents receives unemployment benefits in the home country. If the benefit in the home country is less than the Norwegian benefit, Child benefit and cash benefit in Norway will be paid by that amount which exceeds the benefit in the home country.
• If the child’s other parent is not employed in the home country and does not receive unemployment benefits, you are entitled to Child benefit and cash benefit from Norway.
• EEA nationals who are working on board a Norwegian ship or on the Norwegian continental shelf are treated equally to foreign employees on the Norwegian mainland.

Option 3:

You have been posted from an EEA country to work in Norway

• If your employer in your home country (EEA country) has sent you on assignment to Norway, you are not entitled to Child benefit or cash benefit in Norway. The reason is that you still have an employer in your home country and are still a member of the social insurance scheme there.
• If your spouse and child are with you in Norway and your spouse takes up employment here, he/she will become a member of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme. He/she will then be entitled to Child benefit and cash benefit even if their residence in Norway is less than 12 months. The condition is that the spouse and child are nationals of an EEA country. If residence lasts longer than 12 months, the spouse will be entitled to Child benefit and cash benefit even if he/she does not take up employment in Norway. If you receive similar benefit for the child in your home country, the spouse in the latter case will only be paid the amount by which the Norwegian benefit may exceed that benefit in the home country.

III. Application for Child benefit and cash benefit

• Application for Child benefit and cash benefit must be made on the appropriate forms. There is one form for Child benefit and one form for cash benefit.
• You can obtain the application forms at NAV Local Services where you live, or you can print them out from www.nav.no.
• You must hand in the forms to NAV Local Services where you live.
• If you are working on board a Norwegian ship or on the Norwegian continental shelf, you must send the forms to: NAV National Office for Social Insurance Abroad, PO Box 8138 Dep., 0033 Oslo.

IV. Documentation that must accompany the application form in EEA cases

• When you submit your claim for Child benefit or cash benefit, you must enclose a certificate from your home country confirming that you are the parent of the child for whom you are seeking benefit. The population register or other competent authority must complete the certificate. This form is the same for all EEA countries and it is the form in the language of the home country that must be used.
• Documentary proof of employment in Norway.
• A document (for example tax card) showing which Norwegian personal identity number or “D” number you have been given.
• If you care for the child on your own and are applying for extended Child benefit – and the child is living in your home country (EEA country) – you must provide details of who is caring for the child. You must also provide the carer’s address. You must also submit details of separation or divorce or other supporting documentation confirming that you are caring for the child on your own. 
• When you complete the application form for cash benefit it is very important that you fill in box 5 of the application form. If the child goes to a publicly supported day care institution or a direct grant day care institution, you must enclose a confirmation from the day care facility stating the maximum number of hours the child may attend the day care centre a week.
• When NAV Local Services or NAV National Office for Social Insurance Abroad has received your application, NAV must, as a rule, obtain details from your home country, about whether you or the other parent are receiving Child benefit or a benefit similar to cash benefit. In some countries, there is one central institution that will answer enquiries like this, whereas in others this is done at regional or local level. You must therefore state the municipality and the region (county/state or similar) in which your family members live.