Child benefit and cash-for-care benefit to foreign employees in Norway

When are you eligible for child benefit and cash-for-care benefit?

If you live in Norway together with your family

• When the whole family lives in Norway and will be staying here for at least 12 months, you may be entitled to child benefit and cash-for-care benefit. This applies to all foreign nationals who are resident in Norway, registered in the Norwegian population register, and have a residence permit or legal residence on other grounds.
• If you are a citizen of an EEA country or a third country citizen considered to be in a family relationship with an EEA citizen*, and you work in Norway, you may be entitled to child benefit and cash-for-care benefit even if you will be residing in Norway for less than 12 months.
• To qualify for cash-for-care benefits, there is an added condition: you need to have been member of the National Insurance Scheme in Norway or a social security scheme in another EEA member state for at least 5 years. To meet the requirements of 5 years membership in a social security scheme, you can add periods of membership both from Norway and from other EEA countries.

*EEA citizens and family members of EEA citizens are covered by the EEA Regulation that applies to these benefits. Nordic conventions and certain social security agreements may entail that citizens of non-EEA countries who are not considered family members of an EEA citizen are also covered by the EEA Directive.

If you are a citizen of an EEA country and work in Norway while your family lives in another EEA country

• If the parent who lives in the other EEA country is working or receiving a benefit equaling employment, and is entitled to child benefit and cash-for-care benefit in another EEA country, NAV will pay the difference between the Norwegian benefit and the benefit paid by the other EEA country.
• If the parent who lives in the other EEA country is not working and or receiving a benefit equaling employment, the parent who works in Norway is entitled to full payment of child benefit and cash-for-care benefit from Norway.
• EEA citizens who work on board a Norwegian ship or on the Norwegian continental shelf have the same rights as foreign employees on the Norwegian mainland. However, this does not apply to sailors from Latvia, Poland and Romania who work on ships registered in the "Norwegian International Ship Register”. To them, the social insurance legislation of their home country applies.

If you live with the child in another EEA country, and the other parent works in Norway

You may be entitled to child benefit and cash-for-care benefit from Norway if the other parent works or receives national insurance benefits or a pension from Norway. This also applies if you and the other parent are divorced, separated, or have never lived together.

You can apply in the country you live, or send an application directly to NAV.

When NAV receives your application, we will investigate the other parent’s situation and consider whether you are entitled to child benefit or cash-for-care benefit from Norway. We will always collect information about your situation from the country you live in.

If you live alone with the child, the child benefit or cash-for-care benefit will be paid to you.

If you are a single parent, you may also be entitled to extended child benefit.

If you have been posted from an EEA country to work in Norway

• If your employer in the EEA country has sent you on an assignment to Norway, you are not entitled to child benefit or cash-for-care benefit in Norway. The reason for this is that you still have an employer in the other country, and you are still a member of the social insurance scheme there.
• If your spouse / cohabiting partner moves with you to Norway and he/she is to be considered a resident in Norway according to EEA regulations, he/she may be entitled to child benefit and cash-for-care benefit even if the residence in Norway is less than 12 months. To determine whether he or she is to be regarded as a resident in Norway according to EEA regulations, we must consider each case individually. We look at the duration of the stay, family ties and housing situation.
• If your spouse / cohabiting partner and child move with you to Norway, and your spouse / cohabiting partner takes up employment here, he/she will become a member of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme. He or she will then be entitled to child benefit and cash-for-care benefit, even if their residence in Norway is less than 12 months.

If you have been posted from a country other than EEA that Norway has a social security agreement with

• If your employer has sent you on an assignment to Norway, you are not entitled to child benefit or cash-for-care benefit in Norway. The reason for this is that you still have an employer in the other country, and you are still a member of the social insurance scheme there.
• If your spouse / cohabiting partner and child move with you to Norway, and your spouse / cohabiting partner takes up employment here, he/she will become a member of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme. He or she will then be entitled to child benefit. If the both of you already have five years of membership in a social insurance scheme in either Norway, EEA countries or a combination of the two, you may also be entitled to cash-for-care-benefit.

How to apply for cash benefit and cash-for-care benefit?

You can apply here:

• child benefit
• cash-for-care benefit

You must enclose the following with your Application

• A certificate from your home country confirming that you are the parent of the child for whom you are claiming benefits (birth certificate) if the child is not registered in the Norwegian Population Register. The population register or other competent authority in your home country must issue this certificate.
• Identification numbers from your home country for you, your child, and the other parent.
• Proof of employment in Norway (copy of your employment contract).
• To qualify for cash-for-care benefit, you must also include documentation from one or more EEA countries that you have been covered by a social insurance scheme for at least 5 years. If you have been a member of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme for 5 years, you do not need to attach such confirmation. Periods of coverage in Norwegian and foreign social security schemes, respectively, can be added to achieve at least 5 years of social security coverage. Note that only citizens from EEA countries or third-country nationals who are family members of an EEA citizen can combine social security periods from other EEA countries with Norwegian social security periods. If the social security period is from another Nordic country, citizenship is irrelevant.

If you are self-employed, please submit the following:

• A copy of assignment orders and invoices for the period before you became liable for VAT registration, and a customer ledger summary for the period after you became liable for VAT registration.
• A Certificate of Registration for your enterprises from the Brønnøysund Register Centre.

If you are sole caregiver for your child and are claiming extended child benefit and the child is living in another EEA country, you must provide details of the name, address and ID number of the person who is caring for your child. You must also document that you are the sole caregiver. Valid documents are a separate or divorce certificate as well as a copy of any agreement / decision regarding the child’s residence.

When you fill out the application form for cash-for-care benefit, it is important that you fill out item 5 about attendance in day-care centre. If the child attends a day-care centre that receives public funding or grants, you must enclose confirmation from the day-care centre, stating the maximum number of hours the child is allowed to attend the day-care centre.

When NAV has received your application, NAV is normally obliged to collect documentation from your home country, including whether you or the other parent of the child are receiving child benefit or an equivalent benefit. In some countries there is a central institution that will respond to these types of enquiries, while in other countries this is done at regional or local levels. Therefore, you must specify the municipality and region (county/state or similar) in which your family members are living.

About child benefit and cash-for-care benefit

Child benefit is granted from the month following the birth of the child or from the month after the conditions are met. If the child is born in Norway after you have been registered in the population register, the child benefit will, generally, be granted automatically. Read more about the child benefit.

Cash-for-care benefit is granted for children between the ages of one to two years old. For adopted children the benefit is granted up to 11 months after the period of parental benefit has ended given that the child has not started school yet. Read more about cash-for-care benefit.

Notify changes

If there are changes in your family and / or job situation or you are planning to stay abroad, this may affect the amount you receive from NAV. In such cases, you must notify NAV immediately. You also have to notify NAV if your or your child’s permit of residence has expired, or if the child is going to attend a child-care centre (if you are receiving cash-for-care benefit).