You are considered a single parent if all of the following apply to you:

• you have at least 60 per cent of the daily care of children alone
• you are a biological parent, adoptive parent or have legally taken over custody of children
• you are unmarried, separated, divorced or have applied to the County Governor or court for a separation or divorce
• you live alone with child(ren) or share a home with another adult with whom you are not in a relationship
• you do not live very close to the other parent, i.e. the same building, the same block of flats, next door, or a building around the same courtyard, etc. We can make exceptions if you have not had the opportunity to choose freely where to live.

You are not considered a single parent if:

• you are living (cohabiting) with your partner, regardless of whether this person is the child’s other parent or not
• you or the other parent is receiving or has previously received benefit for single parents and have another child with the same partner
• you are fostering the child you are a single parent of
• you spend so much time with the child’s other parent that you cannot be considered a single parent

In general, you and your children must live in Norway for you to receive single parent benefits. In some cases, you may still be entitled to single parent benefits if you move or stay abroad.

For single parents who are EEA citizens or family members of an EEA citizen:

• Benefit recipients can still receive the benefit when staying in other EEA countries, provided that other conditions are met.
• You may be entitled to benefits if you are an employee in Norway, but you and your child live in another EEA country (e.g., you live in Sweden and work in Norway).
• You have an independent right to the benefit if you live with the child in another EEA country, while the other parent works or receives social security benefits or a pension from Norway.

Generally, you must have been a member of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme for the last 5 years to qualify for the benefit. We can make exceptions if you or the other parent have a strong connection to Norway.

Separate rules for membership for EEA citizens

Social security periods from other EEA countries may count as equivalent to periods of membership in the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme. In other words, Nav may include social security periods from other EEA countries when we consider if you meet the requirement of 5 years membership in the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme. Social security periods in other EEA countries must be documented.

Only EEA citizens or family members of EEA citizens, can add social security periods from other EEA countries to periods of membership in the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme. If the social security periods are from another Nordic country, citizenship does not matter.

Age requirements vary depending on whether the new or previous rules apply.

New rules

Your youngest child must be under 14 months. In some cases, you may receive the benefit beyond this point. See the section “How long can you receive transitional benefit for?”

Previous rules

Your youngest child must be under 8 years old. In some cases, you may receive the benefit beyond this point. See the section “How long can you receive transitional benefit for?”

You must work at least half of what corresponds to full time in your occupation.

The work must be paid according to a collective wage agreement or customary rates for the occupation. We may make exceptions to this rule if you have an internship, an unpaid apprenticeship contract, or are self-employed.

To qualify for transitional benefit while taking education, this education must be necessary in order for you to be able to get a job and support yourself.

We assess the education you want to take when you apply for benefit or if you are already receiving benefit and are going to start education. In this context, we will assess:

• your goal for taking this particular education
• whether education is necessary for you to achieve this goal
• whether the education is appropriate. In this context, we will assess, among other things, both the needs on the labour market and the opportunities available to you

If you already have an education that means you are qualified for an occupation or that can be used in multiple occupations, you will not generally be granted support to take more education.

However, we may make exceptions if you have an education or occupational experience that is no longer relevant in today’s labour market. Education from a university college or university does not become outdated.

We may also make exceptions to this rule if your education or occupation is not compatible with looking after children..

The main rule is that only public education is approved. Only in very special cases can we approve private education. We can also inform you about and advise you on choice of occupation and education. We can also help you create an activity plan, and in some cases offer other measures, such as internships or courses.

You must be in at least 50 per cent education in order to qualify for transitional benefit.

When you take an education that Nav has approved, you can also receive support for tuition fees. The benefit covers the expenses you have for tuition fees, semester fees and exam fees up to a limit.

Expenses for learning materials, travel, relocation and extra living expenses in connection with the education can be applied for reimbursement by supplementary benefits. Additional benefits can also help cover expenses you have for childcare

As a job seeker you must:

• be able to work, and willing to take any work that is paid according to a collective wage agreement or customary rates for the occupation. 50 per cent activity is sufficient
• be willing to participate in labour market schemes
• be able to start working within one week. You must therefore be able to arrange child minding at short notice. If you do not accept job offers, labour market schemes or do not attend meetings, you may lose your right to the benefit for one month

We do not require that you have to move or commute to take work or participate in a labour market scheme you have been offered. You can choose to look for work only in the area close to where you live, such that the time it takes you to travel using a means of transport between your home and your place of work is not more than one hour each way. This does not include the time it takes you to walk between your home and the means of transport, and between the means of transport and your place of work. Nor are you under any obligation to apply for full-time, evening, night, weekend or shift work.

We can inform you about and advise you on choice of occupation and education, and in some cases offer other measures, such as internships or courses.

If you are a job seeker and are applying for or receiving transitional benefit, you must:

1. Register with Nav as a job seeker

2. Register your CV and make sure it remains up to date

3. Search for vacant positions (jobs)

4. Confirm that you will be a job seeker every 14 days

If you are already receiving transitional benefit and become a job seeker, you must also fill out the form for single parents who are looking for work (in Norwegian).

The confirmation you must submit every 14 days gives us information about whether you still want to be registered as a job seeker and whether you have worked in the last 14 days. If your income changes, you must notify us, in addition to submitting an employment status card.

If you do not submit the confirmation, or answer «no» to the question of whether you still want to be registered as a job seeker, you will no longer be registered as a job seeker. You may then lose your right to benefit, and you will no longer be listed as a candidate when an employer reports assignments or vacant positions to Nav.

If you are removed from our register, you must reregister as a job seeker with Nav and fill out the form for single parents who are looking for work again. It is not enough that you submit a new employment status card.

If  you are a single mother or father and registered as a jobseeker with Nav, you may also be entitled to additional benefits.

Requirements to the business:

• Setting up the business will enable you to support yourself
• The business must be new
• You must either own over half of the business alone, or together with one or more other recipients of unemployment benefit
• You must set up and run the business in Norway
• You must register your business in the necessary public registers during the start-up period

If you receive unemployment benefit while you are setting up your own business, this means this is approved by us and you are entitled to benefit.

If you do not receive unemployment benefit while you are setting up your own business, you must obtain a commercial assessment from the municipal or county authorities or another professional body. We need this assessment to decide whether the business can be approved as occupational activity.

We do not require you to work, study or seek work if your child is ill, but you do need to provide documentation proving that the child’s illness is the reason for this.

If you cannot work, study or seek work because your child needs extra supervision due to physical, mental or major social problems, you can receive transitional benefit until the child turns 18.

The doctor must provide documentation of the child’s physical or mental condition. The documentation must describe the extent to which your child’s supervision and care needs prevent you from working or affect your work opportunities.

You are not entitled to this benefit if others can take care of your child.

If you do not have child minding, we can grant exemption from the duty to be in work-related activity. You must provide documentation that you have applied for a place in a kindergarten or child care at school outside school hours (SFO), and that your application has been denied or you have been put on a waiting list.

You must apply for a place in a kindergarten before the child turns 1 year old if you are a single parent before this time. When you apply, you must state that you want your child to start at kindergarten at the latest when they turn 1 year old. Make sure you apply within the municipality’s deadline for applications.

You can usually receive transitional benefit until your youngest child turns 14 months. In some cases, you may receive the benefit beyond this point.

Your benefit period may be extended if you cannot work because your child requires special care due to physical, mental, or serious social challenges. This applies until your child turns 18.

If you are already receiving transitional benefit, it may be extended for up to 2 years if your child has a temporary illness that prevents you from working. In this context, temporary means that the illness has not lasted, and is not expected to last, longer than 2 years.

You can receive transitional benefit for up to 3 years, that is 36 months. The benefit can be granted continuously or in several separate periods. However, breaks in the benefit period cannot exceed 12 months.

Breaks before 1 July 2026 are not included.

Periods during which you receive benefit will be deducted from your benefit period even if you do not receive full transitional benefit, for example because you have earned income.

Periods during which you receive childcare benefit, support for school fees or supplemental benefit will also be deducted from the three-year benefit period, even if you are not granted transitional benefit. This applies if

• you are entitled to transitional benefit during this period, but have not applied for it
• you are entitled to transitional benefit during this period, but have chosen not to receive it
• you have been granted transitional benefit, but your income is too high for the benefit to be paid

Extended period

In some cases, you may be granted transitional benefit beyond the main benefit period of three years

Your benefit period can be extended if

• you are in education that is necessary and appropriate, you can have your benefit extended for up to two years. If you have the sole care of three or more children or you became a sole caregiver of children before you turned 18, you can receive extended benefit for up to three years. This applies until your child turns 8.
• you cannot work because your child needs extra supervision due to physical, mental or major social problems. This applies until your child turns 18.
• you have a new child with a new parent. You can receive a new benefit period until the child is 14 months old.

If you are already receiving transitional benefit, it can be extended

• until the end of the school year or apprenticeship you have started, up to a maximum of nine months
• for up to two years if you or your child has a disorder that is not chronic and that prevents you from working – maximum until your child turns 10. In this context, “disorder that is not chronic” means a health disorder that has not lasted more than two years or is not expected to last more than two years
• for up to six months if you have accepted an offer of work, education or child minding and are waiting to start
• for up to six months if you are registered as a job seeker. If you have been a job seeker during the last six months of the main period, the number of months may be reduced

• your monthly income changes by 10 percent or more before tax (this applies to wages, benefits from Nav and benefits from other countries)
• you are granted or have changes in disability benefit, adjustment allowance, or survivor’s pension

• your application for separation or divorce is rejected
• you enter into a cohabitation, partnership or marriage
• you start a relationship with someone you have previously lived with or have a child with
• arrangements for contact with your child change
• you are expecting a child
• your child is temporarily or permanently cared for by others

• you and the other parent move very close to each other, for example in the same house, building, nearest homes in the same street, or within the same farmyard
• you and/or your child move abroad
• you and/or your child stay abroad for more than 6 weeks. This applies whether the stay is continuous or totals 6 weeks within the last 12 months
• you and/or your child do not have legal residence in Norway

• you receive benefits under EEA rules and you or the other parent stop working in Norway
• you or the other parent start working in another country
• you or the other parent receive family benefits from another country

If you have an activity requirement, you must also notify Nav if

• you are no longer registered as a job seeker
• you start working
• your work situation changes
• you change, interrupt, or reduce your education
• you or your child become ill, and this affects your ability to be in activity

You may stay abroad for a period of up to 6 weeks (42 days), during a 12-month period while you receive the benefit. Weekend stays of up to 2 nights do not count.

You may also keep the benefit if you work for a Norwegian employer abroad.

If you meet the other conditions for the benefit, you may have the right to keep the benefit when staying in other EEA countries if:

• You are already receiving a single parent benefit.
• You are an employee in Norway, but you and your child live in another EEA country (e.g., you live in Sweden and work in Norway).
• You and your child live in another EEA country, while the other parent works or receives social security benefits or a pension from Norway.