Membership and coverage

The general rule is that you are covered under the National Insurance Act if you are a compulsory member of the National Insurance Scheme. You should be aware that some entitlements require that you have been a member of the National Insurance Scheme for a certain time. These requirements are specified for each benefit.

If you are covered by a social security agreement with another country, it may compensate for an insufficient period of residence in Norway.

If you, as an employee or as a resident in Norway, are not a member of the National Insurance Scheme, you can apply for voluntary membership. You can apply for voluntary membership in connection with:

• Residence in Norway
• Residence outside Norway

What sort of national insurance coverage do you get?

With voluntary membership, you can only be a member for sections of national insurance. You decide yourself what national insurance coverage you will apply for and specify the coverage you want on the application form.

As a general rule, pensioners can only be members of the health section.

Coverage under the health section includes health service benefits and lump sum grants for births and adoptions. Application for sickness benefit and parental benefit entitlements can be linked to the health section.

Coverage under the pension section includes old-age pensions, disability pensions, benefits for surviving spouse, orphan's pensions, unemployment benefits, single mother or father benefits, funeral grants, basic and auxiliary benefits, medical rehabilitation and occupational rehabilitation, and grants to former family carers.