Translation of Residence and Family Documents for Norway

UDI takes the decision, the appointment is completed at a police station

In Norway the decision on a family immigration application is taken by UDI, but the application is lodged and the applicant’s identity verified either at the mission in Türkiye or at a police station in Norway. The application is completed online, the fee is paid, and the originals of the documents are then produced at the appointment. A marked feature of the Norwegian system is the close examination of the income history of the party living in Norway: not current income alone, but income in the previous tax year and the absence of any social assistance, are weighed together.

Applications made in order to establish a family may carry further conditions as well, as to the ages of the parties and the nature of the relationship. Because those conditions change over time, you need to check which category your own situation falls into before you apply.

What the documents do in the file

The marriage record shows the legal basis of the relationship, the civil registry extract the family tie, and the birth certificate the parentage of the children. If you are to marry in Norway, an examination of impediments is carried out before the ceremony and civil status documents are asked of the foreign party. Income and housing documents are drawn up in Norway and so need no translation; the need for translation arises with the civil registry, court and record documents originating in Türkiye. The whole of every document is expected to be translated, seals and the text on the reverse included.

Type of application	What the examination turns on
Joining a spouse	The validity of the marriage and the income history
Establishing a family	The genuineness of the relationship and the further conditions
Reunification with a child	Custody and consent

The ground of refusal met with most often

The point at which applications in Norway most often come to nothing is the income condition. That the previous tax year is looked at raises an unexpected obstacle for anyone who has just started a job or just finished their studies. The second frequent ground is a history of social assistance; having drawn benefit within a given period bears directly on the application. The third is the form of the documents: because state authorised translators are limited in number, a file waits wherever the translation has not been planned for. Documents without an apostille are not accepted either.

The state authorised translator regime

Official translation in Norway rests on the title of state authorised translator, which is gained by examination, and the number of people holding it is decidedly limited from one language pair to another. Translation can for that reason take longer than it does for other countries. Whether apostilled sworn translations made in Türkiye are accepted varies with the procedure; they are accepted in UDI files more often than not, while some local procedures call for a translation made in Norway. The order does not change: the document, the apostille, then the translation. You will find the detail document by document in our document guide, and the comparison with neighbouring countries in our country list.

Reunification with children, and separation

In bringing children to Norway the birth certificate shows parentage, but the examination concentrates on custody. A parent coming alone is asked for a document showing that the other parent consents to the child settling abroad; where there has been a divorce, the court judgment governing custody is translated in full and with its annotation of finality. Carrying across the operative provisions alone counts as a deficiency. Because state authorised translators are so few, these documents are the longest translation item in a Norwegian file.

A permit obtained through family immigration depends on the family tie continuing. Should the marriage come to an end, whether the permit is kept is assessed by reference to the time spent in Norway, the person’s employment and the presence of children. That assessment does not happen of itself; UDI has to be approached before the permit runs out and the new basis evidenced. Neglecting it opens a gap in status that is hard to repair.

Notifying the Turkish civil registry of children born in Norway and of a marriage celebrated there is a separate obligation. This step calls for the Norwegian document to be translated into Turkish; the direction of translation is reversed. Where the notification is late, the child’s Turkish identity card and passport procedures are held up too.

School and nursery enrolment may also call for a translation of the birth certificate. That request runs independently of the immigration file and follows the municipality’s own timetable; having the documents prepared in more than one copy eases these parallel processes and saves you waiting a second time on the small number of authorised translators.

The registrations that follow arrival

Once you have entered Norway you apply to the population register and are given an identity number. The originals of the birth and marriage certificates may be asked for again at this stage; until the registration is made, neither a tax card nor health services can be arranged. Bringing more than one original copy from Türkiye is a practical precaution for that reason.

In the longer run, the permanent residence stage requires that the language and social studies courses have been completed; these begin shortly after arrival in the country. Enrolling early protects the timetable for moving to permanent status. If new documents are needed from Türkiye, the time the translation takes has to be reckoned with as well; you can see the per-page cost on our pricing page, and by uploading your documents you can request a quotation.

The account below summarises typical practice; every consulate applies its own current guidance. Ask the competent authority to confirm matters before you apply.