Your health cover in Norway depends on one question: are you a member of the Norwegian national insurance scheme? If you are, you get subsidised care from the public health service. If you are not, you need insurance from somewhere else, either your home country or a private policy.
Nobody can tell you the answer before you check your own situation. NAV decides membership, and the rules differ by country and by how long you stay. Here is how to work it out.
Start with three checks
Helsenorge, on a page provided and quality assured by Helfo, gives students from outside the EU/EEA and Switzerland a simple order of steps.
- Check you are allowed to stay. UDI, the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration, decides this. If you are studying for more than three months you need a study permit, and you can read about that on our page about the residence permit.
- Check your insurance at home. Does your existing cover apply while you are in Norway? Ask your insurer directly.
- If you have no cover at home, ask NAV whether you are entitled to join the Norwegian national insurance scheme.
If you end up covered by neither the Norwegian scheme nor insurance from home, Helsenorge says you should take out private health insurance with broad cover. That is not a suggestion to ignore.
What membership actually gives you
If you are a member of the national insurance scheme while you study, you are entitled to subsidised health care from the public health care system. In practice you are treated much like a Norwegian citizen.
Helsenorge still suggests you consider private health insurance on top. The example it gives is medical transport back to your home country if you fall ill. The public scheme covers care in Norway, not a flight home with a doctor at your side.
One more thing worth knowing: the Norwegian scheme only applies inside Norway. If you travel abroad during your studies, you are outside it. Travel insurance is a separate purchase, and a sensible one.
How NAV decides whether you are a member
The National Insurance Act, or a social security agreement between Norway and your country, decides. Not your citizenship, not whether you are in the population register, and not whether you pay tax here.
The general rule is that if you live in Norway, you are a member. To count as living here, your stay must last, or be intended to last, at least 12 months, and it must be legal. You become a member from the date you enter Norway.
Norway has social security agreements with a number of countries. The most extensive are with the EEA countries, and those rules take precedence over Norwegian law. There is a separate Nordic Convention with Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden. Norway also has bilateral agreements with the United States, Canada, India, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Chile, Israel, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey and the province of Quebec, among others.
Where an agreement applies, it normally puts you in one country's scheme rather than two, so you do not pay contributions in both places.
NAV's English page is general and does not treat students as a separate category. Your answer comes from NAV, not from a guide like this one. Ask them about your case.
If your stay is shorter than 12 months
This is where it gets less tidy. NAV says that if you will be staying in Norway for less than 12 months, will not be working, and have strong ties to Norway, you may be entitled to voluntary membership of the scheme. The page explaining voluntary membership is in Norwegian only, and the conditions are not summarised here.
So ask NAV. Do it early, because membership can take time to sort out, and you do not want to be uninsured while you wait.
EU/EEA, Swiss and Nordic students
If you come from the EU/EEA or Switzerland, bring a valid European Health Insurance Card from your home country. It gives you medical care on the same conditions as citizens of the country you are visiting. As a general rule, you cannot become a member of the Norwegian national insurance scheme.
No card? Then you need private insurance instead.
Nordic citizens are the exception: they are entitled to medical care under the National Health Insurance Scheme without any insurance documentation.
Higher education in Norway is free of charge for students from the EU/EEA and Switzerland, but that does not mean your health cover is automatic. Register with the local police within three months of arrival, and if you are a Nordic student planning to stay more than six months, report the move to the National Registry. How those registrations relate to health cover is not something this guide can settle, so ask NAV and check what your insurer at home covers while you are away.
Students from outside the EU/EEA and Switzerland
Your position depends on how long you are here.
| Length of stay | What applies |
|---|---|
| Less than 3 months | You are not eligible for the national insurance scheme. You must have valid health insurance from another source. |
| 3 to 12 months | You can apply for participation in the national insurance scheme. Take out private insurance before you arrive, because membership can take time. |
| More than 12 months, with a valid residence permit | You are automatically covered by the national insurance scheme from the date you arrive. |
Once you are a member, you have almost the same right to medical care as Norwegian citizens, with some limitations. The cover does not apply abroad, and it does not apply before you arrive, so insure your journeys to and from Norway.
If you are hospitalised outside Norway, you pay all the medical expenses yourself. Travel insurance is essential, not optional.
Your institution does not insure you. NTNU states plainly that it provides no insurance, and that applies across the sector. Budget for cover as part of your setup costs, alongside what you need for the cost of living.
Private insurance and the student welfare organisations
There is no official price for private student insurance in the sources behind this guide, so treat any figure you see with suspicion unless it comes from the insurer. Insurers set their own prices. Compare current offers and read what is excluded, especially medical transport home.
Every student pays a semester fee to a student welfare organisation. Those organisations offer health services among other things, along with housing, childcare, sports facilities and food. What your organisation provides, and at what price, is on its own website.
One last piece of practical advice: keep your insurance documents with you, not in a suitcase in storage. If you end up in a clinic, you will be asked for them.
Frequently asked questions
Do international students get public healthcare in Norway?
It depends on whether you are a member of the Norwegian national insurance scheme. Helsenorge says that if you are a member while studying, you are entitled to subsidised care from the public health service, in the same way as Norwegian citizens. Students from outside the EU/EEA and Switzerland should check their home insurance and, if they have none, ask NAV whether they can join the scheme.
Who decides if I am a member of the national insurance scheme?
NAV decides, applying the National Insurance Act or a social security agreement between Norway and your country. Membership is not decided by citizenship, registration in the population register or paying tax. As a general rule, people who live in Norway are members, and to count as resident your stay must last, or be intended to last, at least 12 months and be legal.
What if my stay in Norway is shorter than 12 months?
NAV says that if you will stay less than 12 months, will not be working and have strong ties to Norway, you may be entitled to voluntary membership. The page explaining voluntary membership is in Norwegian only, so ask NAV about your own case. Do it early, because membership can take time.
Do I need private insurance if I am already covered?
Helsenorge says you should still consider it, even as a member of the national insurance scheme. Private insurance can cover things the public scheme does not, such as medical transport back to your home country if you fall ill. The Norwegian scheme also only applies inside Norway, so travel insurance matters if you leave the country during your studies.
Sources
- Helsenorge: Students from countries outside the EU/EEA or Switzerland studying in Norway helsenorge.no/en/foreigners-in-norway/students-from-countries-outside-the-eu-eea-or-switzerland-studying-in-norway/ Used for: Rights as a member, advice to check home insurance and ask NAV, private cover (page last updated 26 March 2024)
- NAV: Membership of the National Insurance Scheme nav.no/en/home/rules-and-regulations/membership-of-the-national-insurance-scheme Used for: Residence rule of 12 months, voluntary membership, social security agreements
- Study in Norway: Student welfare organisations studyinnorway.no/student-welfare-organisations Used for: Health services offered by the student welfare organisations
- Study in Norway: Cost and requirements studyinnorway.no/cost-and-requirements Used for: Registration for EU/EEA and Nordic students; insurance as a cost on top of the estimate
Last checked: 29 October 2026. Rules and amounts change; confirm them on the official page before you act on them. This is general information, not legal or immigration advice.
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