It is the applicant's responsibility
to submit the necessary supporting documents with the application and
to make sure documents meet the document requirements, see instructions below.
If satisfactory documentation is not submitted with the application, this may lead to delays in processing or rejection of the application.
The Directorate of Immigration may request additional data when special circumstances recommend this.
A payment receipt must be submitted, if an application is paid for by bank transfer.
The payment receipt should contain information about:
payers name
payers date of birth / ID number (kennitala)
recipient of payment
explanation: applicant's name and date of birth
amount paid and
date of payment.
The passport photo should be 35x45 mm.
The passport must be valid at least 90 days beyond the validity of the permit applied for.
Copies must be submitted of
personal information page
signature page
Please note that the machine readable zone must be clearly visible in the copy. A color copy is preferred.
A contract with an acknowledged non-governmental organization working on charity or humanitarian issues that are non-profit and tax exempt.
The contract must be:
In original format,
dated and
signed both by the applicant and the organization's representative.
The contract must state
the kind of work the applicant will carry out,
the length of stay applied for,
a confirmation that the organization guarantees the applicant housing and financial support in Iceland, if applicable.
If the organization you will be volunteering with does not provide for your subsistence during your stay, you must submit documentation demonstrating that you are able to support yourself by means other than salaried income.
Sufficient own money
Bank statement showing the balance in the applicant's bank account, in Iceland or abroad. The amount must be
in an internationally recognized currency
that can be exchanged into a currency registered with the Central Bank of Iceland and
withdrawable during the time of stay in Iceland.
The statement must be in original format and certified by the bank itself. A printout of an account statement from an online bank is not sufficient confirmation.
The applicant must submit a flight ticket from Iceland stating the date of departure at the end of the stay.
An insurance certificate must be submitted, confirming that the applicant has taken out (purchased) a health insurance
that is valid in Iceland,
for at least six months from the date of the registration of the applicant's legal domicile in Iceland,
with a minimum coverage of ISK 2,000,000.
On the website of the Financial Supervisory Authority you can find a list of Icelandic insurance companies (under Vátryggingafélög - Insurance Companies) and a register of foreign insurance companies.
Validity
The health insurance shall be valid for six months from the date of the registration of the applicant's legal domicile in Iceland. The registration is usually made from the day the applicant‘s photo for a residence permit card is taken, either at the Directorate of Immigration or a district commissioner‘s office, given that the applicant has stayed in Iceland from that date onward.
If it becomes necessary to change the period of validity of an Icelandic insurance, i.e. because the applicant has not arrived in Iceland yet and the application processing has taken longer than expected, the applicant must contact his/her insurance company.
Six months after being registered with a legal domicile in Iceland the applicant will automatically be covered by the national health insurance.
If you want someone other than you to receive information about the processing of the application from the Directorate of Immigration, you must submit a power of attorney to that effect.
Document requirements
Explanations of requirements for documents to be submitted with an application.
An original means a document in its original form, not a duplicate or a copy.
Original foreign documents submitted with an application are required to be legally authenticated. Original Icelandic documents do not need to be authenticated.
There are two recognised ways to legally authenticate documents: apostille certification and chain authentication. Which way is chosen depends on the country issuing the document.
Apostille certification
Apostille certification is done in the country that issues a document.
To receive apostille certification, an applicant must bring the original of a document to the competent authority for such certification in the respective country.
Information on the member states of the Apostille agreement (Hague Convention)
Chain authentication
Chain authentication (also called double verification) is used in countries where apostille certification is not possible.
This means that a documents needs two stamps in order to be considered legally authenticated, one from the country of issue of the document and the other from the Icelandic Embassy to the issuing country.
To receive such an authentication, the original document must first be brought to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country that issued the document. The Ministry confirms the document with a stamp and forwards it to the Embassy of Iceland to the issuing country - the applicant himself/herself can also arrange for the document to be sent to the Embassy. The Embassy then confirms that the previous stamp is correct with a second stamp.
A certified copy is a copy of an original document that has been certified by an authority authorised to certify documents.
A certified copy can be obtained from a public authority, a document's issuing body or another official body, in a document's issuing country.
It is important that the original document has been legally authenticated before a certified copy is made.
If a foreign document is issued in a language other than English or a Nordic language, its translation must also be submitted.
A translation must be submitted in the original or in a certified copy.
A translation must be made by a certified translator.
A translation may be submitted in Icelandic, English or a Nordic language.
If a translation has been produced by a translator which has not been legally certified in Iceland, the original of the translation must be legally authenticated.
Legally certified translators in Iceland
Icelandic court interpreters and translators
In some instances an applicant must submit a certified declaration. Such a declaration must be submitted in original format and be dated and signed by the party issuing the declaration. Furthermore, the declaration must be certified by a competent public authority (i.e. by a notarius publicus).
Service provider
Directorate of Immigration