AboutRoy Helge Rasmussen Expertise I live in the southern part of norway and can find my way around most of the country. I will answer questions about social life, culture, language and politics to the best of my knowledge. I am not so good at travel tips outside the south-eastern parts, although I will try to answer.
Experience I live here and have been guiding members of my family around when they visit from abroad for years.
Expert: Roy Helge Rasmussen Date: 1/24/2008 Subject: Offshore, tax, mortgages and other fun stuff
Question Hi Roy
I am a British citizen living in Norway. Although half Norwegian I missed the deadline to retain my dual citizenship so will forever be British. I live and work in Oslo and have a D number etc. My boyfriend is also British but he works offshore in Arica and the US Gulf. He is offshore for around 6 months a year. When not offshore he lives with me here in Oslo, although this accounts for less than 5 months a year taking into account other travel.
He has never applied for a Norwegian residency permit because as a British citizen working offshore he is entitled to all his income tax to be refunded at the end of the tax year (providing he meets the correct requirements for time out of the country) This is not the case in Norway. My father also works offshore but doesnt get his tax back as he is a Norwegian citizen and you know how the Norwegians like to collect tax money!
This has all worked fine up to now when we want to buy a flat together and therefore get a mortgage from a Norwegian bank. SO my questions are...
1. will my boyfriend need a residency permit to get a mortgage?
2. Would he even get a residency permit if he isnt working or studying in Norway?
3. If he did get a residency permit would he then be subject to Norwegian tax regimes and therefore be unable to claim his tax back at the end of the tax year?
This is a complicated case and I can find noone to give me a clear answer! ANy help you could give us would be extremely gratefully received.
Thanks in advance
Inger-Louise
Answer It is not so complicated, really!
1) No, that is all up to the bank. They may require it though. All you need is your "D-number" as far as the government is concerned. If the bank wants your business, they should apply for a d-number for you. (Do not let the bank tell you otherwise, the bank (or whatever institution that needs a D-number) should fill out a form and send it to Folkeregisteret. You can not do this by yourself. Then after a week or two the D-number will come.)
2) Well - you will need something to do or a way of earning enough cash to sustain yourself before you can apply for residency. Your boyfriend is doing something and earn money. If he wants to pay his taxes in norway, everybody should be happy about that I would assume. Being a EU citizen means that getting residency is easier than if you were, say Chinese, and if UK had been part of the Schengen-agreement it would have been a simple case of filling out a few forms (after getting a job /earning your keep.) In your boyfriends case, it would be very simple. Just fill out the forms, get enough papers documenting that he does in fact earn boatloads of cash and will be no burden on the society, and he will have no problem.
3) Yes, of course. That is the point of residency. You pay taxes where you live, and gain the benefits also - like healthcare, schools, universities etc etc. On the other hand, how much taxes he would need to pay is a completely different matter. Offshore workers do have rather good deals. Probably not much more than he is paying (should have paid) back in UK.
There is also another way to do it. If you apply for citizenship, that would be a rather simple process for you. On the flip side you would have to give up your UK passport. Then when you're a citizen he could apply for a family reunion visum (since he is your de facto spouse). Actually I think you can do that right now too, as long as you can prove that you earn enough money to support you both. In the case that it is difficult to get enough papers proving that he is earning enough money for himself this should work equally well.
