Getting Married in Norway and non impediment to marriage

Hi there,

In most cases you cannot change a tourist visa into a Fiance Visa (think you can possibly change it if you have a Degree or something), but I know that you can change a Student Visa into a Fiance Visa and stay there while it's in process.
The crappy thing about applying from your home country, is that you will not be able to enter Norway while your visa is in process. The waiting period is 9 months, and if you get denied, the appeal takes another 9 months to be processed. Your fiance would have to be the one who visits you, but keep in mind that they check how much he makes the previous year, every year, so if he's out of the country too often, it counts against your application if he doesn't make enough, due to visiting you..

Thank you so much for your information,

if I got married under the Tourist visa, and leave back to my home country and apply for the family reunification through the embassy, will this work, and does the process time is also 9 months?


Thank you in advance,.

There are only a few people who are allowed to get married under a Tourist Visa, so maybe think of getting another visa like a student visa. A friend of mine was able to stay in Norway with the student visa, while everything was being processed. If you don't qualify for the student visa, then call UDI and ask them if you can change your Tourist Visa to a Fiance Visa. Only in some cases it's possible, so just make sure. If they do allow you to get married in Norway, then you'd have to stay there (Think you get to leave for about 3 months out of the year, but just double check).

I had to apply in my home country and got denied because my fiance was in my country most of the time and didn't make the amount they wanted. That took 9 months for them to say 'no'. The appeal takes another 9 months, so be prepared for that..

Thank you so much for the information you provided. They indeed do help me lot. Especially from an experienced person who gone through it.

I don't think I will be qualified for a Student Visa, but I will try to see if I can change my Visa to a Fiancee visa when I am there. Also I already am traveling every other month to Norway to visit my fiancee, and sorry to hear you got your application denied after 9 months of hard waiting time .

I will also try and see how did the others like from Philippines got to get married in Norway under tourist visa, this what got my eyebrow to raise and wonder what is it and how it was done, and if they ACTUALLY check whether you under the Visit Visa or others. Cause as I been hearing from my fiancee and others that the UDI filled with bunch of people who sit and collect good income and doing the minimum of their job requirement.

With your question if they actually check if you are under tourist/visit visa the answer is "yes they do" because when we apply for a change of visa here we hand in our application in the politi and there they ask and check your passport.

Yes there are some of us who were able to apply for a family reunification or fiance permit while on a tourist visa. Though the requirements of how they will allow you is not quite clearly set in stone. In my case and some other applicants we were allowed because we fall in the "skilled worker" category and you can see it here in the  UDI page in the 6th bullet

Most people have to apply via an embassy and wait for an answer in their home country. However, some people can submit an application in Norway or travel to Norway while waiting for their application to be processed.

This applies to you if

you are an EU/EEA national, or
you are the family member of an EU/EEA national and you have applied through the residence card scheme, or
you do not need a visa to visit Norway and you belong to one of these groups:
you apply for family immigration with your spouse, cohabitant or parent (children need the approval of both parents)
you are the mother or father of a child who is a Norwegian citizen, if the child is living with you on a permanent basis
you are qualified as a skilled worker

I advice to keep reading and digging the old threads as this has been discussed by many so I am sure with a lot of patience you will gain more information. I cannot assure you that what worked for us will be the same for you since we have different nationalities/country, but i can tell you there is always a possibility. When most some of the people I asked said it wasn't possible i just kept reading over and over and figured things out and now I am still here in Norway legally allowed to stay while waiting for my residence permit from the family reunification application have a nice day.

hi stivenson..

like stephy said,  this topic had been discussed many many times one thread is this:
Getting married with tourist visa in Norway

i also started my own thread,  for my case is that i got married in norway but i went home.. here's the thread i started:
Marriage in Norway with Visitor's Visa (Tourist Visa)

i had discussed there how a "visitor's visa" counts as a "legal stay" which can allow you to get married in Norway.. i also discussed there what conditions u must have so u can be allowed to apply from norway.. altho for my case,  i went back home and apply from the philippines..

please note that most filipinas got approved in no more than 2 months for Fiancée/spouse permits, this is because the Norwegian embassy in the philippines can decide on applications as long as certain conditions have been met.. if the norwegian embassy in ur country doesnt have the power for decision, then its the UDI who will decide and this might take at least 9 months to get approved..

to sum it up, YES,  u can get married in Norway on a tourist/visitors visa AS LONG as it is valid for the date of ur marriage.. and YES,  u can apply for a spouse permit  while in norway,  as long as u pass the conditions required for handing ur application to the politi.. the certificate of non impediment to marriage is a formal document that certifies that you are free to enter into marriage.. usually,  this will come from the national registry (where marriages are registered as well) since they have documents if u had been married or not..

hope this helps

i am surprise that the fiance visa took so long to process.  My friend applied for it in singapore and she got it within weeks and she was able to travel to Norway to start preparing the wedding in Norway.

As mentioned in many posts before,every processing time for each individual varies because it depends in many factors such as the country where the applicant is from, the review of documentations submitted, considerations under the policies governing the decisions for rejections or approval, and more.

So far with the applicants who have applied in the Philippines have been receiving fast decisions which is great, so again it all varies for me having it is not quite surprising rather it is frustating not knowing a concrete reason of getting fast or slow process no matter how complete every requirement one submits.

Luckily i already had my result so I wish everyone to have theirs soon ^_^

i agree with stephy about the factors that can affect decision time..

like i've mentioned,  some foreign service missions (embassy) have the power to decide on residence cases, so its so much faster than if u apply from other countries who cant decide... for other countries,  the embassy automatically forwards the application to UDI for decision... and currently, the waiting time is at least 9 months, which can take longer if ur are summoned for an interview or DNA testing..

it may be relevant to note that citizens of Singapore can stay in Norway for 90 days (within a period of 180 days) without a visa,  while citizens of Saudi Arabia requires a Schengen visa.. and as fornight  mentioned, someone from singapore got approved after 3 weeks,  so we can safely assume that norwegian embassy in singapore have the power to make a decision..

but going back to the topic on hand,  i forgot to answer the last question of the thread starter

2-Would it be better to apply for a fiancee permit from the Embassy in Riyadh and then go to Norway and get married there, and how long does it take?

u probably should ask the embassy in ur country if they have the power to make decisions on residence permits, and if they do,  how long is the waiting time..

if u decide to get married in Norway and apply for a residence permit while there,  one of these should apply to u:
- have qualifications as a skilled worker and have legal stay in Norway
- has a valid residence permit in Norway
have a residence permit in another Schengen country and have been in Norway for less than three months
- have a valid entry visa/ D-visa (not Schengen visa)
- Have applied for asylum and wait for an answer. Please note! You cannot have been given a final rejection and a deadline for leaving the country

ur Schengen Visa type C (tourist/visitors visa) counts as legal stay as long as it is still valid when u hand in ur application to the politi.. however,  kindly note that while waiting for the result of ur residence permit,  u cannot leave Norway (esp to countries where u will be required to present a visa going back to norway).. someone shared here in the forum,  that her application was denied after violating this requirement... u also cannot work or get free language courses without the residence permit... luckily,  some politi can decide on applications tho this depends on which part of Norway u live and which politi u are gonna hand in ur application... politi can decide on applications under a month..

that being said, try to see which will be better for ur case,  and i wish you all the best in ur application

source: Family Reunification - UDI.no

Hi, I am an Indian citizen and working in Oman and had many conversations with Stephy and Pheebz earlier on this matter and I got some advises from them also. I got married to my fiancee who is a norwegain citizen this July . We married in Norway and I was on tourist visa.God willing we will be applying for family re union soon. I have to come back to Oman as I work here.

I havent understood what Willow said about the fiancee should be the one visiting. We were in the relation from last 8 years and due to the complexities of staying together in India or Oman without marriage she never visited India or Oman but as soon as we got married we visited in India and Oman.Before that i was the one who used to visit Norway.So far I visited Norway around 14 times. What is the best way to approach for family reunion application

i think what willow is trying to say is that,  normally, u cant apply for a tourist/visitors visa AFTER you had applied for a family reunification (residence) permit... therefore,  u cant go to Norway (if ur citizenship requires u a visa for entry)...

i had inquired about this months ago at the Norwegian embassy in the Philippines... due to the (possibility of a) long wait on fiancée visa,  i asked if its possible to apply for Fiancée visa while i still have a tourist/visitors visa,  so as the wait wouldn't be too long if we start for it as early as possible.. but i was told that its not possible,  and that my already approved visitor's visa will be cancelled if i apply for a residence permit..

there was no explanation provided to me why this is the rule.. but someone had explained this before somewhere in expat-blog... the reason why u cant enter norway or apply for a short-term visa while ur application for a residence permit is on-going is because by submitting an application for residence in norway,  you are expressing your intentions to live and settle in Norway... with this,  if the embassy will allow u entry,  they think that there's high chances for u not leaving Norway when ur visa expires... thus, its normally not possible to visit ur loved-one in norway while ur residence permit is in process...

this is based on my inquiry to the Norwegian embassy here in the Philippines, and what i read from a previous thread... this may not be applicable to everyone, so its still best u ask the embassy where ur planning to lodge ur application...

Sebikulu,

I am glad that pheebz and i were able to give you advises that were helpful. Congratulations on your wedding.

And i hope dor the best that you will have a smooth application for your visa too.

hello its allowed to apply in norway fiancee visa while I'm here in norway but I'm a tourist visa... and wha is he requirement ..thank

I want to apply for the fiance permit, does my boyfriend gets affect? Bse im 22 and he is 26

As long as you meet all the requirements it will be ok.

I think there might be a longer waiting time because you are younger than 25 as they like to double check that both people are in the relationship for the right reasons. I remember reading it somewhere and I looked for it now but I couldn't find it. But like Stephy said, if everything is in order then it shouldn't be a problem.

Thank you everyone for your advise and help, sorry took me so long to respond back, happily got married and we will start the application for a resident permit.

We got married abroad and we registered our marriage to skatteetaten in Norway successfully.

I've been visiting my wife on monthly basis and now we will apply for the resident permit by next month and I really hope things go well, I will apply from Norway and our case will be handled by Arendal Aust Agder politi. I really hope it will go through without problems since I will apply for it on a Schengen tourist visa.


Thank you all again for your support. You guys are the best!

Hi , i just got married to a Norwegian citizen on a tourist visa and i went back to the Philippines just after 2 weeks since the wedding. I want to change my surname to his and apply for the spouse visa . But im afraid it would take months and we wanna meet in Dubai on October. Do you any suggestions on what to do or what the process should we do first ? i heard we have to deliver some proof that we are married to the embassy , can i do it here in the PH ?