Residency anyone know the rules

i am not in the same situation as urs, but i have read some info from UDI that may probably help.

as u mentioned ur British, so i can only assume that u came to Norway under the Registration Scheme for EU/EEA nationals.. altho i dont know if ur marriage to a Norwegian was the reason of u moving to Norway.. assuming that u came to Norway to work and was registered under the scheme, marriage with a Norwegian now allows you to apply for a Family immigration - UDI.no

the only difference i can see between family immigration and the EEA registration scheme,  is that under family immigration,  u dont have to keep a job all the time,  unlike the registration scheme where u need to be employed to keep residing in Norway.. and u can get a permanent right of residence after only 3yrs of holding a family immigration permit as opposed to 5yrs under the registration scheme..

the only reason i can see for the change is the marriage.. under the permanent right of residence, there is no option for having this kind of permit if you are a spouse to a norwegian.. so maybe ur situation now falls under the family immigration status (with a Permanent Residence Permit) which doesn't require u to keep a job all the time to keep residing in Norway.. tho the downside is it comes with a residence card that needs to be renewed after a certain period of time...

UDI changes rules all the time,  possibly to adapt and keep up with the high immigration rates.. residency renewals may probably be their way of keeping track of the immigrants, not sure tho..

im sorry if this didnt help at all.. maybe u can try contact UDI and ask about this: Contact Us - UDI.no
they can further explain the difference between a permanent residence permit  and a permanent right of residence .. if you acquire more information about this, it would be great to keep us posted in the thread to help those who may have been encountering this as well..