Due to unforeseeable circumstances, there will be a delay in the introduction of a new type of residence permit cards.

The Directorate of Immigration must therefore limit the issuance of residence permit cards further than had already been announced.

Residence permit cards will only be issued to individuals that can proof that they need them for travelling abroad. Valid travel records must be submitted, e.g. a flight ticket.

Instead of residence permit cards applicants will receive a letter of confirmation from the Directorate, confirming the issuance of a residence permit, including information on the permit’s validity and the applicant’s right to work.

The Directorate of Immigration sincerely apologizes for the inconvenience that this causes. For further information, please contact the Directorate through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Changes to the Directorate of Immigration‘s list of processing fees took effect on January 1st, in accordance with a change to the Act on Revenue Increase ot the State.

The only fee that was raised is the processing fee for visa applications.

An updated list of processing fees is available here.

Alþingi passed a law on the granting of Icelandic citizenship on December 17. However, the law does not take effect until the day after its publication in the Official Gazette.

The Directorate of Immigration has no information on when the law will be published, but previous laws on the granting of Icelandic citizenship were published four to six weeks after they were passed in parliament. It is therefore likely that the law will not take effect before mid-January.

Once the Act has entered into force, the Directorate will prepare a letter of confirmation for those applicants who were granted Icelandic citizenship and send them to Registers Iceland. Only when the Icelandic citizenship has been registered in the National Registry, which can take Registers Iceland a few days, can applicants apply for an Icelandic passport with an office of a district commissioner.

Alþingi sends a letter of refusal to those who were not granted Icelandic citizenship. The decision on granting was entirely in the hands of Alþingi therefore the Directorate of Immigration cannot answer why a particular applicant was not granted Icelandic citizenship.

As of this week, applications for residence permits, which are filed with the Directorate of Immigration, will be reviewed immediately with regard to whether all necessary documents accompany the application.

The purpose of this new procedure is to improve services towards applicants and increase efficiency of the processing of applications.

If documents are missing, applicants will be informed about what documents must be added and instructed to submit the application once the missing documents have been collected. If applicants choose to submit and pay for an application even though the documents are missing, they will receive written instructions on what documents are missing and be given a 14-day deadline for submitting them. If the Directorate has not received the requested documents within the deadline, a decision will be made based on the documents at hand.

Please note that when reviewing the application, it will only be ascertained whether all necessary documents have been submitted but not whether the documents are satisfactory.

It is important that applicants familiarize themselves with document requirements on the Directorate's website. When processing an application, the Directorate of Immigration may also request additional documentation if necessary.

The residence permit unit hopes that the new procedure will be well received and that it helps shortening the processing time of applications for residence permits.