Due to changes being made to the production system of passports and residence permit-cards at Registers Iceland it will not be possible to take photos for residence permit-cards on January 31. 

According to Registers Iceland this is unavoidable since the installation of the new production system is a time-consuming process, see here.

We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause.

The Directorate of Immigration has added Moldova to the Directorate‘s list of safe countries of origin.

Moldova is a member state to all principal treaties on human rights, i.e. the Geneva Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights as well as the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Human rights are generally respected in Moldova, people are not systematically persecuted and authorities can offer sufficient protection to their citizens.
The Directorate of Immigration has investigated the situation in Moldova and it is clear that all prerequisites exist for defining Moldova as a safe state of origin.

The fact that an applicant is a citizen of a country on the list of safe countries of origin can never lead to the Directorate of Immigration not taking his/her case up for consideration or rejecting the application without prior examination. When appropriate, cases of citizens of countries on the list undergo general material procedure; therefore the list is only intended for guideline purposes.

More information on the reasons why the Directorate has added Moldova to the list of safe countries is available here in Icelandic.

The Directorate of Immigration will be closed on December 24, 25, 26 and 31.

Regular opening hours will resume on December 27 and 28.

The Foreign Nationals Act No. 80/2016 has now been translated into English with the aim to enable foreigners to familiarise themselves with foreigners' rights in Iceland.

The English translation is available here.