FAQ: From tourist visa to fiance per/spouse res permit while in Norway

Hi stephy, thanks for this info. I am still waiting for my fiance visa here in the Philippines for 6 months already. my application was forwarded to UDI after 2 months. Just like to know, after the marriage in Norway, next step is to process the spouse visa/residence permit right, what particular visa/permit do I need to get? Would there be any fees? Thanks!

Hi,

I am glad that you found this post useful.

Regarding your questions: As is it stated in UDI's page

"If you have been granted a residence permit for getting married (fiancé(e)), and you now have married, you must now apply for a renewal of your family immigration permit with your spouse. "

So you will need to follow the instruction here on this link If you have a residence permit for getting married and you have got married

If i understood it correctly, yes you will have to pay 3 200 kroner based on the table in UDI Fees

"Application for adults who already have a family immigration permit (for example with their fiancé/e, and have married) NOK 3.200"

Thanks for this info Stephy. It is really helpful. As of now we are actually considering of getting married here in the Philippines while waiting for my fiance visa. We are thinking that maybe it will help for fast approval as it says that spouse visa is only 8 months processing while fiance is 13 months, you think it will help?  Well, we've been waiting for 7 months this coming January 28. But we are still hopeful that my visa will be granted the soonest. Thanks for confirming that one can actually change it to spouse visa without adding up another months or going back to zero. In your case, what did you applied before and how long did you wait?

While i was here on a tourist visa i applied for fiance visa. But it has taken 5 months still no result and someone advised us why not get married if UDI allows it, so that it will be just a one time waiting. So we got a permission from UDI to get married even if i have no visa coz the tourist visa expired already. Then got married and sent the marriage contract to UDI and called them to shift the application from fiance to family reuni under spouse. Then it got approved on the 11th month.

This was also done by another pinay here which was in the same situation as yours. She appliad for fiance visa while in the Philippines but they decided to get married and changed the application. And it worked the same.

Thanks stephy

Welcome

I do hope your application goes smoothly and get approved soon. Best of luck and good wishes on your wedding.

Yaaaa.... lots of anxiety waiting for a result I don't know when. But I know it's worth the wait.

Hi Stephy, did u receive monthly email from UDI when you handed your application in the politi? Who process the application when u handed in the politi? Them or UDI?

Yes i received monthly email until it got approved.

Unfortunately during the time(2014) i applied the politi wasn't authorized to process this rare application from tourist to other permits,therefore my application was automatically forwarded to udi.

But during 2015 some people who were in the *same situation as me that i knew and helped got approved within 3 to 6 months only. 3 was by udi (6 months), 1 by politi (2 to 3 weeks: they were 45 and 47 years old) 1 by politi (3 months)

*same situation as me =(none complex applicants: no previous divorce, small age gap, the applicant has no children to bring with in norway, skilled workers, above 25, not callrd for interview)

Always keep in mind it is always different from one applicant to another.

I hope this helps.

Hi Stephy and to all of you who are also waiting for your fiance visa and to those who has already been approved.i write here to share my experience in waiting and also to get an idea from you guys! I filed my fiance visa application on january 14,2016 at the vfs manila and until now i have not heared from them yet except that my fiance received a letter at his residence in norway from the UDI confirming that the immigration in norway has received my temporary family resident permit application with my DUF number in that letter...after a day i sent an email to the visa section of norwegian embassy in manila to check the status of my application and they replied that my application is still being processed and that the embassy will notify me once decision has been made......guys, do u have same experience? Pls share it to me...its quite bored in waiting...i hope to hear from u....tnx

If UDI has contacted your husband with your DUF number then all you can do is wait. Some people have had to wait the full 18 months in the past and others only wait 2 weeks. Each case is different. You could try to apply for a D permit which allows you to enter Norway and wait for the answer in Norway with your fiancé. All the best.

Hi Stephy25

You are always helpful here and I want to say thank you for that. This forum and your shares helped me a lot in my journey.

I just got married here in Norway to my Norwegian husband. We went to skatteetaten for me to change name but they didnt allow me coz I have no personnummer. I am only here with a visit visa (schengen). I didn't know that you have to have that number before you can change name.

How was your experience about changing name btw? I hope you can share info about this and others who went the same.

Thank you 😊

Once you get your residence permit, you will then register yourself in skatteetaten with your address here in norway(where you and hour spouse will leave) and in a week or two you will receive a mail in the mailbox containing the confirmation of your registration together with your personnummer.

Once you have that you can log in to the skatteetaten page and if you can log in with the id they require (like bank id or *minid) then change your name. It is a easy as changing your name in a social account.

*MinID= you can request this, just follow the instructions on their page that says How to obtain

Based on my experience may receive a call from skatteetaten asking if you are using the last name you are registering in your passport too, in my case my passport expired here and when i renewed it together with reporting my marriage t the Phil embassy they offered if i want to change my name and i did. I think this is because they don't want you to have any inconvenience with having different last names with your other documents.

And after that i received a mail that confirms a change in name and it was automatic with my authorization for my profession, Nav, and in the health records here in Norway.

I hope this helps

Hi Stephy

Thank you for your reply. Is there a way to change name before i get my residency? The reason is because of the papers and passport inconvenience if i still keep on using my maiden name. We are trying to apply the family reunification while here in Norway.

I think you surely can if you register your marriage in the phil embassy and change your name on your passport  since you are married get married.

And when you get this done when you apply for your permit you can use your husband's last name. Then you can register in skatteetaten with your husbands last name when you register for your residency here after you receive your permit.

With this you will have your permit and passport under the same name

I don't know the exact process yet regarding this but this is my idea of it If anyone here knows it feel free to correct me if i am wrong.

I will read more on this and i will share what i will find

Thank you again Stephy, as always you are very helpful. We are hopeful that they let us apply and stay here in Norway while waiting for the result. 😊

Hi! Thank you for sharing your experience I found it very helpful. I have the same situation, we applied for a fiance visa, but while we are waiting we decided to get married and then just update our case with marriage certificate. My question is did you just ask UDI to send you a letter where they allow you to get married? I received a letter from them about my legal stay in Norway while I am waiting (I just asked them to issue such a document). But now I am thinking maybe I should ask specifically about my right to get married...do they ask it in Skaaten? Thanks!

I applied for a fiancé permit in august and while we were waiting we got married in January. In order for us to get married I had to get a letter from UDI saying I was here legally waiting for a visa and that I am allowed to get married. I then took that letter to skattetaten so that they could issue my partner and I a letter of no impediment. Once I had both letters from both UDI and Skatteetaten I could then go to tinghuset to pick a date. We got married on January 15, 2016

Same as what TMilimo said, the letter that i requested from udi is the one saying that i have "legal stay and permission to get married" and you will bring that to skatteetaten together with the filled up forms found in their website, passports and of course certificate of singleness/no marriage.

And wait a few days or sometimes up to 2 weeks for skatteetaten to send you the test certifcate(a.k.a. marriage license in other countries) in your mailbox. You will bring this to whoever will officiate your wedding(church/tinghuset/other wedding official).

Thanks girls! I was just afraid that UDI would say NO, coz I am here just on a "waiting_for_a_fiancevisa_status"...you girls made my day then I better write to them and ask for those letters

I have experienced that, that is why i was able to to share this with all of you. I was on tourist visa then applied for fiance but didn't wait for the result so we got married while on a "waiting for fiance visa status" and shifted our application from fiance to family reunification.

Having read all this I feel a bit of a fool and am a bit confused. I am a friend of a Vietnamese lady who wishes to migrate to Norway and marry her chap [he is an EU national[Polish] with PR but not as a skilled worker] and it looks like I have been advising her and him all wrong, obviously they both want to be together ASAP and I told her the only way is to apply through the embassy here in Vietnam for a fiance permit and then have a long wait.
Odd as it is in the eyes of Vietnam they are already married [they had a lovely wedding in January] but apparently that's not recognized so they will need to marry again in Norway, she has already visited Norway once and had I known she could have married there and stayed I would have advised her to do just that, they have been together for 8 years.

But all is not lost as she has yet to start the application here, so am I right in thinking that he has a EU National  can apply for her in Norway for some sort of fiance visit visa, she will hand some documents in here, if all correct  then she will get a visa travel to Norway, get married and legally stay there  till the result, if this is correct that is the path I will advise rather than applying for a fiance visa in Hanoi as it seems much quicker and easier for them. Thanks.

Regarding the marriage part, marriages that took place in a different country are usually not recognized in another. Therefore it is required to register it in the country where you intend you present it,in this case to Norway.

I don't know the exact process in your country but usually it is:

-request a registered marriage certificate from your country's national registry
-have it authenticated on the ministry/department of foreign affairs in your country to make it recognizable by other countries as valid documents

You can read this at the skatteetaten website at the bottome part http://www.skatteetaten.no/en/Person/National-Registry/Marriage-and-cohabitation/Marriage/Marriage-abroad/

*if you are able to complete this, it will be easier to directly apply for family reunification as spouse

*also make sure to have the person living in Norway to call the authorities(skatteetaten/politi/udi) for confirming information

*if she is planning to apply in skatteetaten for the test certificate(a.k.a marriage license in other countries) she would require an authenticated a "certificate of no marriage" from your homecountry. Which will not be available if they got married already like you said and when that marriage got registered in your country that should've changed her civil status. Unless when you said that the marriage is not valid that may be due to being unregistered in your country.

So if there is a plan to remarry again on a tourist visa(i won't explain for fiance visa since that one is the permit that is really for marrying) and then apply keep in mind that being allowed may vary as there are many factors why a person will be allowed or not to do this. One must check with the UDI website by selecting the "want to apply" as it will give a customized process for an applicant based on many factors.

And a certain part there will somehow give you the answer if you will be allowed to apply while in side Norway, which is this question:

Which alternative describes your situation?
-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.
none of the above

What i shares here is the general or basic information based on my experience and a lot reading from proper sources. If there are questions that are related to situations that are different from mine, i suggest you make calls to the embassy/politi/skatteetaten/udi or whoever is concerned because every case is different. And i can never give an answer that will be of a 100% percent assurance whether your result would be good or not

Thanks for prompt reply and its been a big help. First off I will say they are not going to mention that they have had the wedding ceremony already, they never went through with the civil part later as they knew it would be of no use to them in Norway so in affect she is just his fiance.

I did as you advised and went on the UDI Website 'want to apply' and after feeding all the info ended up with  she has the right to a Schengen visa to enter Norway to submit documents for a Res Permit, a right to a prioritized processing and has to pay no fee, and she can do this because she will marry an EU National.
Found out how important all the documents have to be correct and she is allowed to overstay her visa while the decision is pending etc, but it all looks pretty straightforward.

So like I said a big help and this is the path she will follow, but what is confusing me and got me very  curious is she also has the option if she wanted to apply for a Fiance permit/visa to marry an EU national  which will lead on to a RP, but doing this she would have to have an interview pay a fee and wait many months for an answer before traveling to Norway, so can I ask you in your opinion why would anyone choose to do this, I feel as though I am missing something very obvious or got something wrong, the first option free and quick the second more complicated and a long wait.
I did see with the Fiance permit she is allowed to work while waiting, maybe while she waits for a RP [and it looks like it could be 9 months] she cant work so maybe that's the reason, but that does not seem enough to compensate for a so much better option.

And please I will not be the slightest bit offended if you tell me you think I have something wrong. Thanks David.

This process that i did and shared which is tourist visa to family reunification as spouse is not the usual way to do, in fact it somehow like a loophole in their system. That is the reason there is the "fiance visa" which is designed and recommended by UDI.

Another thing is other people apply for fiance visa instead of tourist because they want to have a hands on preparation of their wedding(a big wedding) here in Norway which is not possible with a tourist visa that is only valid for 3 months. I believe some people also wants to check out the the place and living condition with their partners first before jumping into marriage, thus the reason why one would apply fiance visa.

Regarding this tourist visa to res permit, there is also reasons why it is used and discovered. Like for me it was a surprise that after my now-husband proposed back then he didn't want me to go home which lead to me-figuring-out how to change visa without leaving him. For others they do to save time. Some does it to purposely lessen applications and payments. While some does it because they want to take advantage of the opportunity to stay be with their bf's even they are not ready to get married yet because it might be the only option for them to be together fast.

Therefore fiance visa exist because it is the UDI's way/process while the tourist visa to spouse is a loophole that bypasses the fiance visa.

I hope this clears your confusion

Hi Stephy,

Do we have to translate Norwegian requirements like marriage/divorce certificate to English?

Thanks, also by answering the description of your relationship. 😊

As far as i know yes, documents that would be used inside or for Norway should be either norwegian or english.

While if applying through the embassy in the Philippines i believe it is the english translation that you will need.

hi dinvietnam.

since your friend is marrying an EEA/EU citizen and not Norwegian, yes, she can be eligible to take part to the EEA/EU registration scheme as a family member of a Polish citizen... this is different from the Family Reunification permit in terms of waiting time, requirements and qualifications... below is a simple differentiation of the two:


Family immigration (or Family Reunification)
-You can apply for a permanent residence permit after three years in Norway.
-You must pay an application fee.
-You will get the rights described in the Introduction law (for example the right to -Norwegian classes).
-The reference person must have an income of NOK 252 472 per year pre-tax and have had an income of NOK 252 472 per year pre-tax in 2015 (or NOK 251 856 in 2014 pre-tax).

Residence card (or EEA/EU Registration Scheme)
-You can apply for permanent right of residence after five years in Norway.
-No application fee.
-The reference person does not have to have the same level of income as when you apply for a family immigration permit.
-If you wish, you can apply for a family immigration permit at a later time.
-The case processing time is generally shorter than for family immigration permits.
-You do not have the rights described in the Introduction law.


to get further details, please visit the source here: UDI.no - The difference between a family immigration permit and a residence card for family members of EU/EEA nationals

hope this helps...

Can my husband translate the those documents himself? One more thing Stephy, I am back in the Philippines now and planning to report/register our marriage here in Philippine Embassy Manila, what are the requirements and payment? There are different information online and confused now. My husband is not here at the moment but is it possible to send him the form for him to sign and scan? Any tips for registering the marriage? I didn't thought of doing research about the registration when I was still in Norway so hopefully scanned signed form is acceptable. And it mentions about his birth certificate which he never had at least one in his life, any idea how to get one?

Please, I hope you can help me again with these questions Stephy. Thanks 😊

In terms of his birth certificate; all he has to do is go online and apply for it at the folkeregister. They'll mail his birth certificate to him in a few days. (That's what my husband did)

If you are pertaining to the record of marriage,when you request for this in skatteetaten, the paper that you will receive has translations to english/polish/spanish if i am not mistaken so you don't need to have it translated.

And the answer is No,all documents that needs to be translated must be translated by an authorized translator.

I am not sure about the process of registration in the Philippines but i have an idea. I think it is somehow similar to birth registration where in it starts locally then gets submittes to NSO. So i suggest you visit your local townhall/munisipyo to ask them how you could have your marriage abroad registered.


If others here knows the right way feel free to correct me

Thank you TMilimo and Stephy for the reply. Been doing research about how to register the marriage here in Philippines but all the links are from foreign embassy or consulate, nothing from Philippine Embassy Manila. I am worried now coz my husband is not here in Philippines now and according to the requirements, his signature is needed. I don't know about record of marriage Stephy since we got our marriage contract thru post after one of our wedding. Do we have to report our marriage too in Norway or it was automatic?

What i am saying is you might need to request for a "extract record of marriage" from skatteetaten. It is a different document from the marriage contract that you received, it is the proof that your marriage has been registered in the national registry of Norway. And I believe it might be asked from you when you register it in the Philippines,because this is what is asked in the Philippine embassy in Oslo when you report your marriage. You will need to send this paper to the foreign ministry of Norway for legalisation(their version of red ribbon) before you submitt it to the embassy.

Like I said,you should visit your local townhall/munisipyo in the Philippines because that is where our basic registration starts. So I think they might be able to tell you how to register your marriage that took place on Norway.

Another thing is maybe you can call the Norwegian embassy in the Phil to ask if they will accept an application if the marriage is not registered in the Phil. There won't be no harm if you will ask them, who knows it might be more simple than what we think.

If in case you do need to register and need the signature og your husband,you can do what you did with the invitation letter when you applied for tourist. Have him print the application form, fill it up and sign it and send it to you together with the other requirements like passport photocopy and birth certificate.

Another option which i think is the easiest is report the marriage in the Phil embassy here in Norway. Since they have instructions in their website,you can send the documents need from you anda signed form then mail it to your husband. And he can complete the remaining requirements and be the one to send it to the embassy here.

Hi lady_diver.

the reason why you can't find a Philippine Embassy in Manila is simply because there is none Embassies or consulates are representation of a government/country in another country.. so there is no Philippine embassy in the Philippines because you are already in that country..

about translation, in addition to what stephy already said, this is my personal experience. The official marriage certificate from Skatteetaten that came in the mail a few days after my marriage was in Norwegian language, so I had to contact Skatteetaten to order a translated version (this is free). Like stephy said, the one sent was a copy translated in 4 languages..

about reporting your marriage,  this is normally done in the country where the marriage was officiated... That being said, since you got married in Norway, it has to be done in Norway... registration of marriage can be done by either parties, so you can have your husband register your marriage by himself, i will discuss more to it on the next paragraph... but if you want to register it by yourself in the Philippines, you can do this to DFA but this will be called "Delayed Registration of Report of Marriage"... I will provide a link below for the requirements on this registration... either way will work, and it only needs to be done once... The report of marriage is done in 3 copies, i believe this is because original documents goes to NSO (national registry in the PH), one copy goes to the embassy where the marriage happened, and one copy is returned to you.. but if you do it thru DFA while in the Philippines, it will be 4 copies coz DFA will have one copy for their record..

for my case, i reported my marriage while i was here in Norway, and I did it by mail. registration of marriage can be done by either parties, so you can have your husband register your marriage in the Philippine embassy in Oslo, either by mail or in person. which I think will be easier and less complicated since he can acquire all the necessary documents form within here in Norway (since you can just email him scanned copies of your passport and BC)... just check how much requirements there are to late-register a marriage to DFA it has 9 requirements as opposed to 4 if done in Phil-Embassy in Norway... he can do it by mail, the payment can be done with an online account via bank transfer. Problem with the embassy website is that it doesnt say on the page for marriage registration what their account number is, so i had to do some browsing on their site to find it..

here is the link for the report of Marriage process to Philippine Embassy in Oslo: Report of Marriage - Philippine Embassy in Oslo

the account number to pay if you would register via Mail is here: Schedule of Fees - Philippine Embassy in Oslo

here is the link for information if you want to do a "Late Registration of Marriage" in the Philippines: Requirements for Delayed Registration of Report of Marriage  - DFA Philippines

good read to find information on the importance of reporting/registering marriages of Filipino citizens done abroad: Why is it important to register a marriage done outside of the Philippines - Office of the Solicitor General Website

hope this helps

just to add, when we reported our marriage, I was already back to the Philippines when our copy of the report of marriage came back, which serves as your proof that the marriage outside the Philippines is honored and validated in your own country (I think it took a month of processing via mail)... and as exit clearance with CFO, (and as I was told, at DFA too when changing passport to married name), the Report of marriage is part of the requirements.. and since the stamped report of marriage came to my husband's address after I was already back in the Philippines, I asked CFO if they will honor a scanned copy of the Report of Marriage, coz I dont want to risk this important document to be lost in the mail.. They said its ok as long as I present an ORIGINAL MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE (I presented the translated copy I got from Skatteetaten).. so when you request for a translated marriage certificate, try asking for 2 copies.. its free anyways, and its better you have your own original copy, coz it will come in handy...

*EDIT:
and since the marriage of the Filipino citizen is done outside the country, the registration is done thru DFA (department of foreign affairs)... typically, marriages are registered thru NSO (national registry), if this is done inside the Philippines.. but since the marriage is done abroad, it has to go thru DFA coz I believe the documents will be validated first, before they (DFA) submit it to NSO for proper registration...

Omg, thank you so much Stephy and Pheebz, you dont know how relieved I am to hear what we need to do and our options. I went to the townhall at the office of civil registry and when i asked what to do all he ask is the marriage contract and pay 3k and they will process it themselves. He said they will bring it to the Manila Cityhall then NSO but when I asked further about the next step he didn't tell me. Even if its convenient to just pay someone to do it, I still dont trust them. I rather do it myself and know and experience the process esp when they ask money like that, sigh. I regret now only searching and asking about the report of marriage. I should have done it while I was still there, I didnt think its complicated like this to do it here. Just the problem is that my husband is so bad at legal stuffs and documents. I'll talk to him about our options but i guess doing it from Norway is the best option.

You two are angels here in the forum. 😘

You are welcome, i am glad to be able to help best of luck in your future applications

glad i can help

yes, its less complicated to do it in Norway than in Philippines, just by looking at all the documents you need to submit to DFA and its good that you did ask the local civil registry for further steps so you yourself can validate if they are legit.. if you ask me, its a "sideline" for that person since the consular fee is only $25.00 (around Php 1100 with the current exchange rate) and the report of marriage abroad is not really done thru the civil registry nor NSO directly, but thru DFA or Philippine embassy since it involves foreign authorities which local government units have no jurisdiction on... government agencies in the Philippines had a lot of corruption going on, sad to say, and its still best practice for us to do research on our own and know the real process instead of relying on others words and their paid services....