Information for people living in Iceland
Companion
Iceland
A quiet companion for the practical side of life here. Taxes, healthcare, housing, your rights at work, written plainly, kept current, and always free to read.
Your first weeks in Iceland
- • Register your legal address with Þjóðskrá to get a kennitala.
- • Open a bank account and request a tax card from Skatturinn.
- • Wait six months, then enrol with Sjúkratryggingar Íslands for healthcare.
- • Join the union that matches your work, it is part of how Iceland protects you.
- • Learn the emergency number: 112. It works for everything.
Topics
What would you like to understand?
Residency
Kennitala, permits, registration, the basics of legally being here.
Citizenship & the rights ladder
What you can do at each rung: kennitala, permanent residence, passport.
Taxes
Tax cards, withholding, the yearly statement, missed deadlines.
Healthcare
Sjúkratryggingar, finding a doctor, what is actually covered.
Housing
Renting, deposits, registering an address, heating and bills.
Work rights
Contracts, unions, sick leave, holidays, what employers must do.
Family & relationships
Marriage, bringing a partner from abroad, divorce, custody.
Education
Daycare, school, university, Icelandic for adults.
Money & investment
Pensions, mortgages, sending money home, building credit.
The law & you
Your rights, finding a lawyer, fines, how a record affects residency.
After death
Wills, inheritance for foreigners, repatriating a body.
This site is independent and non-commercial. It exists because settling into a new country is hard enough without scattered, half-correct information. We try to write what we wish we had been told.