Living in Iceland · Students

Studying in Iceland, as a foreign student

Tuition at the public universities is still small or nothing for Icelandic, EEA, EFTA and Swiss students. From autumn 2027 public universities are authorised to charge tuition to students from outside the EEA, EFTA and Switzerland. The hard parts are still the permit, the money you must prove you have, insurance for the waiting period before Icelandic health cover starts, and a room to live in. This page follows the order you will meet them.

Guided by a resident. Written by someone who has lived through Iceland’s systems, with help from people who pointed the way, and checked against official sources.

Last verified 17 August 2026 · utlendingastofnun.is, island.is, sjukra.is, hi.is, university student services

The order things happen in

Almost every problem students have here comes from doing these steps in the wrong order. This is the order that works.

1. Get admitted to a school first. Nothing else can start before you have the letter of admission.
2. If you are not an EEA or EFTA citizen, apply for the student residence permit, with proof of money and insurance.
3. Apply for student housing the same week you are admitted. It is a waiting list, not a shop.
4. Arrive, register your legal address, and get your kennitala (national ID number) and electronic ID.
5. Then open a bank account, get a tax card if you will work, and check when public health insurance starts for you.

Your situations, one by one

You are an EEA or EFTA citizen coming to study

What actually happens: You do not need a permit to come or to study. If you stay longer than three months you register your right of residence and your legal address with Registers Iceland (Þjóðskrá, say: THYOTH-skrow). That registration is what gives you a full kennitala, and the kennitala is what banks, schools and landlords ask for.
What to do: Bring your passport or national ID, your admission letter, and your European Health Insurance Card. Register your address as soon as you have a real place to live.
The common trap: Thinking a short stay needs nothing at all. A stay under six months usually gets a system number, not a full kennitala, and some services will not open for you with it.

You need a student residence permit (outside the EEA)

What actually happens: You apply to the Directorate of Immigration (Útlendingastofnun, say: OOT-lend-inga-stovnun) after you are admitted, and normally before you travel. They ask for the admission letter, proof that you can support yourself, health insurance, a housing confirmation, and a criminal record certificate. Processing takes time, and a permit for studies is tied to that school and to real progress in your studies.
What to do: Read the student permit page on utlendingastofnun.is and collect every document before you start the form. Missing one paper restarts the clock.
The common trap: Booking flights around a guessed processing time. Apply as early as the rules allow and plan for it to take longer than you hoped.

You must prove you can support yourself

What actually happens: This is the step that stops most applications. Immigration sets a minimum amount of support per month of study, and they check it against your own bank statement, a student loan, or a scholarship. The figure is not fixed forever: it is reviewed and changed, so an amount someone posted last year may be wrong now.
What to do: Take the current figure straight from the Directorate of Immigration's own page on the day you apply, multiply it by the months of your study period, and make sure the money is in an account in your own name, visible on a stamped bank statement.
The common trap: Money that arrived in your account a few days before you applied, or money in a parent's account without the paperwork they accept. Both get questioned.

You get sick in the first months

What actually happens: Public health insurance (Sjúkratryggingar, say: SYOOK-ra-trigg-ing-ar) generally begins three months after your legal domicile is registered here. Until then you are not covered by the state. EEA students are covered for necessary care by their European Health Insurance Card, and people transferring insurance rights from an EEA country, the UK or Switzerland may be covered sooner. Everyone else must have private insurance for that waiting period, and immigration asks to see it.
What to do: Buy insurance that covers the whole waiting period before you travel, and keep the certificate. Once the waiting period ends, check on sjukra.is that your cover has started, and register with a health centre (heilsugæsla) near your address.
The common trap: Assuming the university covers you. It does not.

You need somewhere to live

What actually happens: Student housing is the cheapest and safest option, and it is run by the student services organisation of each university, such as Félagsstofnun stúdenta (FS) at the University of Iceland. Places are given from a waiting list counted from the day you apply, so a late application means a private room at a private price. On the private market you will be asked for a deposit and a kennitala, and August and September are the hardest weeks of the year.
What to do: Apply for student housing the same week your admission is confirmed, even if you are not certain you will come. Keep looking privately in parallel, and never pay a deposit before you have seen the place or the contract.
The common trap: Paying money to someone who will not meet you or show the flat. Rental scams target new students every autumn.

You want to work beside your studies

What actually happens: EEA and EFTA students may work like anyone else. If you are from outside the EEA, your student permit allows only limited work, and the hours and approval are part of the permit, not something you and an employer agree privately. Working more than allowed can cost you the permit itself.
What to do: Check the current hour limit with the Directorate of Immigration before you accept a job, get a written contract, and get a tax card on island.is so tax is taken at the right rate. Join the union that covers the job; students have the same rights to wages, breaks and holiday pay as everyone else.
The common trap: Cash work with no contract. It leaves you with no proof of income, which is exactly what immigration and landlords ask for later.

You are only here for one semester on exchange

What actually happens: A stay under six months usually gives you a system number (kerfiskennitala) rather than a full kennitala, and it does not bring public health insurance. Banks, phone contracts and some online services may refuse it.
What to do: Bring your European Health Insurance Card or private insurance, and ask your host university's international office which services they can open for you with a system number.
The common trap: Planning to open a bank account and sort insurance after you arrive. For a short stay, that time does not exist.

Your studies finish and you want to stay

What actually happens: A student permit ends with the studies. Staying on means moving to another basis, usually a work permit tied to a job offer, or, for some graduates, a permit to look for work after finishing a degree here. EEA citizens simply keep their right of residence while they work or look for work.
What to do: Start this three to six months before your final semester ends. Ask the Directorate of Immigration in writing which permit fits your case, and keep the answer.
The common trap: Letting the student permit lapse first. A gap is much harder to repair than a renewal made in time.

Money, without numbers

We do not publish living-cost figures, because every student's move is different: a single student in a shared room, a student with a partner, and a student with children do not need the same money. What is fixed is the shape of the cost.

Tuition: public universities charge no tuition to Icelandic, EEA, EFTA and Swiss students, only a yearly registration fee set by each school. From autumn 2027 they are authorised to charge tuition to students from outside the EEA, EFTA and Switzerland. Students beginning in autumn 2026, current students, PhD students and some permanent residents are exempt. Exact fees have not yet been set. Private universities charge tuition.
Housing: usually your largest cost, and much lower in student housing than on the private market.
Deposit: private landlords normally ask for several months' rent up front, paid before you have any income here.
Insurance: private cover for the waiting period, generally three months, unless an EHIC covers you.
Transport: a Strætó period pass costs far less than single tickets. See our getting around page.
Winter: warm clothing is a real one-time cost most students forget to plan for.

Icelandic student loans (Menntasjóður námsmanna) have rules about residence and study progress. EEA students who have worked here may qualify sooner than they expect. Read the fund's own rules before you count on it.

Language, and what it decides

Many master's programmes are taught in English. Most bachelor programmes at the Icelandic-language universities are taught in Icelandic and ask you to prove you can follow them. That single fact decides which courses are open to you, so check the language of teaching, and the entry requirements, on the exact course page before you apply. Our education page explains how a foreign diploma is turned into Icelandic credits.

Editor's note. One email to the admissions office of the exact course you want, asking for the full list of entry requirements including language, is worth more than a month of reading. The answer usually takes about a week.

Sources

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