Insurance during your outbound exchange

If you are a member of the Norwegian National Insurance scheme, or a citizen of an EEA country or Switzerland, and will be staying in another EEA country, you are entitled to healthcare service coverage through the European Health Insurance scheme. Please always carry your European Health Insurance card and familiarize yourself with the coverage.

 With financial support from the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund

If you receive support from the Norwegian Loan Fund to study abroad, you will automatically receive a letter/ document from Helfo confirming your healthcare entitlements outside Norway. The document will be sent to the home address registered in the National Population Register.

If you need healthcare services abroad outside the EEA, you must pay out of pocket for hospitalization, treatment, medicines, etc. You must keep the receipts for your expenses and apply to Helfo afterwards to have them refunded. Read more at helsenorge.no.

Without financial support from the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund

If you study abroad without the support of the Norwegian National Loan Fund, your membership in the National Insurance scheme will generally be revoked after one year. If you apply to NAV, you may be entitled to remain a member beyond the one-year period. If you are going on exchange without financial aid from the Norwegian Loan Fund, please contact Helfo Utland to clarify your rights prior to departure. 

In the USA, Norway had an agreement with the American insurance agent Optum for many years, which assisted students with documentation, access to healthcare services, and coverage of medical expenses. This agreement expired in September 2022. This means that Norway no longer has a special arrangement for covering expenses for medical assistance in the USA.

Without this special arrangement, you now need to use a private health insurance or pay for the treatment and apply to Helfo for reimbursement. The regular rules for stays in countries outside the EU/EEA now apply. You can find information about what this means and which healthcare expenses are covered for students going on exchange here: Coverage of medical expenses in the USA for students entitled to extended support.

American educational institutions are required by law to ensure that students have health insurance. In some cases, American educational institutions may request a more detailed description of rights to healthcare coverage than what Helfo provides. In such cases, you can refer to private health insurance.

Note that they may require you to purchase their health insurance in addition to the one you may already have. This can be expensive and may have limitations. In some cases, it will be possible to apply for a so-called waiver from purchasing the American institution's health insurance.

Please contact your insurance company if you have questions. You can also contact Helfo for guidance.

In many cases, the Norwegian National Insurance scheme does not provide full coverage. It does not include travel and accident insurance, household contents insurance or repatriation in the event of illness. 

To ensure that you are fully covered, you should also purchase your own private insurance and make sure it covers the purpose and duration of your exchange. Please familiarize yourself with the terms and conditions of your insurance policy. 

Many insurance companies offer a so-called "student abroad insurance" which should be sufficient, in addition to the National Insurance Scheme. Please contact your insurance company well in advance of your departure. It is important to identify your insurance needs. You should inform your insurance company of the specific study situation you will be in during your stay abroad. This is especially important if you are going on a traineeship.

Please note that your insurance may have limitations in connection with COVID-19. 

The purpose of the occupational injury insurance under Norway’s National Insurance Scheme is to provide special advantages beyond the ordinary benefits. Coverage under the National Insurance Act presupposes membership in the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme.

Under the National Insurance Act, you will be covered against occupational injuries provided that the harm occurs in a "teaching situation". What this means in practice is that the injury you incur must have occurred while you were in a teaching situation, at the teaching site, during teaching time. 

Pursuant to section 13-10, third paragraph, of the Norwegian National Insurance Act, occupational injury provisions are also applicable to teaching sites other than where teaching ordinarily takes place. The prerequisite, in such a case, is that the teaching must take place under the direction of the university. 

NAV is the authority that determines whether an injury is approved for coverage under the National Insurance Act. 

If you are participating in a traineeship, you must make sure that you are covered while on site. You will need a liability policy that covers any liability in the event you inflict harm on other people when performing practice-related tasks. 

Please contact your insurance company for more information.

As a general rule, if you study in Norway for less than a year, you will not become a member. Please read more about membership in the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme. You may need to purchase insurance from your home country. 

The first thing you need to do is find out whether you are already a member of the National Insurance Scheme. 

• If you are a member, please contact your local NAV office to check whether they can export your membership to the country you are travelling to in connection with your exchange. 

• If you are not a member, you have no entitlements under the National Insurance Act. You may be able to apply for voluntary membership.

Foreign students in Norway - nav.no

With regard to additional insurance to any coverage you may have under the National Insurance Scheme, the above recommendations and guidelines apply.