Before you start

Fødselsnummer or D-number
Passport and residence permit
Employment contract or other documentation of your reason to be here
A Norwegian address

Step-by-step

1
Complete the Skatteetaten identity check first
There is no route to a Norwegian bank account without an identity number, and no route to the number without the in-person check. This is the ordering that defines a Norwegian arrival.
In personWho: YouBook before you arrive
2
Book a bank appointment and ask about BankID timing
Banks differ in how quickly they issue BankID to a new customer with a D-number rather than a fødselsnummer. Ask before choosing, because a bank that will not issue it for weeks leaves you locked out of public services.
In personWho: YouWeek 2–4
3
Set up Vipps
Vipps is how Norwegians split bills, pay for second-hand purchases, contribute to the dugnad fund and pay small businesses. It requires BankID and a Norwegian account and is close to socially compulsory.
Mobile appWho: You
4
Open a depositumskonto when you rent
Norwegian tenancy law requires the deposit — up to six months' rent — to be held in a dedicated account in the tenant's name, opened by the landlord at the bank, from which neither party can withdraw unilaterally. The landlord pays the cost of establishing it. A landlord asking for the deposit in their own account is acting unlawfully.
In personWho: You and your landlord
5
Register for eFaktura and AvtaleGiro
Norwegian bills arrive electronically into your online bank as eFaktura, with AvtaleGiro for automatic payment. Set both up early; paper invoices are increasingly rare and missed bills go to debt collection quickly.
OnlineWho: You
6
Understand that Norway is not in the EU for banking either
Payments to and from euro-area accounts can carry charges that intra-EU transfers do not, and some EU consumer protections apply differently. Check what your bank charges for a SEPA transfer before assuming it is free.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Fødselsnummer or D-number
Passport
Residence permit or EEA registration certificate
Employment contract
Tenancy agreement, for the deposit account

Things most newcomers don’t know

The deposit account is a legal requirement and it is the clearest test of a landlord.

Norwegian tenancy law caps the deposit at six months' rent and requires it to sit in a dedicated depositumskonto opened in the tenant's name, with the bank as gatekeeper — neither party can take money out alone. The landlord bears the cost of establishing it. A landlord who asks for the deposit into their personal account is breaking the law and you have no protection if they keep it. In a market as thin and amateur as Oslo's, this one question separates the professional lets from the risky ones.

Source: Husleieloven / Forbrukerrådet

A D-number makes banking harder in ways nobody warns you about.

Banks apply stricter identity and anti-money-laundering procedures to holders of temporary D-numbers, and several will not issue BankID against one at all or will impose a waiting period. Because BankID gates the tax portal, Helsenorge, insurance and most public services, this compounds. If your stay is genuinely six months or more, registering a move and obtaining a fødselsnummer removes the friction entirely.

Source: Skatteetaten / community-reported

Vipps is infrastructure, not a convenience.

Dividing a restaurant bill, paying for a used sofa from Finn.no, contributing to a colleague's leaving gift, paying the building's dugnad kitty, buying from a market stall — all of it happens through Vipps, keyed to your phone number. Without it you are the person holding everyone up. It requires BankID, which requires the account, which requires the identity number, which is the same dependency chain as everything else in Norway.

Source: community-reported

Being outside the EU changes what a cross-border payment costs.

Norway participates in SEPA but is not in the EU, and the EU regulation equalising the cost of domestic and cross-border euro payments does not bind Norwegian banks the same way. Transfers to and from euro accounts can carry fees and margins that people arriving from within the EU are not expecting. Check the actual charge before setting up a recurring payment to another country.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Attempting to open an account before the Skatteetaten identity check.
Paying a rental deposit into a landlord's ordinary account instead of a depositumskonto.
Choosing a bank without asking when it will issue BankID against your number type.
Missing eFaktura bills sitting unread in the online bank.
Assuming euro transfers from a Norwegian bank are as cheap as they are inside the EU.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.