Citizens of countries outside the EU and EEA must obtain a visa before entering Iceland. If the applicant arrives in Iceland before the visa has been issued, he must leave the country while the application is being processed. 

Applicants intending to stay in the country as students must obtain a student visa to stay in the country. A student visa is granted to those planning to study full-time in Iceland. Full-time studies are 100% studies at university level, vocational training or other studies requiring an educational background equivalent to university admission requirements. Full-time studies at a university are 30 ECTS units per term.

When applying to extend a student permit, the applicant must supply documentation from the applicable school showing his/her satisfactory progress in studies the previous semester.

For further information please see the Icelandic Directorate of Immigration website

Application process

The estimated application processing time for a residence permit is 90 days from the date the Directorate of Immigration received sufficient documentation. When applying for a residence permit, please read the instructions very carefully. If documents are missing, the application processing time will take much longer. 

For further information about the application process, please see the Icelandic Directorate of Immigration website.

D-Visa

If an application for a residence permit is approved, the applicant needs to obtain a D-Visa at the closest embassy issuing such visas on behalf of Iceland. An application must state in which embassy the applicant intends to obtain the visa.  List of embassies.

Upon arriving in Iceland

If a residence permit is granted, upon arrival the applicants shall:

• register their domicile with the Registers Iceland (Þjóðskrá Íslands), Borgartún 21, 105 Reykjavík, tel. +354 515 5300. All citizens should bring a passport which is valid at least three months after the scheduled departure.
• get a health check within the first two weeks of their stay in Iceland. In some cases a medical certificate from abroad is sufficient. Go to the website of the Directorate of Health for more information about the health check.
  Students in Akureyri: You need to undergo a medical examination at the Akureyri Health Centre (tel.: +354 460-4600) located downtown (Hafnarstræti 99).
  Students in Reykjavik: Medical examinations are done at the Health Centre at Álfabakki 16, 109 Reykjavík. For more information go to www.heilsugaeslan.is.
• go to the Directorate of Immigration or to the District Magistrate/Police Authorities in the area where the applicant resides, with their passport or travel documents and have their photo taken.

After this the permit is issued and sent to the applicant's address in Iceland.