Nina's Blog - Saturday 27th July 2024

Saturday 27th July 2024, 13:40

Started to work out my plans for visiting the UK next year. This is determined in part by the rules on summer and winter tyres in Norway. Can't switch to summer tyres until Sunday following Easter Monday. Easter Monday is 21st April next year so I can't switch until 28th. So my earliest departure would probably be 1st May. And I'd have to be back in Norway before 29th October to be less than six months out of the country.

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turbineman40 · 80-89, M

Interesting rules about six months out of the country. I guess the government wants you to stay home

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

@turbineman40 The explicit justification is that they don't want the social security and health systems paying for treatment for conditions contracted overseas when you aren't paying taxes to Norway. The general rule in most countries is that you pay tax to the country that you spend the most time in. So if you are out of the country for more than six months a year you can apply to stop paying taxes at home and start paying them in the other jurisdiction. I have no idea how this works for people who simply move all the time.

Without the rule many retired Norwegian citizens and residents would live overseas where it is cheap and their pensions go further and just go home for medical treatment and that would be a substantial drain on the economy. Some people do actually do retire abroad but many of them have to forgo membership of the Norwegian social security system and rely on the local health services wherever they live.

The actual rule is that you can't spend more than six months a year in consecutive years outside the country without losing the right to non-emergency medical treatment

turbineman40 · 80-89, M

@ninalanyon That makes sense to me