If you are the spouse, cohabiting partner, or child under the age of 18 of a person who has been granted a residence and work permit in the Faroe Islands, you can apply for residence permit as an accompanying family member.

As cohabiting partners, it is usually a condition that you have been living together approximately 1½-2 years before you submit your application. It is also
a condition that the cohabitation can be documented. This could be in the form of a lease contracts where you are both listed as tenants, letters from authorities received at the same address, statements from landlords, employers or the National Registry etc.

The Faroe Islands and Denmark are two distinct travel areas. This means that a residence permit in Denmark does not give you the right to stay in the Faroe Islands. Likewise, a residence permit in the Faroe Islands does not allow you to stay in Denmark.

If you submit an application for a residence permit as an accompanying family member of a person holding a work and residence permit in the Faroe Islands, you must show documentation that proves that this person ('the sponsor') is able to financially support you.

However, this rule does not apply if the person holds a work and residence permit pursuant to the Sports Agreement.

Documentation
You must submit the sponsor’s current employment contract in the Faroe Islands.
If the sponsor is already working in the Faroe Islands, you must also submit the sponsor’s paychecks for the last 12 months.

If your first application for a residence permit as an accompanying family member is submitted before 2 September 2023
If you have submitted your first-time application for a residence permit as an accompanying family member to a sponsor in the Faroe Islands before 2 September 2023, you are subject to the former requirements for documenting that your sponsor is able to support you financially.

If your first application for a residence permit as an accompanying family member is submitted after 2 September 2023
If you have submitted a first-time application for a residence permit as an accompanying family member of a sponsor in the Faroe Islands after 2 September 2023, you are subject to the new financial requirements.

What are the new financial requirements?
The sponsor must document that he/she has:

• 38,629.06 DKK in gross income each month, if the applicant is a spouse or a cohabiting partner.
• 44,343.88 DKK in gross income each month, if the applicant is a spouse or a cohabiting partner and if you have a child under the age of 18 that is also applying for a residence permit in the Faroe Islands as an accompanying family member of the same sponsor.
  • For each additional child applying as accompanying family member of the same sponsor 1,480.42 DKK is added (up to a maximum of 48,785.13 DKK).
• 31,710.81 DKK in gross income each month, if the applicant is a child under the age of 18. 
  • For each additional child applying as accompanying family member of the same sponsor 3,667.75 DKK is added (up to a maximum of 42,714.06 DKK).

The fixed amounts apply for all of 2026. The amounts are partially regulated by the development of wages in Føroya Arbeiðarafelag (the labour union of the Faroe Islands’) collective agreement for unskilled workers, and partially by the government’s regulation procentage anually, on 1 January, which is fixed according to Løgtingslóg um javningarprosent til almannaveitingar (the Lagting law on the regulation rate for social benefits).

What are you allowed to do with a permit as an accompanying family member in the Faroe Islands? – and what are you not allowed to do?

Residence
A residence permit allows you to stay in the Faroe Islands for the period of time your permit is valid.

Departure from the Faroe Islands
If you give up your address in the Faroe Islands or stay abroad for a longer period of time, your residence permit will automatically lapse. This means that you will lose your right to stay in the Faroe Islands.

If you have been staying in the Faroe Islands legally for more than 2 years and you hold a residence permit intended for long-term stay, or if you already hold a permanent residence permit, you can stay outside of the Faroe Islands for up to 12 months without your permit lapsing.

If you have been staying in the Faroe Islands legally for less than 2 years, or you hold a residence permit intended for temporary stay, you can only stay outside of the Faroe Islands for up to 6 months without your permit lapsing.

If you need to stay abroad for an extended period of time, e.g. if you are temporarily stationed abroad by your employer, you can apply for a dispensation to prevent your permit from lapsing.

Stays in Denmark or Greenland are considered as stays abroad. Stays abroad due to military service or service in lieu of military service will not result in the lapse of your permit.

Work
As a holder of a permit as an accompanying family member, you are allowed to work during your stay in the Faroe Islands.

Social benefits
You must be able to support yourself and your family during your stay. You are not allowed to receive public benefits.

If you or your family members receive such benefits during your stay, your permit can be revoked – and you will lose the right to stay in the Faroe Islands.

How to submit the application

Normally, a first-time application must be submitted to a Danish diplomatic mission in the applicant’s country of residence. A first time application can therefore only be submitted while staying legally in the Faroe Islands (e.g. on a short-stay visa) if special reasons speak in favor of allowing it. It is considered special reasons, if the sponsor holds a work and residence permit pursuant to the special EU scheme, the Fast Track scheme or the Sports Agreement.

You are submitting the application in the Faroe Islands:

If you are staying in the Faroe Islands legally, you can submit the application at the Immigration Office in one of the following ways:

By e-mail
Send a completed and signed application, together with all relevant documents, to:
info@utlendingastovan.fo

By post
Send the completed application to:
Útlendingastovan
Skálatrøð 20
Postrúm 264
FO-110 Tórshavn

In person

Submit your application in person at the reception of the Faroese Immigration Office. Please bring your passport for identification.

Útlendingastovan
Skálatrøð 20
Tórshavn

Please ensure that all required documents are included.

The Immigration Office will contact you if further information is required in regards to the processing of the application.

Receive an answer