Decision on the recognition of change of legal gender
The tax office makes decisions regarding the recognition of a change in legal gender and allocates a new national identification number in the National Population Register. The legal basis for this is Section 2-2 of the National Population Register regulation. The third-last digit of your national identification number is the sex marker, which indicates whether you are registered as male or female in the National Population Register.
Individuals who have turned 16 years of age must apply for recognition of a change in legal gender. Children and young people between the ages of 6 and 16 years must apply together with their parents. If only one parent consents, the County Governor of Viken may still grant an application for recognition of a change in legal gender if this is in the best interests of the child. If your application is denied, you can appeal to the County Governor of Viken (helseklage.no).
The legal gender of children under the age of 6 years can only be changed if they have a congenital difference in sex development (DSD). The DSD must be documented by a healthcare professional.
On 1 January 2017, a separate regulation on the changing of legal gender for Norwegian citizens resident abroad came into force (lovdata.no). Section 1 of the regulation states that Norwegian citizens who are resident abroad have the right to have a change in legal gender recognised pursuant to the rules set out in the Gender Recognition Act (lovdata.no).
The prerequisite for Norwegian citizens who are resident abroad to apply for recognition of a change in legal gender is that they are registered in the Norwegian National Population Register with a national identification number.
Information and guidance
You are entitled to receive adequate information and guidance from the public authorities concerning the consequences of and procedures for changing your legal gender. You decide what information and guidance you require. For some, it will be natural to seek advice from health and social care professionals, while others may find that the Tax Administration (the authority responsible for the National Population Register) will be the natural venue for asking any questions.
There are several user and special interest organisations that may also be of relevance:
- Norwegian Patient Organization for Gender Incongruence (PKI)
- Harry Benjamin Resource Centre
- Association of Transgender People in Norway
- Norwegian Organisation for Sexual and Gender Diversity
- Queer Youth
Practical information and consequences
Practical information about changing legal gender
- In order to change your legal gender in the Norwegian National Population Register, you must apply for recognition of a change in legal gender to the National Population Register authorities. Application forms can be obtained by contacting the Norwegian Tax Administration.
- The application forms you receive from the Norwegian Tax Administration will include further information about the conditions applicable to the recognition of the change and the application process itself. The information and guidance are intended to make it easier for you to plan for some of the practical consequences of changing your legal gender in the National Population Register.
- You will need to return a response slip to confirm your application and you decide when you want to submit confirmation.
- Once the confirmation has been received by the Tax Office, a new national identification number will be allocated to you in the National Population Register. It will then take 2-3 weeks before you receive a letter confirming your new national identification number and the letter will be sent to the address registered for you in the National Population Register.
Change of name and national identification number:
- Changing your name and changing your national identification number are two different processes. The legal basis for a change of name is set out in the Norwegian Personal Names Act and the legal basis for a change to the national identification number is set out in the Norwegian Census Act.
- Whether you are applying to change your name or both your name and national identification number, there are a number of practical matters that are not automatic and you will need to notify various authorities to change the information registered in relation to you.
- You need to ensure that any ID documents/identification linked to your national identification number are reissued. Examples include your passport, driving licence and bank cards. Passports are issued by the police, the local highway commission issues driving licences and your bank will issue new bank cards.
- Once you have been allocated a new national identification number, your previous user profile in the ID portal will be closed automatically. If you use BankID, you therefore need to contact your bank to have a new BankID issued. If you use other electronic ID solutions such as Commfides or Buypass, you also need to contact these. If you use MinID, you can request a new activation letter here. MinID no longer uses PIN codes.
Register details
- When an individual is allocated a new national identification number, the new and old number will be linked in the Norwegian National Population Register. The information associated with the previous national identification number will be transferred to the new number, which is where new information will be registered going forward.
- Some public registers coordinate with/receive data automatically from the National Population Register, but in order to ensure that the old and new number are linked correctly, this might sometimes have to be done manually.
Examples of registers that coordinate with the Norwegian National Population Register:
- NAV and Helfo
- Immigration register/UDI
- Hospitals
- Police
Examples of registers that do not coordinate with the National Population Register:
- Private membership registers (clubs and associations, special interest organisations)
- Employer registers
- Banking and insurance (note that there are some exceptions)
- Some educational institutions
Health
For some population screening programmes, such as mammography screening and screening for ovarian cancer, invites will only be issued to those who are legally registered as female in the National Population Register. It can therefore be a good idea after changing legal gender to perform a thorough review of your healthcare needs with e.g. your GP.