No visa and no work permit, inside the EEA
Poland is in the EU and Iceland in the European Economic Area, so you can live and work in Iceland without a visa or a work permit. A valid ID card or passport is enough.
The key step: register your legal domicile with Registers Iceland (Þjóðskrá). You apply online with form A-271, then show your passport or ID card in person after you arrive. Registration gives you your kennitala, the Icelandic ID number you need for a bank account and most services.
When? Registers Iceland says you can register once you stay 3 months or more, and you must if you stay 6 months or more. If you have come to work, register straight away: health insurance and much else start from that date.
Your checklist in Poland
- A valid ID card or passport.
- Leaving for more than 6 months? Report your departure in Poland, online or at your gmina office, at the latest on the day you leave.
- Documents in one folder: birth and marriage certificates, diplomas, work references, your work contract, driving licence.
- Coming to look for work? With form PD U2 from your voivodeship labour office (WUP) you can keep your Polish unemployment benefit for 3 months while you look for work in Iceland; the Polish office may extend this to at most 6 months. You must have been available to the Polish labour office for at least 4 weeks before you leave, and register in Iceland within 7 days.
- Money for the start: Iceland is expensive, so save for a deposit, the first rent and a few weeks of living costs.
- Set up Polish TV before you go, so it works from day one (how to watch Polish TV in Iceland).
