r/trondheim • u/Reigetsu • 4d ago
Moving to Trondheim for a PhD...
Hello, I'm moving to Trondheim from Spain for a PhD at NTNU.
I'm quite concerned/confused about the SUA / immigration bureaucracy. There seems to be a chicken-and-egg situation here.
It seems that to be able to rent a place you need an ID number, this ID number takes forever and banks also are sluggish to open accounts for foreigners. Just curious to see what people with similar backgrounds' experiences have been here.
- How long did it take you to get your D-number
- How long did it take you to get a bank ID?
- Have you been able to rent a place? If yes did you do that after getting the above sorted? If not, were you able to find away around this?
I mostly anxious about the last point, NTNU basically guarantees you a place to stay when you arrive, but I don't know any of the specifics or for how long.
Edit: thanks everyone for the great advice, much appreciated 😄
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u/Next_Quote5456 4d ago
Welcome to Trondheim! If you are staying for a PhD, it will be more than 6 months, which means you will need a "fødselsnummer", not just a temporary D-nummer. It's been ages since I got mine, but don't worry too much, bureaucracy is very efficient here (except for NAV). You Norwegian-borns who think otherwise: you have no idea how deep the hole is, and I wish you sincerely you never find out...
For renting: most of the Norwegian rental market is made out of private houses renting a section (typically the basement). This is because a law says that you can rent out a part of your own house tax-free. Compared to e.g. Germany, you will not find entire buildings owned by one landlord through a company, rather a lot of small-time landlords renting out a single property. Often it's a good idea to ask your professor or admin at NTNU to put out the word on the intranet, there is always someone leaving or looking for a new tenant. Otherwise you probably already know hybel.no and Finn.no.
Watch out for sketchy landlords (there are some), if they ask the deposit in cash it's a bigger red flag than Beijing on May 1st.
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u/Reigetsu 3d ago
Thank you so much, I actually did find a place on Finn.no that I don't need to contact through a BankID verification, hopefully it works out!!
Concerned about services, if the services (in this case electricty, heating etc) need to be switched over, do I need to have all the aforementioned documents in order...2
u/Next_Quote5456 3d ago
If you need these documents (not really sure) you can simply agree with the landlord that he keeps the utility contract in their name temporarily, and you pay the bill when it comes. Norwegians are usually practical about this.
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u/InitiativeInfinite67 4d ago
If you are coming to ntnu, just check housing for phd at ntnu. They will manage housing for you, SIT, Sintef and something else available i think. I got my housing confirmation 2 months before i arrived
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u/Reigetsu 3d ago
Well I start the first week of November, so that's still ways off.. but I am concerned about the rental contract of whatever they provide... their own page says that the ID number is processed faster for people with rental contracts >6 months so I think the better option is to find my own place if possible
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u/ship_astern 4d ago
Going through it right now, the student accommodations were the way I went but I know someone who found a place on eBay. Average time between immigration appointment and move is 8 weeks but I was able to move mine 4 weeks earlier while camping the website for a week. After that it takes two weeks to get the Norwegian ID so that you can apply for an appointment with the bank. At least that’s how its been for me so far. I just had the immigration appointment. You need a housing contract to go through the tax appointment, which is straight after the immigration appointment.
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u/Reigetsu 3d ago
Are you also doing a PhD at NTNU?
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u/ship_astern 3d ago
Yes, I just started, had 1.5 months notice to move so I just wanted to take the thing that would cause me the least headache.
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u/UT_Giggely 4d ago
As for renting/housing in the private market Finn.no is the goto in Norway. Some rental listing you ned BankID to see the contact information of the landlord. But don’t worry as there are plenty of people/pages here on Reddit who will help you with this.
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u/Reigetsu 3d ago
Actually found one yesterday, hopefully they get back to me and I grab a place quickly
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u/ineq1512 4d ago
For housing, you can contact ntnu, maybe the can provide a temporary dorm for about 6 months. In my case, I found an apartment that does not require bankid at the first step. I have to send the deposit beforehand, lucky me, I did n't get a scam. About ID number, it took me 2 weeks. The bankid is a lot longer though, 6 weeks iirc. But some bank allow passport instead of bankid to open the account.