Child Pension for Study Purposes
Child pension for study or vocational training is paid to young people aged 18-20. A condition for the payments is if one or both parents have died or are pensioners (disability, old age or rehabilitation). It is also permitted to pay a child pension if the parent liable for child support receives ruling from the district commissioner that he or she does not have to pay child support due to low income.
Conditions for payments
- A parent is a pensioner or deceased
- The applicant must have legal domicile in Iceland
- Applicant must be engaged in full time studies in a recognized school and the studies must be their main occupation
The pension is only determined for one semester at a time. Application are made at the beginning of the term and after that a school certificate must be submitted for each semester, stating the academic achievement of the last semester and the number of credits of the current semester. It is important to specify whether these are standard credits or fein credits.
Documents supporting the application
- School certificate showing academic achievement in the last semester as well as confirmation of the number of credits in next semester. It is important to specify whether these are standard credits or fein credits
- If the district commissioner has rejected a ruling on child support due to parents low income or if it has not been possible to find the parent, that ruling must accompany the application
- Confirmation from a guidance counselor if the student is unable to pursue full-time studies
- Death certificate if applied for due to the death of a parent and the deceased was not resident in this country and no documents have been submitted before
Frequently asked questions
- If the young person leaves school
- If the young person moves out of the country
- If the young person becomes a disability pensioner
- If the parent is no longer a pensioner
- If income is above the limit
Studies must take up at least six months a year. Full-time study is about 17 credits or 30-34 Fein credits per semester, but this condition may be deviated from in the case of slow study or the student’s special difficulties.
If a young person is completing their studies and cannot register for more credits, the condition for full time study may be deviated from.
A confirmation from a guidance counselor must be submitted if the student is unable to pursue full-time studies.
In the case of irregular studies or courses equivalent to approved studies, the study time is calculated in the number of lessons in the calendar year, in which case six months corresponds to 624 hours of lessons. A fraction of a month is considered as a whole month. TR may postpone processing until the six-month study period is reached.
A student can work at the same time as he receives a child pension. The work must, however, be outside school hours and confirmation of working hours must be submitted by the employer.
The student’s monthly income may not be on average higher than seven times the amount of the child pension at any given time.
The student’s assets in cash or securities may not exceed ISK 4 million.