Fifteen days to appeal to the Immigration and Asylum Appeals Board — and whether you may wait in Iceland depends entirely on which type of refusal you received.
Overview
First-instance decisions on Icelandic visas, residence permits and citizenship are made by the Directorate of Immigration (Útlendingastofnun); refusals of residence permits are drafted by the Directorate's lawyers as written decisions and sent by registered mail. You then have 15 days from the date the decision is made known to you to appeal to the Immigration and Asylum Appeals Board (kærunefnd útlendingamála), an independent body at Skúlagata 17, 101 Reykjavík (postur@knu.is) — the deadline only starts when you actually receive the decision. Miss it and the law deems you to have accepted the refusal. Whether you may remain in Iceland during the appeal is the critical question: appeals automatically suspend implementation only for refusals of permanent residence permits and refusals of renewals applied for before the previous permit expired; everyone else must request suspension under Article 29 of the Administrative Procedures Act. Refused applicants in Iceland are normally given 30 days to leave voluntarily. International-protection refusals follow the same 15-day deadline, shortened to five days for applicants from designated safe countries of origin. Verified against island.is and knu.is as of June 2026.
How a Refusal Arrives — and What It Immediately Means
- Written decision by registered mail: If requirements are not met, the Directorate of Immigration's lawyers issue a written refusal decision, served by registered mail. The date you receive it — not the decision date — starts the appeal clock.
- 30 days to leave: An applicant refused while in Iceland is always given a deadline for voluntary departure, in most cases 30 days. Staying beyond it makes the stay illegal and exposes you to expulsion and a re-entry ban.
- Work authorisation dies with the refusal: If you were authorised to work while the application was processed, that authorisation becomes invalid on refusal.
- Refused abroad: If you are outside Iceland when refused, you simply have no permit and no authorisation to travel to Iceland on those grounds.
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See Paid Plans →Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to appeal an Icelandic refusal, and where do I send it?
Fifteen days from the date the decision is made known to you — and the day you receive the registered letter counts as the disclosure date, so the clock does not start while the decision sits in the post. Appeals go to the Immigration and Asylum Appeals Board (kærunefnd útlendingamála) at Skúlagata 17, 101 Reykjavík, or by email to postur@knu.is. Include your reference number, full name, nationality, the date of the Directorate's decision, your grounds and any new evidence. For international-protection cases from designated safe countries of origin the deadline is five days.
Can I stay in Iceland while my appeal is being decided?
Only for two categories does the appeal automatically suspend the decision: refusals of permanent residence permits, and refusals of renewals where you applied before your previous permit expired. In those cases you keep the same legal status as if no refusal had happened. For everything else — including first-time applications — you must ask the Board to suspend implementation under Article 29 of the Administrative Procedures Act, and unless it agrees, you must leave within the deadline given (normally 30 days). Leaving on time does not harm your appeal, which continues in your absence.
I applied while visiting Iceland and was refused without my case even being assessed. Why?
Because the Foreign Nationals Act requires it. If an applicant is not authorised to be in Iceland when the application is submitted, the Directorate of Immigration must refuse — no evaluation is made of whether you would otherwise qualify. As a rule, first-time residence permits must be applied for and granted before you travel; the permit must be in effect before arrival. The practical fix is usually to leave Iceland, file a fresh application from abroad with the correct supporting documents, and wait for approval before returning.
My Schengen visa for Iceland was refused — who do I appeal to?
It depends on who decided. If the Directorate of Immigration refused the visa, you appeal to the Immigration and Asylum Appeals Board within 15 days, quoting your reference number, full name, nationality and the decision date (postur@knu.is). But Iceland has few embassies, so many Schengen visas for Iceland are processed by another country's mission representing Iceland — in that case the appeal goes to the representing state under its own rules, following the instructions in your refusal letter. If a host in Iceland appeals for you, they need your written authorisation.
What happens if I miss the 15-day appeal deadline?
The law deems you to have accepted the refusal: an appeal received after the deadline is not taken up, and you must comply with the decision's legal effect, including the departure deadline — usually 30 days from notification. Overstaying that deadline makes your presence illegal and can lead to expulsion and a re-entry ban covering the whole Schengen area. The realistic recovery route is a new application that fixes whatever caused the refusal, with a new fee. If exceptional circumstances caused the delay, seek advice quickly — reopening is rare and never assumed.
The Appeals Board has rejected my appeal. Is there anything left to try?
The Board's ruling ends the administrative track — there is no further administrative appeal. What remains is bringing the matter before the Icelandic courts, with the costs and timescales that litigation entails, or submitting a fresh application if your circumstances have changed or the original defect (salary level, documentation, enrolment, insurance) can now be cured. For work-based cases, remember the labour side: if the underlying work permit was the problem, a renewed employer application addressing the Directorate of Labour's objection may succeed where re-arguing the old file would not.