Icelanders who reside abroad not allowed to bring duty-free merchandise when visiting Iceland

Icelanders who reside abroad are not allowed to bring duty-free merchandise when visiting Iceland. Different set of regulations apply to them than to Icelandic tourists who may bring duty-free merchandise up to 88.000 ISK, according to information on the website of The Icelandic Directorate of Customs.

If an Icelander has a legal residence abroad, he is regardad as a foreign national, not as an Icelandic tourist.

Foreign nationals are allowed to bring merchandise into Iceland, related to the purpose of their visit. Yet, the merchandise must be taken out of the country. Therefore, it also applies to Icelanders living abroad.

However, they allowed to bring custom gifts into the country, for example Christmas gifts for example, but each gift must not exceed the cost of 13.500 ISK.

 

These regulations differ considerably from those applying to Icelandic tourists with legal residence here in Iceland. Each tourist is allowed to bring duty-free merchandise bought abroad or in the DutyFree stores here in Iceland, for maximum 88.000 ISK. But any merchandise bought for a third party must undergo customs inspection and is therefore subject to import duties.

This is noteworthy now in December when Icelanders who reiside abroad, for example students, come home during the Christmas season.