Swedish Passport

Swedish Passport

Swedish passports are issued to nationals of Sweden for the purpose of international travel. Besides serving as proof of Swedish citizenship, they facilitate the process of securing assistance from Swedish consular officials abroad or other European Union members in case a Swedish consular is absent, if needed. For travel into and staying in countries that have implemented the Schengen Agreement, a passport is not required if one has a Swedish national identity card.

The passports are issued by the Swedish Police and applications are filed at police stations which have a passport office. Passports issued since October 1, 2005 are of a biometric variety, and valid for five years. Earlier passports are valid for ten years (adults) or five years (children). The blue cover passports issued up until 1998 (and not valid after 2008) are not valid as identity documents in Sweden due to insufficient security features which resulted in widespread forgery.

It is possible for a Swedish citizen to hold two valid passports at the same time if it is needed for work or "another special reasons" The validity time of an additional passport is "as long as the necessity applies", but never longer than the ordinary passport. This can be useful when traveling to states which reject a passport with an entry stamp or visa of another state in it (Israel vs several Arab states). Also it is useful when one needs to travel when the ordinary passport is handed in for a visa application.