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 member states in case a Swedish consular is absent, if needed. The passport, along with the national identity card allows for freedom of movement in any of the states of the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Swedish passports are issued by the Swedish Police and applications are filed at police stations equipped with a passport terminal for taking photographs and fingerprints. Passports issued since 1 October 2005 are biometric, and valid for five years. Earlier passports are valid for ten years or five years. The blue cover passports issued up until 1998 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 "other special reason"
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 travelling to states which reject a passport with an entry stamp or visa of another state in it. Also it is useful when one needs to travel when the ordinary passport is handed in for a visa application.
In 2013, Swedish passports were reported to be among the most frequently sold passports on the black market. The reason cited was that there was no upper limit on the number of replacement passports being issued to the rightful holder. This prompted calls for legislation to limit the number of times replacement passports could be issued to each Swede. On 15 April 2016 a new law was enacted so that no more than three passports could be issued to the same Swede within a five-year period.
Physical appearance and data contained
The Swedish passports issued since 1 October 2005 are burgundy, with the words "EUROPEISKA UNIONEN", "SVERIGE" and "PASS" inscribed at the top of the front cover, and the Swedish lesser coat of arms emblazoned on the bottom of the front cover. The Swedish passport has the standard biometric symbol emblazoned below the coat of arms and uses the standard European Union design. Diplomatic passports are dark blue, with the words "DIPLOMATPASS" and "SVERIGE"Identity information page
The Swedish Passport includes the following printed data:- Photo of Passport Holder
- Type
- Code
- Passport No.
- 1 Surname
- 2 Given Names
- 3 Nationality
- 3a. Personal Id. No.
- 4 Date of Birth
- 4a. Height
- 5 Sex
- 6 Date of Issue
- 7 Date of Expiry
- 8 Place of Birth
- 9 Authority
- 10 Holder's Signature
Letters with accents are replaced by simple letters.
Chip data
The new chip based passports contain an RFID chip with 16 data groups.- DG1 – MRZ, mandatory
- DG2 – Face, mandatory
- DG3 – Finger, optional
- DG4 – Iris, optional
- —
- DG14 – SecurityInfo, optional
- DG15 – Active authentication public key, optional
- SO – Security object, mandatory
Languages
The data page/information page is printed in Swedish and English, with translation in other official languages of the European Union elsewhere in the document. The page containing the guide to check the security features of the data page is printed only in English.Identification requirements
Application is done at special passport offices or embassies. The applicant must show up in person, and will have the photo taken there. When doing the application identification of the applicant is needed. This is done by:- Showing a valid Swedish passport, Swedish national id card, Swedish driver's license, Swedish tax office id card, or an id card following the SIS standard.
- Husband, wife, someone living at the same address, parent, grandparent, own child, sibling, adopted parent or equivalent, employer since at least one year, or an official at an authority who knows the person through their work.
Visa free travel
Visa requirements for Swedish citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of Sweden. As of 7 January 2020, Swedish citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 186 countries and territories, ranking the Swedish passport 6th in the world in terms of travel freedom according to the Henley Passport Index.Swedish citizens can live and work in any country within the EU as a result of the right of free movement and residence granted in Article 21 of the EU Treaty.
Abuse & black market trade of Swedish passports
Before 2016, Sweden had no limit on the number of times an individual may claim to have lost a passport and have a new one re-issued. That led to Swedish passports being sold on the black market and used by people smugglers. This prompted calls for legislation to limit the number of times replacement passports could be issued to each Swede. On 15 April 2016 a new law was enacted limiting holders to a maximum of three passports issued within a five-year period.| Number of passport issued to individual | Number of such individuals |
| 3 | |
| 4 | |
| 5 | 998 |
| 6 | 291 |
| 7 | 96 |
| 8 | 33 |
| 9 | 14 |
| 10 | 2 |
| 11 | 3 |
| 12 | 3 |
| 18 | 1 |