The police are tightening the rules to obtain emergency passports: Holiday travel no longer falls under the criteria.
Updated less than 20 minutes ago
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From Monday 30 May, only those who are in an emergency situation or have special reasons may apply for an emergency passport.
– It is sad for those who are not allowed to travel on the holiday they have been looking forward to, says department director Bjørn Vandvik in the Police Directorate.
He explains that in a situation where there are not enough emergency passports for everyone, those who really need them must get emergency passports.
– We have a great understanding that many are desperate and frustrated, says Vandvik.
Loopholes are closed
Today, the rule is that you can get an emergency passport if it is seven days or less until you travel. Or if you had not received the regular passport ten days after it was due.
The rule change means that a loophole will be closed, for those who are without a passport and have planned to go abroad this summer. The waiting period for obtaining an ordinary passport is at least seven weeks and can be up to ten weeks before 1 July.
–– It is terrible that they tighten the rules. I am completely confused and desperate, says Anne Bruun-Olsen from Oslo to VG.
She is going on a sailing holiday in Croatia in July, has an appointment at the passport office on June 22 and is afraid it is too late, when the police warn that the delivery time for passports can be ten weeks.
An emergency passport is a temporary passport that only applies to the current trip you are going on. It must be returned to the police or border control when you return home.
Fill in by hand
Electronic chips and some paper and plastic components for passports have become in short supply, due to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Unni Norum, acting section chief in the Norwegian Police Directorate, informs VG that emergency passports are filled in by hand at the police. The cover on the emergency passport is in the same material as on the ordinary passport, but it is white.
All eight pages are made of paper of the same quality as the visa pages of an ordinary passport. Photos and personalia are protected by a plastic laminate that is glued over after personalization.
Emergency passports have the same supplier as ordinary passports and are therefore affected by the same production challenges.
–Eats from the warehouse
Bjørn Vandvik, department director in the Norwegian Police Directorate, announced through VG on Monday that a rule change was on the way.
He stated that the police would concentrate on taking care of those who applied in February and March, with a legitimate expectation of obtaining a passport before the summer.
– But it is not certain that we are able to take care of this group either, because their needs eat away at the stock of emergency passports. Therefore, we work to limit the criteria.
Vandvik encouraged everyone to comply with the police’s main message: Do not book a trip until you have received a passport or national ID card.
– We monitor the situation closely, and will adjust the criteria if they do not have a good enough effect or that the supply of emergency passports changes, says Vandvik.
–3000 emergency passes this year
As of today, approximately 3,000 emergency passports have been issued. There are not very many, compared to the years when we traveled as normal before the corona pandemic:
26,000 emergency passports were issued in 2018. 23,000 in 2019, the Police Directorate informs VG. Then the number fell to 4,600 both in 2020 and 2021, when travel was discouraged and borders closed.
Like ordinary passports, emergency passports are affected by long delivery times for electronic chips and limited availability of plastic and paper components.
The pass is also due to high demand. 100,000 Norwegians waiting to get a passport. The waiting period is at least seven weeks. Time to order a passport or national ID card is scarce.
– A lot at stake
On Wednesday, Anne Bruun-Olsen was in line for an emergency passport at the police station in Oslo, but had not realized that it had to be less than seven days to leave for her to be able to apply.
– I had to go with an unresolved case. Now I have to look for available passport hours before June 22 or gamble that I get an emergency passport a week before the holiday. I’m a little desperate, says Bruun-Olsen.
Together with her husband, children and boyfriends, she has rented a large sailboat in the Adriatic.
– We must be two to lead such a large boat and are dependent on everyone contributing on board. There is a lot at stake here for us, says the Oslo woman.