Nordic Passport Union
Encyclopedia
The Nordic Passport Union allows citizens of the Nordic countries
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...

: Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 (Faroe Islands
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...

 included), Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, and Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

 to travel and reside in other Nordic countries without a passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....

 or a residence permit.

Establishment

The Nordic Passport Union was established in three steps. The first step came in 1952, in the form of agreements by the Nordic countries to abolish passports for travel between them and to readmit aliens having entered illegally into one Nordic country from another. The second step was implemented in 1954, when the agreement was extended to allow citizens to reside in any Nordic country without a residence permit. The third step was the removal of passport checks for aliens at internal Nordic borders by a treaty signed July 12, 1957 and coming into force May 1, 1958.

Nordic countries and Schengen

As of 1996, all Nordic countries had joined the larger Schengen Agreement
Schengen Agreement
The Schengen Agreement is a treaty signed on 14 June 1985 near the town of Schengen in Luxembourg, between five of the ten member states of the European Economic Community. It was supplemented by the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement 5 years later...

, now comprising 25 countries in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

.

From March 25, 2001, the Schengen acquis
Acquis
The Community acquis or acquis communautaire , sometimes called the EU acquis, and often shortened to acquis, is the accumulated legislation, legal acts, and court decisions which constitute the body of European Union law...

 fully applied to the five countries of the Nordic Passport Union (except for the Faroe Islands
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...

, which remain outside the Schengen Area
Schengen Area
The Schengen Area comprises the territories of twenty-five European countries that have implemented the Schengen Agreement signed in the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, in 1985...

). Border checkpoint
Border checkpoint
A border checkpoint is a place, generally between two countries, where travellers and/or goods are inspected. Authorization often is required to enter a country through its borders. Access-controlled borders often have a limited number of checkpoints where they can be crossed without legal...

s have been removed within the Schengen zone. There are some areas in the Nordic Passport Union that give extra rights for Nordic citizens, not covered by Schengen, such as less paperwork if moving to a different Nordic country, and fewer requirements for naturalization
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....

 of citizenship
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...

. Within the Nordic area, any Nordic ID card (e.g. a driving license) is valid for Nordic citizens because of the Nordic Passport Union, while a national ID card or a passport is required in other Schengen countries. Most Scandinavian people do not own any Schengen approved national ID card, so they need a passport when visiting Schengen countries outside the Nordic area.

Before 2001, full customs checks were required for ferry travel when traveling from Denmark to other Nordic countries. There was no land border with Denmark before July 2000 when the Öresund Bridge
Oresund Bridge
The Øresund or Öresund Bridge is a combined twin-track railway and dual carriageway bridge-tunnel across the Øresund strait.The bridge connects Sweden and Denmark, and it is the longest road and rail bridge in Europe. The Øresund Bridge also connects two major Metropolitan Areas: those of the...

 was opened, which had relaxed customs check from the start. Nordic citizens did not need to be in possession of a passport, but a passport could be useful for those not natively speaking a Scandinavian language. As a part of the customs check, at least when arriving from Denmark and non-Nordic countries, every car driver was asked about where they had been, and suspicious people were subject to further checks. For land and ferry travel into Denmark and between Sweden, Norway and Finland, there were much more relaxed customs and passport checks, and often no checks at all. For air travel, there were full passport and customs checks, even though verbally claiming Nordic citizenship with a Scandinavian language, plus showing the ticket for the intra-Nordic flight, or any Nordic ID card, was usually enough to pass the passport check. It happened that Nordic citizens without a passport were not allowed to pass until a thorough identity investigation had been made, usually for people looking non-Nordic. Passengers traveling by public transport, such as train or air, were usually not interviewed by the customs control.

From March 2001, the Schengen rules have given more relaxed customs checks from Denmark, including no passport checks at airports, since intra-Schengen travelers are separated from the travelers from outside the Schengen area.

Abolition of passport for Nordic citizens

The protocol concerning the abolition of passports for travel between Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway, was signed on July 14, 1952, in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

.

This protocol was implemented by the individual but concurrent decisions of the four governments. It provided that the need for citizens of the four countries, to carry passports when traveling in the these countries, for such short times that a residence permit was not necessary, was abolished.

The agreement could be revoked in case of war, danger of war, or extraordinary international or national circumstances.

Readmittance of aliens

The agreement for the readmittance of aliens, was signed on July 14, 1952, in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

.

The agreement provides that any alien, i.e. persons not citizens of the Nordic countries, having illegally entered one of the Nordic countries directly from another Nordic country should be readmitted by that country, unless that person has stayed at least a year in that country or has received either a residence or work permit.

Exemption of passport or residence permit

The protocol concerning the exemption of nationals of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden from the obligation to have a passport or residence permit while resident in a Scandinavian country other than their own, was signed on May 22, 1954 in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

.

The protocol was implemented by individual but concurrent decisions by the governments of each of the countries, and can be revoked in case of war, danger of war, or other extraordinary international or national circumstances.

The protocol provides that citizens of the Nordic countries can travel without passport or other travel documentation to any other Nordic country. Citizens of the Nordic countries can reside without residence permit in any other Nordic country.

Police authorities in the Nordic countries shall make all necessary information available to ascertain a person's identity and citizenship in a Nordic country.

Removal of passport checks at the internal Nordic borders

The agreement between Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden to remove passport control at the internal Nordic borders, was signed July 12, 1957 in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

and came into force May 1, 1958.

This agreement removed all passport checks at the internal Nordic borders, and required the Nordic countries to uphold passport control at the external borders. Aliens with residence permits are allowed to stay up to three months in other Nordic countries, except for seeking employment or conducting business.

Aliens who are denied entry into one Nordic country should also be denied entry into the other Nordic countries. The Nordic countries are also obliged to readmit aliens that should have been denied entry at the first point of entry.
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