Prospective Swedish citizens need to show a form of ID issued by their home country – such as a passport or identity card – in order to qualify for citizenship. The Migration Agency also asks applicants when applying for citizenship how they applied for and obtained their ID document, including the authority they applied to.
The reason for this, according to Migration Agency press spokesperson Vera Björk, is that Migration Agency guidelines state that an applicants’ passport or ID document needs to have been either applied for or collected in person in order for it to qualify as an acceptable proof of ID.
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I applied for my passport by post/online. Does this mean I can’t get Swedish citizenship?
A passport obtained without an in-person visit doesn't mean your application will be outright rejected, but it does mean that the Migration Agency will need you to confirm your identity through some other means. If you can't do this, your application could be rejected as you've failed to meet the requirement to prove your identity.
How else can I confirm my identity?
You’ll need to submit extra documents or information in order to prove you are who you say you are.
This could be through a different ID document issued by your home country which was applied for or collected in person (such as an ID card if you applied with your passport, or vice versa), or by getting a family member to confirm your identity.
Other documents can also be submitted alongside ID documents, such as birth certificates, military books, drivers licences and marriage licenses. These are not necessarily sufficient by themselves as forms of ID, but they can be part of a wider group of documents used to confirm an applicants’ identity.
How can I confirm my identity through a family member?
First, your family member needs to be a Swedish citizen, and they need to have confirmed their own identity with a form of ID accepted by the Migration Agency. They can be your spouse, parent, child or sibling, and they must have provided accurate information about your identity and relationship in any previous applications to the Migration Agency.
I renewed my identity document online/via post, but my first one was collected in person. Can I still get citizenship?
In some cases this is sufficient, Migration Agency press spokesperson Vera Björk told The Local.
“Some countries use a so-called passport renewal system, which means that it’s possible to renew and obtain a new passport without having to turn up at the passport agency in person,” she said.
“This requires the applicant to have turned up in person when they applied for the first or original passport. If, in the renewal process, the authority carries out adequate checks (for example of photographs or other biometric information) to ensure that the right person is applying for the document, this can be considered equivalent to applying in person.”
She confirmed that a passport (or other ID document) acquired through this process could be accepted as a suitable form of ID in a citizenship application.
I can’t confirm my identity through any of these routes. What does that mean for my application?
If you can’t confirm your identity in any way, and can’t renew your passport or ID document in your home country in-person, then you can still get citizenship.
Applicants who are unable to confirm their identity decisively, but who can provide other documents which to some extent back up their claim to be who they say they are, can get citizenship in Sweden after eight years living in Sweden.
You may also be able to use ID documents from a country you have lived in for an extended period of time or a country you were born in if this was not your home country.
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