One reader of The Local, a British citizen, told the agency in her application that she had applied for a passport renewal online and received it through the post.
"The passport cannot therefore support your identity in an acceptable way," the agency wrote in its letter, asking her to send in "alternative identity documents" within three weeks.
"If you do not do so, we will still decide your case. This may mean that you are not allowed to become a Swedish citizen."
She told The Local that the situation had left her "frustrated".
"They're backing me into a corner. They say 'you can send them as a different kind of ID'. Well, I can't, because we don't have national ID cards. That doesn't exist in the UK. It's really not that strange to have received my passport in the mail. All British people get it in the post rather than picking it up in person."
"The only other other alternative was to have a Swedish family member come to to prove your ID themselves in person, which obviously I can't do, since I don't have any Swedish family members."
An Irish reader, a Bangladeshi, a Ugandan, and seven other British citizens said they had received similar letters.
One of the British readers complained that the letter they had received recommended that they provide another form of national ID or get a Swedish relative to vouch for their identity,
"The letter is absurd because it then refers to evidencing your your British citizenship through other means, such as a national ID card ‒ there are 15,000 British ID cars floating out there, but they're all void by now."
The UK briefly issued national ID cards between 2006 and 2011, after which existing cards were invalidated.
"Then the letter also says, or you can go in a police station and have a direct family member vouch for you, but only if they're Swedish. It's insane," he said.
The Bangladeshi said that their passport had been dismissed as not valid simply because they had received it by post.
"I applied for my Bangladesh passport at embassy in Sweden personally, but skipped picking up the passport myself. The embassy sent the passport to me by registered post. According to the case officer this means it does not prove my identity, even though we have police verification as well," he said.
The Ugandan's partner said they had renewed their passport at the Ugandan embassy in Copenhagen but had not picked it up in person, meaning it was considered invalid.
The Local contacted the Swedish Migration Agency to ask if it was true that even a national passport from a highly-developed former EU country like the UK does not rank as an acceptable proof of ID for citizenship.
The Migration Agency laid out its position on "identity documents issued without a physical appointment", in a legal position paper written in 2021, and most recently updated in 2023.
"An identity document that has been issued without the applicant appearing in person at the issuing authority, either when applying for the document or when it is issued, cannot, as a starting point, alone prove identity," the agency determined. "Without personal appearance, the authority cannot carry out a satisfactory identity check, which reduces the evidentiary value of the document."
Several countries, including the US, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, do not require an in-person appointment for adults getting their first passport.
The UK issues first-time passports to adults without them making a physical appearance at a passport office, instead requiring a British passport holder who has known the applicant for at least two years to countersign the application. The passport office will then occasionally request an interview, either physically or via video, to check the applicants' identity.
It is possible to apply for a passport in the UK in person at fast-track appointments which often cost hundreds of pounds.
Australia requires a signature from an adult Australian citizen who has known the applicant for more than one year, and has an Australian passport with at least two years' validity. New Zealand combines an ID referee with an online ID check.
Although all of the cases The Local is so far aware of involve British citizens, neither a first passport or a renewal from any of these countries would meet Sweden's strict criteria for ID.
Five other British citizens The Local is aware of have had British passports refused as not valid, although most eventually managed to convince the Migration Agency of their identity.
One overcame the issue by emailing a picture of an old expired passport, and one by submitting a Swedish national ID card issued by the Swedish Tax Agency which they had had for 20 years.
Both of the two British people The Local spoke to said they planned to visit the British Embassy in Stockholm to receive a certified copy of their passports. These can be picked up in person for a £25 fee, although the women said the Migration Agency had not yet confirmed that such a certified copy would be acceptable.
The Irish reader also ended up getting the Irish embassy in Stockholm to vouch for his identify, and was told that they had never encountered this issue before.
"I was incredulous that a minor govt agency in one EU State was declaring the passports issued by another EU state to be invalid as a form of identification," he told The Local.
The Ugandan reapplied for the exact same passport, this time making sure to both apply and pick it up in person.
In its legal position paper, the agency says that an applicant whose passport is not accepted as valid ID can submit additional evidence, which together with the document, proves identity after which the case office will make "an overall assessment" of whether all the documents, taken together, prove identity.
It also says that a visit is not mandatory for a passport to be accepted if it has been renewed in a way that includes a check of the photograph or other biometric data.
"If the renewal process includes the authorities carrying out adequate checks (e.g. of the photograph or other biometric data) to ensure that the right person is applying for the document, this can be equated to a personal appearance," the document reads. "Such a passport can therefore prove the person's identity. This also applies to other identity documents."
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