Author
The regulations covering travel documents are contained in Chapter 2 of the Aliens Ordinance Act (2006:97), supplemented by rules issued by the Migration Agency.
The travel documents issued to refugees are valid for all countries except for their home country. Palestinian refugees under UNRWA protection are granted Refugee Convention travel documents. A total of 23,555 travel documents were issued in 2023.
Persons granted subsidiary protection can under certain circumstances be granted an Aliens passport. If they possess a valid national passport, they are allowed to keep it but if they are unable to acquire or renew a national passport they can apply for an Aliens passport. Similar to the travel documents issued to refugees, an Aliens passport issued to a person granted subsidiary protection will be valid for all countries but the country the person has fled from. In 2023, a total of 12,340 Aliens passports were issued.
Both travel documents and Aliens’ passports can include information that the identity of the holder has not been fully established. If the beneficiary has been unable to fully substantiate their identity, then the refugee travel document or Alien’s passport is stamped with the phrase “The holder has not proven his/her identity”. This means that there can be difficulties travelling between EU countries and even greater difficulties visiting other countries.
The travel documents are normally issued for at most two years (Refugee Convention travel documents) or three years (Aliens passport). The travel documents cannot be extended. Unless the person is granted Swedish citizenship in the meantime (see: Naturalisation) they will have to apply for a new travel document after the old one has expired.
Travel document applications are handled by the Swedish Migration Agency.