Norwegian passport

Norwegian passport
The front cover of a contemporary Norwegian ePassport
Date first issued	April 1, 2011 (current version)
Issued by	Norwegian Police Service
Type of document	Passport
Purpose	Identification
Eligibility requirements	Norwegian citizenship
Expiration	2 years for children up to the age of 5; 3 years for children up to the age of 10; 5 years for individuals aged 10–16; and 10 years for individuals aged 16 and older

Norwegian Passports are issued to nationals of Norway for the purpose of international travel. The passport may also serve as proof of Norwegian citizenship and is valid for ten years. The passport shares the standardized layout of most EU countries, as Norway has implemented the EU passport regulation. The colour is burgundy-red and similar, but not identical to the design of most EU countries. Despite the fact Norway is not part of the EU, the country is a signatory of the Schengen Agreement and a member state of the European Economic Area (EEA). Consequently, Norwegian citizens generally have the same rights as EU citizens in EEA countries and are treated as EU citizens for the purposes of travel and entry into EEA countries.

Physical appearance and data contained

Regular Norwegian passports are burgundy in colour, with the Norway Coat of arms emblazoned in the top of the front cover. The words "NORGE", "NOREG" and "NORWAY" ("Norway" in Bokmål Norwegian (one of the two forms of Norwegian), Nynorsk Norwegian (another form of Norwegian) and English, respectively) is inscribed below the coat of arms and the word "PASS" and "PASSPORT" emblazoned below the name of the country. The new biometric passport has the standard biometric symbol at the bottom.

Identity information page

The Norwegian passport includes the following data:

• Photo of passport holder
• Type (one of several two-letter type codes beginning with "P", e.g. "PV" for an ordinary passport)
• Code of Issuing State (NOR)
• Passport No.
• Surname
• Given Names
• Nationality (Norsk Norwegian)
• Height
• Date of birth
• Personal No.
• Sex
• Place of birth
• Authority
• Date of issue
• Holder's signature
• Date of expiry

The information page ends with the machine-readable zone starting with "PxNOR, where x indicates the type of passport. For example, ordinary passports contain "PVNOR", where the "V" presumably means "vanlig" ("ordinary" in Norwegian.)

Biometric data

The biometric passports contain an RFID chip containing the passport's printed data in a digital format along with the photograph in a JPEG format along with a digital key to verify the that the data contained is authentic and hasn't been tampered with. The European Union requires fingerprint data to be stored on the member state's passports at latest in June 2009. As an EEA member state, Norway started storing fingerprint data when applying for a new passport on 6 April 2010.

Languages

The data page/information page is printed in Norwegian and English.

Until the 1990s, the data and information pages were printed in Norwegian, French, English and German. French and German were dropped when the data was moved to just one page.

Identification requirements

Application is done at special passport offices or embassies. When doing the application identification of the applicant is needed. This is done by:

• Showing a valid Norwegian passport, also expired, Norwegian driver's license, secure id card with image e.g. issued by banks, or a letter of acquiring Norwegian citizenship.

A person not possessing any of these identity documents must bring a person who vouches for the identity, is at least 18 years old, and has a valid Norwegian passport.

Different spellings of the same name

Names containing special letters (æ, ø, å) are spelled the correct way in the non-machine-readable zone, but are mapped in the machine-readable zone, æ becoming AE, ø becoming OE, and å becoming AA. This follows the standard for machine-readable passports, which must not contain other letters than A–Z.

Manufacturing defect

Machine-readable Norwegian passports issued between 1999 and 2005 suffered from a manufacturing defect that could result in the identity page coming loose, thus invalidating the passport. The Norwegian passport authorities replace such passports free of charge.

Visa requirements

Main article: Visa requirements for Norwegian citizens

Visa requirements for Norwegian citizens

In 2015, Norwegian citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 171 countries and territories, ranking the Norwegian passport 3rd in the world according to the Visa Restrictions Index.

See also

• EFTA
• Nationality law of Norway
• Visa requirements for Norwegian citizens
• Travel document
• Passports of the European Economic Area
• Passports of the European Union

References

General references

• Council regulation 539/2001 [1]
• Council regulation 1932/2006 [2]
• Council regulation 539/2001 consolidated version, 19.1.2007 [3]

Specific citations

External links

• Norwegian passport info on PRADO
• Images of a 1923 Norwegian passport from www.passportland.com
• Norway’s Sleek New Passports Contain a Surprise Design Feature from Slate (November 2014)