It is increasingly important that documents required to travel – passports and identity cards – are secure. For this reason, all Swedish embassies and consulates general will install photo stations during 2007, in accordance with a decision by the Swedish Riksdag. The Consulate General of Sweden in New York plans to introduce these new procedures on March 1, 2007.According to the new procedures, an applicant for a regular passport or identity card must make a personal visit to a Swedish mission where photo stations have been installed. Swedes living abroad may also apply for a new passport while visiting Sweden. This can be done at any passport office with a normal wait time of one week. The procedures for emergency passports will remain unchanged and will still be handled by honorary consulates.Along with photo stations, the Consulate General of Sweden in New York will also receive the technical equipment needed to produce the basis of passports and identity cards. The application information is sent electronically to Sweden, where the passport is manufactured, reducing the wait time for the applicant.As Swedish missions abroad begin to use photo stations, honorary consulates will cease to act as passport offices. New passports and identity cards may still be picked up at honorary consulates until Sweden introduces fingerprints in travel documents, which is planned for 2008.More information is available on the website of the Consulate General of Sweden in New York: www.swedennewyork.com/passportA special temporary phone line will also inform and take questions from the general public about the new passport application procedures. The phone line will be open from February 15 through March 15, Monday through Thursday, between 2 pm and 3 pm, at the following number: 212-583-2596.