General Policy
Due to an influx of asylum applications from Iraqi citizens to the Embassy of Sweden in Abu Dhabi, we would like to inform all concerned that the Swedish Immigration policy remains the same (same practice) and is limited primarily to family reunification.
The family reunification applies only to those who have a referee (a person to whom they are closely related to) in Sweden who has Swedish citizenship or a residence permit. Family reunification applies to the following categories:
There are no possibilities to grant asylum at the Embassy of Sweden in Abu Dhabi. It is the Swedish Migration Board which decides on asylum and decides on family reunification.> The Swedish Migration Board
Iraqi Passports
The Swedish Migration Board has decided on a change in the Board’s regulations regarding Iraqi passports. This means that the Board will not accept S series passports as travel documents, as their quality has shown not to be good enough. Only G series passports are accepted.
The decision not to accept so called S-passports is in line with the conclusions made by some other EU-countries.
Documents for travel are used as one of many identity documents when making a decision in cases of residence permits. Now an applicant must be able to show other documents in order to make his or her identity trustworthy.
A person with a permanent residence permit in Sweden does not need a travel document as long as he or she remains in the country. If he or she wishes to travel abroad and cannot get a national passport, he or she can apply for an alien’s passport.
The Board´s decision means that all previously issued Iraqi passports, except for G series passports and diplomatic and service passports issued after 1 September 2003, will not be accepted as documents for travel from the 19 February 2007.