04 August 2022
A number of countries actively sympathize with annoyed Norwegian tourists who must wait months before renewing their passports which expired during the pandemic. As a result many have decided to permit expired Norwegian passports entry, for what looks like the duration of the summer vacation season.
Estonia, Portugal, Iceland and Germany are among the countries who will accept expired Norwegian passports as ID, possibly until the end of this year. Turkey and Greece are ahead of the game and have already been accepting the expired passports.
The main issue is that Norwegian police have become overwhelmed by the large demand for renewed or new passports. As a result they have been unable to process all of the applications ahead of the summer tourist season. Norwegian justice minister appealed to countries in Europe to recognize and accept expired passports for a temporary time period, and a number of countries responded positively.
Norway is part of the “Schengen agreement” already. The Schengen agreement allows travelers to nearly all European Union countries without border control. If they run into trouble though, or for any reason need to show ID, a passport is the preferred document.
