The Swedish national identity card ( sv, nationellt identitetskort) is a non-compulsory biometric

identity document An identity document (also called ID or colloquially as papers) is any documentation, document that may be used to prove a person's identity. If issued in a small, standard credit card size form, it is usually called an identity card (IC, ID c ...

issued in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. It is one of two official identity documents issued by the Swedish Police, the other being the

Swedish passport Swedish passports ( sv, Svenskt pass) are issued to nationals of Sweden for the purpose of international travel. Besides serving as proof of Swedish citizenship, they facilitate the process of securing assistance from Swedish consular officials ...

. It is only issued to

Swedish citizen Swedish nationality law determines entitlement to Swedish citizenship. Citizenship of Sweden is based primarily on the principle of ''jus sanguinis''. In other words, citizenship is conferred primarily by birth to a Swedish parent, irrespective ...

s, and indicates the citizenship. The card can be used for travelling to and staying in European countries (except Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and United Kingdom). It can also be used instead of a Swedish passport for entering

Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...

(''de facto''),

French overseas territories Overseas France (french: France d'outre-mer) consists of 13 French-administered territories outside Europe, mostly the remains of the French colonial empire that chose to remain a part of the French state under various statuses after decolon ...

, Georgia,

Montserrat Montserrat ( ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, with r ...

(if in transit to a third country for max 14 days) and on package holidays to Tunisia. However, direct outbound travel from Sweden to non-EU/Schengen territories is not permitted by Swedish border police. For travel within the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...

no identity documentation is legally required for Nordic citizens due to the

Nordic Passport Union The Nordic Passport Union allows citizens of the Nordic countriesIceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finlandto travel and reside in another Nordic country without any travel documentation (e.g. a passport or national identity card) or a reside ...

. The card is often carried by people who often travel internationally, but also the most used card among Swedish citizens who have not yet obtained a driver's license.

Price, validity and application procedure

The national identity card is valid for five years and costs 400 SEK. Applications are filed at police stations which have a passport office. When applying, a valid Swedish identity document is needed in order to check the identity. If the applicant does not have a valid Swedish identity document, then the applicant must be accompanied in person by another that does have such a document. That person must be a near relative or an employer or municipal official who knows the applicant. There is no age limit to get a card, but people below 18 must be accompanied by their guardian (preferably both) at application. These rules are the same as for a

(see that article).

Characteristics

The identity card is plastic and rectangular in shape, about 86 × 54 millimetres in size. On the left-hand side is a gold-plated contact chip, and on the right-hand side is the photograph of the bearer. Along the top of the card, the name Sweden is written in three languages,

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

, English, and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

(''SVERIGE SWEDEN SUÈDE''), below which the name of the card is available in the same three languages (''Nationellt identitetskort/National identity card/Carte nationale d'identité''), followed on the right by the biometric passport symbol () and the nationality of the bearer in Swedish and a country code (''SVENSK/SWE''). The national identity card is equipped with a contact chip ready to function as an

electronic identity card An electronic identification ("eID") is a digital solution for proof of identity of citizens or organizations. They can be used to view to access benefits or services provided by government authorities, banks or other companies, for mobile payment ...

(eID) at a later date, and also a contactless

RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...

chip at the bottom right of the rear side containing a digital representation of the printed data along with the photograph of the bearer.

Printed data

The descriptions of the fields are printed in Swedish and English. *Card No. * Personal Id. No. *Holder's signature *Height *Date of birth *Surname *Given names *Authority *Date of issue *Date of expiry A

machine readable zone A machine-readable passport (MRP) is a machine-readable travel document (MRTD) with the data on the identity page encoded in optical character recognition format. Many countries began to issue machine-readable travel documents in the 1980s. Mos ...

is printed on the bottom of the reverse-side of the card.

Data on the RFID chip

the data on the

chip contained no biometric data. It has the following information: *The card's printed data in a digital format *The photograph in a

JPEG JPEG ( ) is a commonly used method of lossy compression for digital images, particularly for those images produced by digital photography. The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and imag ...

format *A digital key to verify that the data is authentic and has not been tampered with *Beginning August 2021, it contains fingerprint information The contents of the RFID chip cannot be accessed without using the codes found in the machine-readable area on the back of the card.

Other identity cards in Sweden

Nationals of any country who are legally resident in Sweden can get certified identification cards issued by the

Tax Agency A revenue service, revenue agency or taxation authority is a government agency responsible for the intake of government revenue, including taxes and sometimes non-tax revenue. Depending on the jurisdiction, revenue services may be charged with t ...

or their bank. Driving licences (if approved as a driver) are issued by the Transport Agency and usable as identification cards. However, none of these documents state the holder's citizenship and – whilst valid as travel documentation in the

Nordic Union The Nordic Passport Union allows citizens of the Nordic countriesIceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finlandto travel and reside in another Nordic country without any travel documentation (e.g. a passport or national identity card) or a reside ...

– are not recognised as official immigration documents by most other authorities in the EU. There is a political principle in Sweden that foreign citizens with residence permits shall be treated equally with citizens, and should not be identified more than necessary.

References

External links

Apply for a Passport or National ID card
(Information from the police) {{identity cards Society of Sweden Radio-frequency identification