What happens if you visit your home country with a Norwegian travel document, or if you contact the authorities of your home country? If you have been granted a Norwegian travel document or an immigrant’s passport, it is, as a rule, valid for travel to all countries except your home country.
If you have been granted protection in Norway and a travel document, it has been granted because the Directorate of Immigration (UDI) is of the opinion that your relationship with the authorities of your home country is such that you cannot return or contact your home country.
You can be issued an immigrant's passport for various reasons. As a rule, the immigrant’s passport will not be valid for journeys to your home country. It is therefore a condition for holding a Norwegian travel document or immigrant's passport that you do not use it to travel to your home country.
What will happen if you travel to your home country with a Norwegian travel document or an immigrant's passport that is not valid for this journey?
If you travel to your home country, you indicate to the Norwegian authorities that you are no longer in need of protection in Norway.
If you have refugee status, the UDI will consider revoking it, and you will lose the rights conferred by this status. If you hold another type of permit on grounds of a need for protection, your permit can be revoked. The UDI will then consider whether you can be granted a permit on new grounds.
Your travel document or immigrant’s passport can also be confiscated. You will then not be able to obtain a travel document from the Norwegian authorities, since you will no longer be deemed to be in need of protection. If you wish to obtain a travel document, it must be obtained from your home country.
You also risk being stopped at international borders for having misused your travel document.
What will be the consequences if you contact the authorities of your home country?
Norwegian travel documents can also be confiscated if you contact the authorities of your home country, whether in your home country or through the country’s embassy in another country. This applies even if you do not travel to your home country. If you have refugee status or hold another permit on grounds of a need for protection, you could lose your permit.
What to do if you wish to go to your home country?
Since Norwegian travel documents and immigrant’s passports are not valid for journeys to your home country, you must apply for a passport from the authorities of your home country if you wish to go there. When you have obtained a passport from your home country, you are no longer entitled to a Norwegian travel document or an immigrant’s passport. You must therefore hand this in to the police.
In exceptional cases, you can be issued a short-term immigrant's passport for one single journey to your home country. You can read more about this under travel documents for single journeys.
Further information
If you have further questions about this topic, you can contact
your nearest police district or the
UDI’s Information Service.
