Asylum seekers still need to document their identity by submitting their passports in order to get a work permit while their application for asylum is being processed.
Asylum seekers who can provide passports can get a temporary work permit. In a few exceptions national identity cards may also be sufficient, if the UDI regard them as a legitimate substitute for passports.
Passports assessed as bona fide by the local police district where the application is submitted, are sent to the Police Immigration Unit (PU) for thorough documentation check.
Only applicants from countries without a central governing body that can issues passports, i.e. Somalia, is exempted from this requirement.
We have sent a proposal for a slight change in routines to other relevant governmental bodies and NGOs. This proposal opens up for the possibility to grant temporary work permits when there is no reason to doubt the validity of the passport even if the document check at the Police Immigration Unit (PU) is not completed.
This does not mean, however, that asylum seekers who do not document their identity (by submitting passports) will get a work permit, neither now nor later.
