Norway Wants New Passport Control

For Svalbard, that is. Noone agrees, but the Justice Ministry in Norway is suggesting to introduce passport controls for anyone traveling between Norway and Svalbard.

For travelers, Norway is usually the best connection to Spitsbergen on Svalbard. To them, this would mean that their travel documents are checked both when arriving in Norway as well as upon arrival on Svalbard.

Norway's Foreign Ministry states that as Svalbard is part of the Kingdom of Norway, travelers should not have to be checked twice. On the other hand, the Justice Ministry bases their position on the fact that Svalbard isn’t part of the "Schengen area" that allows passport-free crossings of borders among member countries in Europe, while Norway is part of Schengen.