Passport and Visas

Passport

Renewal for Icelandic citizens:

As of May 17th 2006. All Icelandic Passports are issued in Iceland. Icelandic Consulates can not accept applications for Icelandic Passports as of May 17th 2006. Consulates can prolong the validity of Icelandic Passports but only for one year as of the date that it expired. Emergency Passports are only issued to Icelandic Citizens that are not able to apply for new passports in Iceland. It should be noted that Emergency Passports are not ideal travel documents

Visas

Iceland became a part of the Schengen Area on March 25, 2001. The Schengen Area includes the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Spain. The main effect of the Scengen Agreement for travelers is that persons wishing to enter any country in the Schengen Area apply for a Schengen visa which is valid for all Schengen countries. Over a period of six months, travelers are not permitted to spend more than a total of three months in the Schengen Area.

Travelers to Iceland must be in possession of a passport, valid at least for three months beyond their intended stay. In addition to that, nationals of many countries are required to obtain a visa prior to entering Iceland.

To these rules, however, are several exceptions:

• Citizens of the Nordic countries need not have a passport to enter Iceland.
• Citizens of several European countries may enter Iceland carrying, instead of their passports, national identity cards, issued by their governments. List of countries and permitted identity cards.
• Citizens of these countries do not need a visa to enter Iceland.
• Persons with a valid residence permit in another Schengen country do not need a visa to enter Iceland.
• For further information on passport regulations, please see "Travel and Leisure" above.

The citizens of the following countries are subject to Airport Visa Requirements when transiting Icelandic airports:

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Congo (Democratic Republic), Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia and Sri Lanka.
These citizens, however, do not need a transit visa if they hold a residence permit in one of the following countries:
EEA countries, Andorra, Canada, Japan, Monaco, San Marino, Switzerland, and the United States.

If there is no Icelandic Embassy in your country of residence you will need to contact an embassy in a respective country. List of countries and offices where applications for tourist visas to Iceland can be made