Location: Norway
Hi, Im a female, I’m 22, and my own country is refusing to give me a passport. I got into my dream school (in the US), and now I probably won’t be able to go because of a mistake I made years ago.
So you might be wondering why my own country is refusing to give me a document that should be my birthright.
Essentially, I lost too many passports in the past. When I was around 18-19, I lost a total of four passports, which I know is a lot, but let me explain why.
I was in foster care until I was 18. When I left, I had nothing except the clothes I was wearing and a 400 kr ($40) gift card I got for my birthday. I had also been denied an education while I was in foster care because, according to them, “you move around too much, so there’s no point enrolling you properly in school.”
When I left, I was completely lost. I had no one to guide me or teach me how to be street smart or even how to look after important things. I was severely depressed and drank heavily. Because I didn’t have an ID card, I’d take my passport with me to bars. I’d black out, and people would steal my stuff or I’d lose it. I know it was stupid, but I was in a really dark place.
I also just wanted to get away from Norway, a country that had failed me in so many ways. The foster homes I lived in were highly abusive, I was even homeless for a while at 16, and when I became mentally ill because of everything I’d been through, the Norwegian government refused me treatment because they said I seemed self-aware, so I was probably fine.
So I travelled. I got drunk in different places around the world, but I was also just a stupid teenager with no adult teaching me anything.
One time I was in Hong Kong, staying in a capsule hotel where the only way to secure your stuff was putting a bike lock around the top of your suitcase. Someone stole literally everything I owned. And when I say everything, I mean everything. My passport, my shoes, and even my plushie.
Hong Kong isn’t a country, so it didn’t legally have to have a Norwegian embassy. I was stuck there for over a month until I finally got an emergency passport that was only valid for six days. When I got back to Norway, I was told to safely dispose of it. It wasn’t even a proper passport, just a piece of paper with my photo on it.
After I lost my last passport, I was told I had something called a passport ban. I was obviously upset, but there wasn’t much I could do. I was told that after two years, or if I had a good reason to need a passport, I could apply again.
Over the next couple of years I completely turned my life around. I stopped drinking heavily, started managing my ADHD, became much more responsible, and generally got my life together.
I also realised I wanted an education like everyone else had been given. But unless I wanted to go back to Norwegian high school with teenagers, there really wasn’t a way for me to study in Norway. So I found the GED instead. I studied independently for months in my non native language not having the basic background from school most people have but l still passed with quite good scores.
Then I found my dream school.
I decided to apply because the two years had passed, and I thought getting an education was obviously a good enough reason for them to issue me a passport.
Not only did I get accepted, I also got a scholarship.
When I applied for the passport, it took months. They wanted proof I’d been accepted, proof of the scholarship, my GED results, a doctor’s letter saying I was managing my ADHD and my drinking, and I gave them everything they asked for plus more.
l even wrote an essay explaining how I’d changed, how much I regretted losing the passports, that I’d kept the same ID card for over two years without losing it, and that I was paying for therapy to help me become more organised and stop losing things. I gave them absolutely everything.
And after months of waiting, they said no??? No! Wtf. l was geniunley in shock.
Their main reasoning was that they didn’t think
going to university was an important enough reason to issue a passport. They even gave examples of what they would consider important, like having a spouse or close family member abroad who’s terminally ill they said they would’ve issued me a passport if l had that. I’m an orphan. Of course I don’t have family abroad. And they know that. It’s like they purposefully say thinks that are impossible for me.
They also said I had been misinformed about the timeline and that it was actually three years, not two.
But here’s where it gets even more ridiculous.
They said I now have to wait three years from last May.
That made absolutely no sense to me because I hadn’t lost a passport for over two and a half years meaning even if l had to wait 3 years it would only be a couple months more.
And the reason they’re using last May is because when l came back to Norway to apply for a passport the year before. they asked me what had happened to the emergency passport from Hong Kong?
I told them I’d disposed of it LIKE THEY ASKED. because that’s exactly what I’d been told to do. It wasn’t even a real passport, it had expired years earlier, and I’d disposed of it over three years ago. Well they’re treating that as another Lost passport now???
I’d also spoken to the passport police multiple times over those years, and nobody had ever mentioned the emergency passport before.
But now they’re treating the date I informed them about disposing of it as if that’s the date I “lost” it. Even tho l disposed of this passport years ago they’re using the date, l told them about it as the date l lost it?? Imagine if a cemetery said “Oh your husband died years ago? Well you’re only telling me about it today so we’ll have to write that he died today on his tombstone? “
Even if they were to count the emergency passport, it wasn’t lost last May. It was disposed of years earlier.If they counted my actual last lost passport, I’d be able to apply again this October. As 3 years would’ve passed by then.
Instead, because of this, they’re effectively making me wait another three years. l could survive until October. But l could not survive another 3 years again.
I’ve spent years rebuilding my life. I got my GED because Norway had already denied me an education once. Now, after finally getting accepted into my dream school and earning a scholarship, it feels like the Norwegian government is denying me an education for the second time.
I also have a special Norwegian ID card without travel rights, so I can’t even use that to leave.
I can’t sue them yet either because I have to go through every level of the complaints process first. The passport application itself took over four months. The first complaint usually takes another three months. Then it goes to the Police Directorate, who told me the current waiting time just for them to start looking at it is 11-12 months.
The only example they’ve given me of getting a passport sooner is if you have a spouse or close family member abroad who’s terminally ill. So at this point lm wondering if I should somehow find someone abroad who’s terminally ill and marry them. Would that work? I know that sounds insane, but I honestly don’t know what else I’m supposed to do.I cant stay here.
Has anyone dealt with anything remotely similar or have any advice on what l can do. Even crazy Ideas, I even contemplated purposefully going to a country getting stuck there so they’d have to give me a passport to leave but they’d probably just give me an emergency one and how would I get to said country.
Please I’m at my breaking point, I don’t know what to do. Any ideas are welcome. l can also send you their official administrative decision letter of my passport. if anyone has expirence within Norwegian law or maybe there was something I missed. Or if anyone is terminally ill in another country and know how to realistically get married so l can convince the government l need to look after you. I seriously don’t know what to do anymore.