Finland suspends recognition of Vietnam’s new passport

Finland has decided to temporarily suspend recognition of Vietnam’s new passports due to lack of adequate information, said the Finnish Embassy to Hanoi.

“As of 1st July 2022, the Vietnamese agencies issued a new Vietnamese passport with navy-blue cover. The new passport does not contain information of the place of birth of the passport holder, which is a requirement for personal identification and also for processing of Finnish visa/residence permit applications,” said the embassy in a release issued on Thursday.

The Embassy of Finland will not receive applications for visa/residence permit of holders of the new passport until further notice from competent authorities of Finland.

Finland will actively work with member states of EU, Schengen and Vietnam to find solutions for the matter, the press release added.

Earlier, some other European countries including the Czech Republic, Germany and Spain already announced that they would not recognise new Vietnamese passports.

Spain, however, later decided to accept the new passports.