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The note ‘Identity not verified’ in a travel document

If the Finnish Immigration Service has not been able to verify your identity, a note about this is made in the alien’s passport or refugee travel document, stating that ‘It has proved impossible to verify the identity of the holder’.

The corresponding wording printed on the documents in Finnish and Swedish changed on 1 September 2024. The Finnish or Swedish wording does not affect the validity of your travel document or the use of the travel document. You can continue using your travel document normally until it expires.

Apply for a new travel document if you can prove your identity and wish to remove the ‘It has proved impossible to verify the identity of the holder’ marking

You can apply for a new alien's passport or refugee travel document at a service point of the Finnish Immigration Service. When you submit a new application, you must present reliable documents as proof of your identity. Examples of reliable documents: 

  • The passport of your country of nationality, either a valid or an expired one.
  • Some other document issued by an authority of your country of nationality. It must contain the following information:
    • name, date of birth and place of birth
    • photograph and possible other personal identifying characteristics
    • citizenship.

In exceptional cases, the Finnish Immigration Service may consider a document issued by a country other than your country of nationality as reliable proof of your identity. This is possible if the Finnish Immigration Service can verify that the personal details in your document are based on reliable documents issued by the authorities of your country of nationality.

When proving your identity, you must always present the original document. A copy is not sufficient. If the original document is in a language other than Finnish, Swedish or English, you must have it translated into one of these languages. The original document can be expired, it does not have to be valid.

The Finnish Immigration Service will charge a processing fee for the application. You can check the fee on the page Processing fees and payment methods.