Author says Schengen leaves Iceland unable to identify arrivals

People arriving in Iceland from other Schengen countries can travel without showing a passport or giving their real name, leaving authorities unable to verify who is entering, Hjörtur J. Guðmundsson argues in an opinion article published by mbl.is.

Guðmundsson says people who have broken the law, or intend to do so, are more likely than others to provide false information. He claims offenders arriving in Iceland almost exclusively come from, or travel through, other Schengen countries.

Iceland agreed to end routine passport checks at its borders with other Schengen states in return for confidence in checks at the bloc’s external borders, the article says. But, citing figures from the EU border agency Frontex, Guðmundsson writes that millions of people have crossed those borders unlawfully, particularly in the east and south. The figures cover only cases known to authorities, he notes.

He also describes Schengen as part of the EU’s broader political goal of becoming a federal state. Once people have crossed the bloc’s external border, he says, they can travel within it without showing identification and can give a false name, including when coming to Iceland.

Guðmundsson questions the value of access to Schengen databases, described as one of the main benefits of membership. He cites former Suðurnes police chief Úlfar Lúðvíksson, who said in an interview with Vísir in August 2024 that police had gained limited benefit from the databases. Lúðvíksson said it was largely a matter of chance whether criminals were stopped at the borders of other Schengen countries, adding that they often entered the bloc elsewhere and then “move around inside the fence.”

The article also disputes Justice Minister Þorbjörg Sigríður Gunnlaugsdóttir’s claim in a social media video last Christmas that passenger lists gave authorities an overview of who was arriving. Guðmundsson says legislation on passenger lists did not resolve the problem of identifying people arriving on flights from other Schengen countries.

The article points to the difference between PNR booking records and API passenger information. PNR data is collected by airlines or travel agencies for commercial purposes when a ticket or trip is booked, including details such as the method of payment and when the booking was made. Unlike API data for flights from outside Schengen, PNR information is not verified against passports, the article says.