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IMMIGRATION

IN NUMBERS: How many people became Swedish citizens in 2021?

Processing applications for Swedish citizenship is still the Swedish Migration Agency's biggest job. But how many people became Swedish citizens last year, and how does that compare to previous years?

Published: 26 January 2022 15:35 CET
Updated: 27 January 2022 09:12 CET
Swedish passports
Over 70,000 people were granted Swedish citizenship in 2021. Photo: Henrik Montgomery/TT

In 2021, just over 76,000 citizenship applications were received by the Migration Agency, and 71,229 (not necessarily all from 2021) were approved. This is a decrease from 2020, when a total of 67,331 citizenship applications were approved. These figures do not include children who were granted Swedish citizenship alongside a parent, as children do not apply for citizenship directly.

Of those who became Swedish citizens in 2021 (including children receiving citizenship alongside a parent), 44 percent came from Syria (31,388). The next most common countries of origin for applicants were Somalia (5,011), Afghanistan (4,612), Eritrea (3,923), Iraq (2,459), Poland (2,174), India (1,676), Thailand (1,647), Germany (1,378), Iran (1,338), the UK (1,188) and Turkey (1,071).

In total, 86,889 citizenship applications were approved last year, including children as well as people whose application was rejected by the Migration Agency but approved by an appeals court.

Long waits for citizenship have been a hot topic of debate in Sweden in recent years. According to the Migration Agency’s website, 75 percent of “recently closed cases” received a decision on their application within 21 months.

In November 2021, Sweden had a population of 10,449,381, according to Statistics Sweden, meaning 2021’s new Swedish citizens represent less than one percent of the population.

EXPLAINED:

In addition to citizenship applications, the Migration Agency received 12,625 applications from Brits applying for residence status before the deadline of December 31st 2021. Of these, 8,231 had been granted residence status at the end of 2021, with more still waiting to hear back.

More work permits were issued in 2021 than 2020, increasing from 32,379 to 39,270. The most common country of origin for those who were granted a work permit was Thailand, followed by India and Ukraine. The majority of work permits were issued for berry pickers and planters, as well as IT-related jobs. In addition to this, 25,842 work permits were extended in 2021.

In total, the majority of residence permits issued were work permits, followed by family connections (anknytning), with 24,189 individuals in the latter group receiving a residence permit.

Students were the next big group, with 14,034 study permits issued in 2021.

The next group of permits issued were for asylum seekers, with 11,443 permits of this type issued and 23,864 asylum permits extended in 2021.

Finally, 5,653 non-EU citizens were issued with residence permits as family members of an EU citizen. 898 of this type of permit were extended.

Note that these figures do not include EU citizens working, studying or supporting themselves, as they are not usually issued with residence permits.

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WORK PERMITS

Business leaders: Work permit threshold ‘has no place in Swedish labour model’

Sweden's main business group has attacked a proposal to exempt some jobs from a new minimum salary for work permits, saying it is "unacceptable" political interference in the labour model and risks seriously affecting national competitiveness.

Published: 25 April 2024 17:37 CEST
Updated: 26 April 2024 06:11 CEST
Business leaders: Work permit threshold 'has no place in Swedish labour model'

The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise said in its response to the government’s consultation, submitted on Thursday afternoon, that it not only opposed the proposal to raise the minimum salary for a work permit to Sweden’s median salary (currently 34,200 kronor a month), but also opposed plans to exempt some professions from the higher threshold. 

“To place barriers in the way of talent recruitment by bringing in a highly political salary threshold in combination with labour market testing is going to worsen the conditions for Swedish enterprise in both the short and the long term, and risks leading to increased fraud and abuse,” the employer’s group said.   

The group, which represents businesses across most of Sweden’s industries, has been critical of the plans to further raise the salary threshold for work permits from the start, with the organisation’s deputy director general, Karin Johansson, telling The Local this week that more than half of those affected by the higher threshold would be skilled graduate recruits Swedish businesses sorely need.   

But the fact that it has not only rejected the higher salary threshold, but also the proposed system of exemptions, will nonetheless come as a blow to Sweden’s government, and particular the Moderate Party led by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, which has long claimed to be the party of business. 

The confederation complained that the model proposed in the conclusions of the government inquiry published in February would give the government and political parties a powerful new role in setting salary conditions, undermining the country’s treasured system of collective bargaining. 

The proposal for the higher salary threshold, was, the confederation argued, “wrong in principle” and did “not belong in the Swedish labour market”. 

“That the state should decide on the minimum salary for certain foreign employees is an unacceptable interference in the Swedish collective bargaining model, where the parties [unions and employers] weigh up various needs and interested in negotiations,” it wrote. 

In addition, the confederation argued that the proposed system where the Sweden Public Employment Service and the Migration Agency draw up a list of exempted jobs, which would then be vetted by the government, signified the return of the old system of labour market testing which was abolished in 2008.

“The government agency-based labour market testing was scrapped because of it ineffectiveness, and because it was unreasonable that government agencies were given influence over company recruitment,” the confederation wrote. 

“The system meant long handling times, arbitrariness, uncertainty for employers and employees, as well as an indirect union veto,” it added. “Nothing suggests it will work better this time.” 

For a start, it said, the Public Employment Service’s list of professions was inexact and outdated, with only 179 professions listed, compared to 430 monitored by Statistics Sweden. This was particularly the case for new skilled roles within industries like battery manufacturing. 

“New professions or smaller professions are not caught up by the classification system, which among other things is going to make it harder to recruit in sectors which are important for the green industrial transition,” the confederation warned. 

Rather than implement the proposals outlined in the inquiry’s conclusions, it concluded, the government should instead begin work on a new national strategy for international recruitment. 

“Sweden instead needs a national strategy aimed at creating better conditions for Swedish businesses to be able to attract, recruit and retain international competence.”

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