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CITIZENSHIP

Sweden launches inquiry into tougher citizenship rules

Sweden's government has launched an inquiry into tightening the requirements for Swedish citizenship, with the number of years of residency likely to be increased from five to eight.

Published: 8 September 2023 10:08 CEST
Sweden launches inquiry into tougher citizenship rules
New Swedish citizens celebrate on National Day (July 6th) in Sundbyberg, Stockholm, in 2022. Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT

Sweden’s migration minister, Maria Malmer Stenergard, told the TT newswire in an interview that the current five-year residency required to qualify for citizenship was shorter than in most other countries. 

“We stick out compared to other, comparable countries,” she said. “Overall, this is a question of security. The security police have warned that this time is too short for them to have time to identify future security risks.” 

The government has appointed a judge, Kirsi Laakso Utvik, to lead the inquiry into toughening citizenship requirements. 

According to a press release, Utvik is being asked to carry out the following tasks: 

  • propose requirements for a longer stay in Sweden to become eligible for membership
  • propose what knowledge about Sweden as a society, and about Swedish culture should be required to be eligible for membership 
  • propose extra requirements that applicants have a heder­ligt levnadssätt, or “upstanding way of life”
  • propose what requirements for self-sufficiency prospective citizens should have to meet 
  • take a position on whether a citizenship interview, oath of loyalty, or other ceremony should be instituted as the final point in the citizenship process 
  • decide on whether the procedure for considering the release of children from Swedish citizenship should be changed and submit the necessary constitutional proposals.

Stenergard told TT that the new requirements were likely to judge whether applicants had an “upstanding way of life” on the extent to which they were suspected of involvement in crime. 

“This will mean considering which acts a person is suspected of or convicted of and where we should set the limits on which people are eligible to become Swedish citizens,” she said.

It will take some time for any changes to the law proposed by the inquiry to come into force.

Utvik has been given until September 30th 2024 to present the conclusions of her inquiry, with a draft law then scheduled to be presented to parliament in the autumn of 2025.

It is likely that some new requirements for citizenship would then come into force at the start of 2026. 

According to the press release, Utvik has been asked not to make any proposals which would require changes to Sweden’s constitutional laws. 

Member comments

  1. Well, technically, the delay to become citizen (for an EU member) is already 8 years.
    5 years to be allowed to request citizenship, then 3 years (and counting) to get the demand processed…

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For members

WORK PERMITS

Is Sweden meeting its 30-day target for high-skilled foreign professionals?

Three months after the Swedish Migration Agency rolled out a new system for work permits, how long do foreign professionals have to wait for a decision?

Published: 3 May 2024 05:58 CEST
Updated: 3 May 2024 09:07 CEST
Is Sweden meeting its 30-day target for high-skilled foreign professionals?

More than 7,750 work permit applications have been submitted to Sweden’s Migration Agency since a new system designed to speed up waiting times for skilled workers was implemented.

The new system, rolled out on January 29th, divides workers into four different categories depending on their profession. It was introduced after complaints about long waits for both first-time and renewed work permits and promised to process the top category, “A”, within 30 days.

Category A applications are those already classified as “highly qualified” under the Standard for Swedish Classification of Occupations (SSYK), and include leadership roles, roles requiring higher university education, and roles requiring university education or equivalent.

A Migration Agency spokesperson told The Local that a total of 95 percent of complete work permit applications sent in by highly qualified workers since January 29th were processed within 30 days, with a median handling time of 14 days, according to figures from April 15th.

“Our ambition is to decide cases for highly qualified labour within 30 days – sometimes it happens that the application isn’t complete and that can make the processing time longer,” the spokesperson said.

By mid-April, the Migration Agency had processed 4,461 complete applications, 550 incomplete applications and 423 applications for permanent residency which were complete but had to wait for a decision because the applicant’s previous permit hadn’t yet expired.

Around 77 percent of incomplete applications were processed within 30 days.

A Migration Agency spokesperson told The Local that there may be various reasons why an application is incomplete, but “common mistakes” include passports lacking a signature, incorrect information about accommodation when needed, no or not enough information about the applicant’s insurances, or no statement from the trade union about working conditions.

The spokesperson also said that the four percent of complete applications that didn’t get processed within a month were delayed because of, for example, the applicant failing to visit an embassy to show their passport before the deadline, having a criminal record in Sweden that required further investigation of their application, or the security police blocking their application.

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