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Swedish government pushes ahead with new migration bill

The Swedish government has put forward a bill to change the country’s migration laws, including a language requirement for permanent residence.

Published: 8 April 2021 13:26 CEST
Updated: 8 April 2021 17:52 CEST
Swedish government pushes ahead with new migration bill
Swedish government ministers Märta Stenevi and Morgan Johansson. Photo: Jessica Gow/TT

The proposal follows the setting up of a parliamentary Migration Committee, which suggested a series of legislative changes in a 600-page report last year, as The Local wrote about at the time.

A bill is now being sent to the Council on Legislation, which is the body that checks draft bills before they can be submitted to parliament, said Justice Minister Morgan Johansson at a press conference with Equality Minister Märta Stenevi on Thursday.

The aim is to create a comprehensive new law that can replace the current temporary law, when it expires in summer. This law tightened rules for immigrants when it was introduced in the wake of the 2015 refugee crisis, and is mainly designed to target asylum seekers, but there are also changes that affect other categories of immigrants.

The bill proposes that refugees would be given temporary three-year residence permits, and people receiving protection on other grounds would be given permits of 13 months. Temporary residence permits have been the default in Sweden since 2016, but before that permanent residence permits were the norm since 1984, according to Johansson.

After three years it would be possible to apply for a permanent residence permit, but this would only be granted if certain requirements are met, such as being able to support oneself and having sufficient Swedish language and civics skills. The latter requirement is new, and comes as Sweden is also planning tightened citizenship requirements.

Johansson said that although the new bill is meant to come into force this summer – if approved by parliament – the language and civics requirement needed more work to decide how it would work in practice, and would not be implemented immediately.

The government’s bill is based on the Migration Committee’s suggestions and is understood to be mostly in line with them, but at the time of writing the latest version of the bill was not yet publicly available. You can read the Migration Committee’s report in Swedish here, and here’s The Local’s round-up in English of the key points at the time.

The Social Democrats’ coalition partner, the Green Party, also pushed through rules that mean that people who are not eligible for asylum may in some cases be allowed to stay in Sweden on compassionate grounds, such as if they have lived in the country for a long time or have children that have become part of Swedish society. Stenevi said these rules were designed to avoid “unreasonable consequences”.

“This is an exception and does not apply to people who are here illegally,” she added.

Member comments

  1. But Sweden has better first fire 90% of its Migrationsverket’s employees and replace them with good people. It is a more relevant change than anything else because the organization has clearly shifted towards fascists who are gaining votes instead of being banned and imprisoned in Sweden!

    1. I can’t agree more. Most case officers act like autocrats and commit crimes tantamount to violation of fundamental human rights. The way they play with the lives of the innocent people should be stopped in the first place.

      1. Hi Rajib,

        How have the case officers violated your human rights, or those of someone you know?

        Do Swedes not, in your view, have the right to determine who moves to their country and is subsequently granted Swedish residency and then citizenship?

        Please explain.

        Thank you.

  2. These sound like very small yet reasonable changes in many respects, and that most people still have a very reasonable path into Sweden.

  3. As a immigrant who is in Sweden on working permit, and working hard to be part of the society, I agree with new proposals.
    There is a lot of abusers of the system, where they just doing nothing and expect from the state to get everything on the platter. While other people are working hard and providig to society, paying taxes, etc.

    Some people deserve to be deported or their temporary visas revoked/doublechecked.

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For members

INDIANS IN SWEDEN

EXPLAINED: How to renounce Indian citizenship in Sweden

India doesn’t allow dual citizenship, so any Indians wishing to gain Swedish citizenship need to renounce their Indian citizenship first. How does it work?

Published: 27 May 2024 10:26 CEST
EXPLAINED: How to renounce Indian citizenship in Sweden

Do I need to renounce Indian citizenship before I can apply for Swedish citizenship?

No. You shouldn’t renounce your Indian citizenship until your Swedish citizenship has been approved.

In fact, you can’t renounce it before then, as you’ll need to provide a copy of your new Swedish passport and a copy of your new Swedish citizenship certificate (medborgarskapsbevis) when you apply for renunciation.

How do I renounce my Indian citizenship?

Once you’ve received your Swedish citizenship, you’ll have to visit the Indian government’s Indian Citizenship Online Portal at this link.

You’ll need a digital copy of the first and last pages of your new Swedish passport and your old Indian passport, as well as a copy of your Swedish citizenship certificate, so make sure you have them ready before you start the application process (although you can save it and come back to it later if you find out you’re missing something halfway through the process).

You’ll need to click on “initiate application” and start filling in your details, such as your name, email, contact details and marital status.

You’ll also need to say here whether you have any children – this is important, as any children you have who are under the age of 18 will also lose Indian citizenship when you renounce yours. If they don’t qualify for Swedish citizenship (usually because they do not yet have permanent residency), this means that they could be made stateless when you renounce your citizenship.

Next, you have to fill in the details of which country you’re becoming a citizen of, as well as your birth details, details of your Indian passport, your parents’ names and nationalities and a digital photograph and signature.

Once you submit this page, you’ll be able to see your application ID. Save this in a safe place so you can return to your application later if you need to.

The next step is to add in the details of any children you have (or skip this step if you don’t have children), then you’ll need to provide your address details (where you currently live and your residential address in India) and the embassy where you’ll be submitting your application – in this case, the Indian Embassy in Stockholm.

After this, you have to upload digital copies of documents like your passport, proof of address (like a personbevis from the Tax Agency, a rental contract or a utility bill), and any other relevant documents, like your certificate of Swedish citizenship. Double check that all of these documents are legible and correct, as you won’t be able to edit your application once you’ve submitted it.

Next up is the final submission of your application. Check everything thoroughly, including your contact information, as your application could be denied if your information is incorrect. You can edit anything on this screen before you click on the green “final submission” button at the top.

Once you’ve submitted your application, note your application number (or MHA file number), and download your application. This will generate a document titled Form XXII, which you’ll need to print out and take to the embassy in person. 

After you’ve submitted, you can pay the renunciation fee (8,000 rupees or 989 Swedish kronor, according to 2024 figures listed on the embassy’s website).

What do I do now?

The next step is to book an in-person appointment at the embassy in Stockholm on this website. Bring your Form XXII to this appointment along with the following documents required by the embassy: 

  • a copy of your Swedish passport
  • a copy of your Indian passport
  • originals of your current and previous Indian passports
  • a coloured passport-style photograph (on a white background, no more than six months old and 51x51mm in size)
  • a copy of your Swedish citizenship certificate
  • a copy of your personbevis from the Tax Agency, in English
  • proof of payment for the renunciation fee

You’ll also need to get someone else who is an Indian citizen living in Sweden to sign the second page of your Form XXII as a witness (your spouse doesn’t count). 

On top of this you’ll also need to fill out a passport surrender certificate, which you also have to do online – but on this website, not the same website as before.

You’ll need to register, where you’ll set up a username and password (your username can be your email address), before selecting Sweden-Stockholm in the Embassy/Consulate box. Log in with the username and password you chose, before clicking on “apply for surrender of Indian passport”.

Once you’ve applied, you need to print out your application, before taking it with you to the embassy – you can do this at the appointment you’ve already booked or book a new appointment.

Bring the following documents with you for your passport surrender (these are almost the same documents as for the renunciation appointment above, with the exception of an extra passport photo and proof of payment for the passport surrender fee):

  • a copy of your Swedish passport,
  • a copy of your Indian passport, 
  • originals of your current and previous Indian passports, 
  • two coloured passport-style photographs (on a white background, no more than six months old and 51x51mm in size),
  • a copy of your Swedish citizenship certificate
  • a copy of your personbevis from the Tax Agency, in English
  • proof of payment for the passport surrender fee (note that this is not the same as the renunciation fee but is a further 1,000 rupees or 276 kronor, payable to the bank account at the bottom of this page.)

Once all this is done, you should hear back from the embassy within eight to ten weeks. They’ll get in touch with you to let you know your renunciation certificate is ready (you’ll need this if you ever want to apply for an Overseas Citizen of India [OCI] card, see more details on that below), and you can book another appointment to pick it up along with your documents.

What happens if I become a Swedish citizen and don’t renounce Indian citizenship?

According to Indian law (specifically Section 12[1A] of the Passports Act), you’d be breaking the law and could be sentenced to between one and five years in prison, alongside a fine of between ten and fifty thousand rupees (roughly 1,200 to 6,500 kronor).

What if I want to visit or move back to India but I’m not a citizen?

If you ever want to move back to India or would like to be able to visit family without needing a visa, you can apply for an OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) card.

This card allows a foreign citizen of Indian origin to work and live in India indefinitely, and is the closest Indian citizens can get to holding dual citizenship.

You can apply for an OCI card online via the Indian Embassy in Sweden at a cost of 2,868 kronor. 

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