An official wrote on the Migration Agency’s Facebook page on July 23rd that the government has not responded to the request, which was made through a letter to the government in April 2023, and that no new guidelines have been issued, something that a Migration Agency press officer then confirmed to The Local.
“I can confirm that we have not received feedback that this would be something the government would proceed with – in other words it has not led to a legislative initiative,” Didzis Melbiksis worte in an email.
The Migration Agency, Courts Agency, and three administrative courts in April 2023 requested a temporary exemption from the new mechanism, brought in in 2018, which allows people facing long delays for administrative and court decisions to file a so-called dröjsmålstalan, or expedition demand, calling for their request to be decided rapidly.
The Migration Agency argued in its request that the mechanism was increasing waiting times for work permit, residency permit, asylum and citizenship cases by preventing it from allocating resources in the most efficient way.
“The fact that many individuals are requesting that their cases be decided is taking a lot of resources and leading to processing times generally becoming longer, not least as many delay cases are appealed to the court,” Mikael Ribbenvik, the then Director General of the agency, wrote in a press release.
Adam Reuben, a press spokesperson at the Migration Ministry, said that the government had decided to increase funding to the Migration Agency to help it reduce the backlog in applications rather than excuse it or the courts from the regulation.
“It is important that the Agency and courts abide with the processing time set out in regulations and that every case is assessed based on its merits and to a high level of quality,” he wrote in an email.
“For that reason, the Government has allocated additional resources. We have also taken other measures, such as tasking the Agency to introduce a fast-track procedure for highly skilled labour migration, which reduced the processing time from 101 days to 17 days. The Governmental Office has an ongoing dialogue with the agency regarding processing times and measures taken.”
The fact that the government has not so far granted the agency’s request means that foreigners who have waited a long time for a decision can still now make an expedition demand after six months, requiring that their case be concluded, using the form here.
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