Inside Sweden: How well does the Swedish Migration Agency understand the law?
Richard Orange reflects on the Swedish Migration Agency's handling of migration law, before running through the week's main stories..
Swedish Migration Agency
Friday, 16 October, 15:49
Nyheter om Swedish Migration Agency
"But what are the rules?”: My interview with the Swedish Migration Agency's legal chief
When Richard Orange got an interview on Brexit rules with the Migration Agency's legal chief on his fourth attempt, it didn't exactly go as planned. But according to EU lawyers it nonetheless revealed flaws in the agency…
Swedish Migration Agency resume processing of paused teen residency cases
The Swedish Migration Agency has resumed processing of residency permit applications for 18- to 20-year-olds paused in March after the government pledged to bring in a solution to so-called 'teen deportations'..
Q&A: Who is affected by Sweden's new law on family immigration?
The previous Swedish government's law tightening rules for family reunification comes into force on October 1st, 2026. The Local spoke to Ann-Kari Olsson, Section Head at the Swedish Migration Agency, to find out who is…
Swedish Migration Agency rejects police request to deport EU researcher
The Migration Agency has rejected a police request to deport a researcher and climate activist over civil disobedience.
Migration Agency: Don’t apply for civics test without proof of Swedish skills
The Swedish Migration Agency has been instructing people invited to take the new civics test for citizenship not to apply if they cannot already demonstrate sufficient knowledge of Swedish, leading many who have received…
Swedish Migration Agency data shows June jump in rejected citizenship applications
Detailed monthly statistics from the Swedish Migration Agency obtained by The Local show a big rise in the percentage of citizenship cases rejected in June 2026 compared to the same time the previous year..
Swedish Migration Agency 'may pause citizenship applications for tests'
A Swedish Migration Agency manager has told Sveriges Radio that citizenship applications lacking proof of Swedish language skills will be put on hold rather than rejected, contradicting earlier statements..
Is the Swedish Migration Agency working overtime to fast-track citizenship cases?
The Migration Agency’s citizenship units have clocked over 500 hours of overtime so far this year, but not to fast-track decisions before new rules come into force, a spokesperson told The Local..
'All applications in Sweden's citizenship queue will be assessed according to the new rules'
This week’s episode of Sweden in Focus Extra features an interview with Åsa Holmes, the head of the Swedish Migration Agency’s citizenship unit in Gothenburg..
How will the Swedish Migration Agency handle queue citizenship cases after June 6th?
On April 29th Swedish parliament voted through stricter citizenship laws. Because transitional measures were not included, the new laws will apply to all applications that are assessed from June 6th onwards – even applic…
Swedish Migration Agency struggles to clear backlog as waiting time passes 1,000 days
Three months after the Swedish Migration Agency aimed to clear its backlog of four-year-old cases, thousands of applicants from the period are still waiting to be assigned case officers. Åsa Holmes, head of unit for citi…
Swedish Migration Agency stops automatically taking passports in citizenship cases
Sweden's Migration Agency has stopped automatically requesting passports at the start of citizenship applications to lessen the inconvenience to applicants who want to travel..
'I chose my mental health': Indian entrepreneur leaves Sweden after deportation order
Abhijith Nag Balasubramanya's circular-system hydroponics startup was already providing locally-grown produce to a major grocery store in Skellefteå, northern Sweden, when his business visa was denied by the Swedish Migr…
Sweden's Migration Agency to present shorter list of work permit exemptions
The Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) looks set to drastically narrow the list of occupations proposed for exemption from the government’s new salary requirement for labour migrants, with only 25 jobs included…
Ombudsman to re-investigate waiting times at Swedish Migration Agency
Sweden's Parliamentary Ombudsman (JO) Per Lennerbrant has agreed to carry out yet another investigation of long waiting times at the Migration Agency as the average wait for citizenship hits 47 months..
What it’s like being stuck in Sweden’s nightmare citizenship queue
Sarmad Riazi, a senior software engineer from Iran who has been living in Sweden for fifteen years, applied for citizenship six years ago. Over a year after a court directed the Swedish Migration Agency to conclude his c…
Outrage after Migration Agency orders 8-month-old baby to be deported
The Swedish Migration Agency has ordered an 8-month-old baby, who was born in Sweden, to be deported to Iran alone, generating outrage in the Swedish media over the weekend. The baby does not have a residence permit, but…
Sweden denying study permits for high-school exchange programs
Leading student exchange organizations have had major problems with the Swedish Migration Agency over the past two years, The Local reports, with 16-year-olds from non-EU countries regularly denied permits to spend an ex…
'If I don't have a permit to live in Sweden no one will be willing to invest'
The former Northvolt worker Abhijith Nag Balasubramanyas launched his own hydroponic microgreens company in Skellefteå in May. But just as he is about to go into commercial production, a warning from the Swedish Migratio…
Swedish Migration Agency temporarily halts all deportations to Iran
The Swedish Migration Agency is temporarily halting all deportations to Iran for up to four months due to the ongoing government crackdown against protestors..
UPDATE: Swedish Migration Agency still rejecting passports in citizenship cases
Citizenship applicants from the UK, Ireland, and elsewhere are still being told by Migration Agency case officers that their passports are not sufficient proof of identity, weeks after the agency assured The Local that t…
'Let him starve': Internal reports reveal abuse at Swedish migrant detention centres
A set of internal incident reports from detention centres operated by the Swedish Migration Agency, obtained by The Local, has revealed racist and degrading behaviour from detention centre staff, and unacceptably poor co…
'Poor training at Swedish deportation centres risks improper treatment'
The Swedish National Audit office last week issued a scathing report identifying major shortcomings at the detention centres operated by the Swedish Migration Agency. The report's author Maria Westerlind spoke to The Loc…
Swedish migration detention centres slammed for causing 'unnecessary suffering'
Sweden's National Audit Office has issued a damning report into immigrant detention centres run by the Swedish Migration Agency, accusing it, among other shortcomings, of "routinely applying coercive and controlling meas…
Number of new Swedish work permits has fallen by a fifth in 2025
The number of new work permits issued by the Swedish Migration Agency is down by a fifth so far this year, bringing it to less than half the the number issued in 2022, the year the Tidö government got into power, accordi…
IN STATS: How security checks have blocked Swedish citizenship awards
New statistics published by the Swedish Migration Agency on November 17th show how the extra security checks ordered by the government in January have succeeded in effectively halving the number of Swedish citizenships a…
Migration Agency now accepting British passports as proof of ID for citizenship
The Swedish Migration Agency is now accepting British passports as proof of identity in citizenship applications after reviewing its guidelines following months during which citizenship applicants from the UK and several…
Why is Sweden's Migration Agency closing its contact centres?
The Swedish Migration Agency is to close its contact centres, with the functions moved to the national government service centres which already handle face-to-face meetings for the Tax Agency. Sara Åhman, the agency's di…
Swedish Migration Agency to close down all contact centres
The Swedish Migration Agency will in the New Year begin closing down all of its 11 dedicated contact centres, with the services they perform instead carried out online, by phone, or by one of the 32 service centres servi…
Q&A: How Swedish Migration Agency's 30-day pledge for researchers will work
Sweden's Migration Agency from the start of this month is aiming to process all complete residence permit applications from researchers and PhD students within 30 days. We spoke to Maral Pichgah Larsson, unit chief at th…
Sweden's Migration Agency pledges 30 day handling time for PhD students
The Swedish Migration Agency has set a new 30-day target for concluding residency permit applications from foreign PhD students and their dependents, in what it hopes will mean better service for higher education..
'We are aware of this': Swedish Migration Agency on citizenship passport refusals
The Swedish Migration Agency is drawing up new guidelines which could allow it to accept some passports as identification for citizenship applications even if the applicant did not apply for or collect the document in pe…
Swedish Migration Agency refusing to accept some passports as valid ID
At least half a dozen people have recently been told by the Swedish Migration Agency that their passport is "not acceptable" as proof of ID for their citizenship application and then given only weeks to submit an alterna…
Swedish Migration Agency to restart processing of Syrian cases
The Swedish Migration Agency has announced that it has ended its suspension of Syrian asylum cases, meaning that Syrian citizens can once again both apply for asylum in Sweden and be deported if protection is not granted…
Swedish Migration Agency aims to clear 'most' 4-year-old cases by end of 2025
The Swedish Migration Agency is hoping to clear its backlog of four-year-old citizenship cases by the end of this year after bringing in a new system where cases are handled strictly in order of application date, section…
Swedish Migration Agency rates two jobs as 'high risk' for work permits
The Swedish Migration Agency has rated two professional categories – cooks and pantry chefs, and cleaners – as high risk for work permits, as part of a list of 152 jobs put forward for possible exemption under a future n…
Swedish Migration Agency to publish work permit salary limit exemptions
Sweden's Migration Agency will next week publish a list of the jobs which could potentially be exempted from a new salary threshold for work permits, but it stresses that there's little chance of these exemptions coming…
Iranians stuck in Sweden rush to extend temporary visas and permits
The Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) has received a flood of applications from Iranian citizens hoping to get their temporary visas extended..
How the Swedish Migration Agency is putting oldest citizenship cases first
Sweden's Migration Agency on Friday announced a radical overhaul of how citizenship applications are handled, with the applications that have waited longest now put right at the front of the queue. Here's what we know ab…
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