Sweden's security checks force Migration Agency to halt approvals of citizenship applications
Sweden's processing rate of new citizenships has more than halved after new security checks were introduced, with the Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) unable to approve applications in standard cases for over a month.
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In the month of April, Sweden granted around 1,200 out of 3,000 processed citizenship applications – in other words, almost 60 percent of applications were rejected.
Normally, the rejection rate is around 20-30 percent.
A Migration Agency spokesperson explained to The Local that because it hasn't yet fully set up its routines for the in-person identification required of applicants as of the start of April, it has not been able to approve any 'standard' citizenship applications.
The majority of cases concluded in April were instead clear-cut rejections, which explains the high rejection rate.
Those that were approved were mainly in so-called 'citizenship by notification' cases, such as children and Nordic citizens who have an easier route to citizenship.
Meanwhile, the number of processed citizenship applications fell by more than half in April compared to March, according to Migration Agency figures obtained by The Local.
And as we have previously reported, the number of granted citizenships plummeted by over 70 percent between March and April.
More detailed citizenship statistics are expected to be available from May 15th.
In October 2024, the Migration Agency predicted that it would conclude 87,000 applications each year in 2025 and 2026, thanks to increased staff at the agency – a first step towards reducing the heavily criticised long waiting times for Swedish citizenship.
But the new security checks imposed by the government forced the agency in April to lower its previous estimate by more than a quarter: to 64,000 concluded citizenship cases in 2025 and 65,000 in 2026.
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The security checks, which were introduced on April 1st, involve applicants, future and present, answering a detailed set of additional background questions, as well as having to verify their identity in person. The requirements for gaining citizenship have not changed.
It was initially reported there would be exceptions from the in-person identification for certain nationalities with biometric passports, but a spokesperson last month told The Local that those haven't yet been implemented.
It is not yet clear when the Migration Agency's new system for in-person checks will be in place, allowing the agency to resume processing these cases.
The security checks came on the orders of the government and its far-right Sweden Democrat allies, who instructed the Migration Agency to take 'forceful measures' to prevent people who pose a threat to security or use a fake ID from being granted citizenship.
Experts had previously guessed that security checks would be tightened as a pretext of slowing down the awarding of new citizenships until the reforms planned for 2026 are in place – a slowdown strongly hinted at by the government in an opinion piece in the DN newspaper in November.
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In March, Sweden's National Audit Office criticised both the Migration Agency and the government over "unreasonably" long processing times which allow thousands of applications to "lie dormant".
According to the Migration Agency, 75 percent of adult applicants whose cases were concluded "recently" had to wait 23 months, but waiting times have in the past tended to vary widely, from a few weeks to many years. The full extent to how waiting times will be affected by the new security checks is not yet clear.
*Note that the data for the two graphs in the article was sourced on slightly different dates, so although they roughly add up, they are not directly comparable
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