Thousands of Swedish citizenship applicants told to answer additional security questions
Everyone who has applied for Swedish citizenship, both before and after tighter security checks came into force on April 1st, is being asked to answer a set of detailed additional questions.
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The Migration Agency has on the request of the government tightened up the process for citizenship applications, with applicants now having to confirm their identity in person and provide more detailed information than before on their background.
The changes also affect those who applied before April 1st. In March, there were more than 86,000 applications in the queue.
So far, around 6,500 applicants with outstanding applications have been asked to submit additional information, a Migration Agency spokesperson told The Local.
The 11-page form, seen by The Local, gives applicants three weeks to supplement their applications with detailed information on for example their career history, family and background.
One question asks applicants to list every single journey they've made beyond the borders of Sweden in the past five years, regardless of the length of the trip.
Another Migration Agency spokesperson told us it's "important that you fill out the forms as correctly as possible. If there are questions or things that aren't clear, the Migration Agency can ask for additional information or need to further investigate the case".
When The Local's deputy editor Becky Waterton, who happens to be one of the 6,500 Swedish citizenship applicants who has been asked to submit additional information, called the Migration Agency's helpline to ask if she had to include details on every short day trip she's made from Malmö to Copenhagen in the past half decade, she was told it would be OK to include a vague statement such as "travelled to Copenhagen roughly once a month in this period for work" and then the agency could ask for more information if necessary.
If you're in the process of applying for Swedish citizenship but haven't yet been sent an additional form, the Migration Agency advises that applicants who are currently waiting for a decision will be contacted with more information, and should not contact the agency directly.
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The tighter security checks as of April 1st also mean that applicants now have to travel to a Migration Agency office to confirm their identity.
It was initially reported there would be exceptions from the in-person identification for certain nationalities with biometric passports, but the spokesperson confirmed that those haven't yet been implemented so currently everyone has to show up in person.
The Local understands that if the exceptions are rolled out, the app Freja will be used to replace in-person identification for eligible applicants. Freja is currently used to carry out digital passport checks for residency permit applicants from 22 countries.
Citizenship applications are still being processed despite the tighter security checks, with 20,122 cases concluded so far this year, the Migration Agency confirmed.
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