Inside Sweden: Why was Swedish media silent on citizenship freeze?
The Local's reader Patrick Henry Gallen argued convincingly in Dagens Nyheter (and The Local) this week against the unjust way new citizenship rules are being applied. It was a small victory, but why did the Swedish media ignore the citizenship freeze?
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The Local's reader Patrick Henry Gallen argued convincingly in Dagens Nyheter (and The Local) this week against the unjust way new citizenship rules are being applied. It was a small victory, but why did the Swedish media ignore the citizenship freeze?
When The Local reported on May 14th that the Migration Agency had been unable to approve citizenship applications in standard cases for a month and a half, we thought it was a fairly big story. When a post-Covid surge in passport applications led to similar delays, after all, there was uproar in the Swedish media.
We shared the story with Sweden's main newswire and one of the newspapers.
"You are quite right, this needs to be brought to public attention," one reporter wrote back. "I'll look into this and tell you if I get a bite." Ten days later, it looks like she didn't.
Her editors, like others before them, apparently didn't see the big deal.
Perhaps they judged that Sweden is only bringing its citizenship regime in line with those of its Nordic neighbours, ignoring the point that it's not so much what is being done, but how.
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So it was gratifying to see The Local's reader Patrick Henry Gallen's call for transitional arrangements, which also drew attention to the near two-month citizenship freeze, get published as an opinion piece in Dagens Nyheter (and The Local) this week.
He argued that a grace period was needed to ensure that the increase in the residency requirement from five to eight years, and other new rules, did not affect people who had already applied.
I hoped the article might generate at least some media reaction, but so far it hasn't and I wonder why.
As a journalist with a niche audience, you risk looking a bit ridiculous railing against the national media for ignoring a story that, from your narrow perspective, is earth-shakingly important. But I do think that a near two-month freeze on citizenship approvals should at least have warranted a mention.
It's not as if there's no coverage of citizenship reforms in the Swedish media. When the government this week launched a follow-on inquiry on how to strip Swedish citizenship from dual citizens who commit serious crimes, it was widely reported and debated.
Is it because this will require a change to the constitution, or because of the populist appeal of stripping gang members of their passports? Or is it, perhaps, that people who already have Swedish citizenship have a greater news value than people who are only trying to get it?
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What else have we been writing about?
The first letters were sent out this week inviting citizenship applicants to book a 'personal appearance', which is the last stage in citizenship applications since new security arrangements were brought in on April 1st. A reader shared a copy of the letter they had received with us, so you can know what to expect. We also updated our article on how these new in-person ID checks will work.
We interviewed Sasan Kazemian, the Iranian doctor who has been ordered to leave Sweden after a mix-up over his work permit application, despite passing all the language and medical knowledge exams required to practice in Sweden.
It's the season of hemmafix or DIY in Sweden, when people in Sweden spend their weekends repairing, renovating and upgrading their houses and summer houses. We looked at why this is such a defining feature of life in Sweden and ran through the vocabulary you'll need to participate.
It's the Stockholm Marathon this Saturday. We ran through everything you need to know about how to watch it and how traffic is being affected.
More bad news on the employment front, with Volvo announcing its plans to lay off 3,000 people, mainly in Sweden.
In this week's Politics in Sweden, I covered plans to realise the Sweden Democrats' plans for an idealised Sverigehus, a brawl in Brussels involving a Swedish MEP, and more besides.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Richard
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