Eight key questions to understand Sweden's citizenship freeze
The Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) hasn't approved any standard citizenship applications for over a month. But why – and when can we expect it to be resolved? Here's everything you need to know to understand the citizenship freeze in two minutes.
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What's going on?
The Migration Agency has been unable to approve any standard citizenships through naturalisation since April 1st, due to extra security checks ordered by the government.
The sticking point is that the agency hasn't had time to fully set up its routines to be able to carry out the in-person identity checks that are now required of all applicants.
Who's affected?
Pretty much everyone, at least if you're only eligible to apply for the standard citizenship through naturalisation option (this is the most common route, or in other words the one most people think of when they think of citizenship applications).
The Migration Agency is still able to reject cases, because there's no need for people who are going to get rejected anyway based on their application to show up in person.
It's also still able to approve so-called citizenship by notification applications. This is an easier and faster route to citizenship, which is available mainly to children and Nordic citizens, and whose applicants aren't affected by the additional security checks.
Sweden's immigration courts are also still able to approve citizenship applications, so for example if someone's application was rejected before the security checks came into force on April 1st, then they may have had it granted on appeal after that date.
Everyone else has to go through the new security checks, regardless of whether you applied after April 1st, the day before, weeks or months before, or even years before.
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How does this compare to previous months?
Only six "naturalisation cases" were approved in April – down from 3,234 in March.
A total of 1,120 citizenship through notification cases were approved in April, as well as 65 applications for retaining citizenship (for example Swedes born abroad) and 57 citizenship declarations (for people who don't know whether or not they are citizens).
Here's a full list of how various nationalities are affected by the citizenship freeze.
What do the security checks involve?
Mainly two things. First, as The Local has previously reported, everyone has to filled out an 11-page form of additional security questions, including details of every job they had before moving to Sweden, and every trip outside of Sweden in the past five years.
The questionnaire is also being sent by post to people who have already applied for citizenship. If you haven't yet received yours, don't worry, it's an ongoing process.
Secondly, everyone has to (when asked) go to a Migration Agency office to confirm their identity in person. These are the checks that the agency hasn't yet launched.
Even when they are launched, everyone will have to do it at the start. There are plans to have exceptions for certain nationalities with biometric passports, but the technology to enable that isn't yet in place. There's no information available on when that might be resolved.
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When will this all be fixed?
Mats Rosenqvist, section head for the Migration Agency, told The Local that everything is ready for the in-person checks in practical terms and his team is just awaiting the go-ahead.
As soon as the director general has signed a formal directive – the details of which are still being ironed out – they'll be able to get things up and running in a matter of days.
The directive is necessary to give the Migration Agency the legal right to ask applicants to come to one of their offices in person to show their ID – and to give the agency the power to, for example, reject the application of a person who fails to show up.
There's no exact date available, but it is expected to be finished and signed soon.
The Local has heard rumours it could happen this week, but please note that's not at all confirmed.
We will of course keep readers updated as soon as we know more.
Have the rules for citizenship changed?
No. Other than adding an extra step to the application process, the security checks don't affect the requirements for becoming a Swedish citizen. Those remain the same.
There are however plans in the pipeline to tighten Swedish citizenship laws (for example language tests and extending the time a foreigner has to live in Sweden before they become eligible), currently scheduled for the summer of 2026.
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Why is Sweden carrying out extra security checks?
The specific measures have been decided by the Migration Agency, but they come because the government and its far-right Sweden Democrat allies in January ordered the agency to take "forceful measures" to "as far as possible" prevent people who pose a threat to security or use a fake identity from being granted citizenship.
"We must never compromise when it comes to Swedish security and hand out citizenship on the wrong grounds," Migration Minister Johan Forssell said at the time.
Experts had previously guessed that security checks would be tightened as a pretext of slowing down the awarding of new citizenships until stricter rules are in place in 2026 – a slowdown strongly hinted at by the government in an opinion piece in the DN newspaper in November.
In that opinion piece, the government pledged, among other things, to "as much as possible, take measures to stop more Swedish citizenships from being granted until new rules are in place" – a move criticised by top lawyers as either unconstitutional, if those measures were to be far-reaching enough, or ineffectual and unrealistic if they were to use security checks to slow down decisions.
Ministers later denied that they were trying to slow down citizenship applications, arguing that the point was only "to prevent people who pose a threat to security from being granted Swedish citizenship", as Forssell told the TT news agency.
Forssell also told The Local in January that work permit holders and people from countries that don't pose a security risk needed not worry about their application being delayed.
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Will the new security checks delay applications?
Very likely, yes.
In October 2024, the 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 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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