Latest news with #MatsRosenqvist
Local Sweden
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Local Sweden
How will Sweden's new personal ID checks for citizenship work?
New security rules for citizenship mean that applicants now need to turn up at the Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) in person to confirm their identity. How will this process work? Advertisement What has happened? Since the beginning of April, applicants for Swedish citizenship have had to undertake an in-person identity check at Migration Agency offices in order to qualify for citizenship. The agency told The Local in mid-May that approvals for citizenship by naturalisation ‒ the most common route ‒ had been on hold since April 1st awaiting a final decision on the routines regulating the system of in-person identification, a key part of new security checks the right-wing government coalition ordered in January. Mats Rosenqvist, section head for the Migration Agency, told The Local at the time that everything was ready in practical terms, and that his team was just waiting for the director general, Maria Mindhammar, to sign the directive enabling them to launch the new process. The directive was 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. Now these legal requirements are in place, the agency will begin to invite applicants to "personal appearances". READ ALSO: Swedish Migration Agency ends citizenship freeze and launches ID checks Can I just turn up whenever? It may be tempting to just turn up at the Migration Agency's offices and get your in-person ID check out of the way, but you'll most likely be turned away. There are no drop-in times, rather you'll need to book an appointment in advance at one of eight different Migration Agency offices across the country. If you live outside of Sweden, you'll be able to visit a Swedish consulate or embassy abroad. How do I book an appointment? You'll be sent a letter when it's your turn to book an appointment which will tell you how to book. You'll be able to choose a date, time and location that suits you, so you won't necessarily have to go to the closest office if another one has a time that works better. The letter will also include information on any documents you'll need to take with you. Advertisement When will they start sending out letters? The Migration Agency is "staffed and ready to start working to the new routines," according to an internal email seen by The Local, which indicates that the letters will start being sent soon, if the agency hasn't already started sending them. It's not clear whether applicants will be notified via email or on their page on the Migration Agency website when it's their turn. Where can I go? You'll be able to book an appointment in Malmö, Växjö, Gothenburg, Norrköping, Örebro, Sundbyberg, Sundsvall or Boden. Applicants who are not resident in Sweden can instead present themselves at a Swedish embassy or consulate staffed by foreign ministry employees. Are there any exceptions? Generally speaking, no, although there are plans in the works to allow some applicants ‒ specifically those with a biometric chip in their passport ‒ to verify their identity digitally through the Freja app. It's not clear when this will be possible, so for now, everyone, no matter their country of origin, will need to turn up and verify their identity in person. Having said that, the agency does say that in some, very specific cases, you may be able to get citizenship without verifying your identity, "for example if you cannot move, not even with help, or if you have such a serious illness or disability that you cannot visit the Migration Agency in person". In that case, it says, you will need to back this up with documentation, for example a doctors' note or documentation from the Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan). Advertisement What happens if I don't turn up? The Migration Agency warns that if you don't carry out a personal visit then you could risk having your application rejected. A personal identity check is now a requirement for citizenship, so you would be unable to become a Swedish citizen without undertaking one. If you don't have an accepted form of ID then other rules apply, including among other things an extended period of living in the country before you qualify. I've been waiting for citizenship for years. Why aren't they prioritising older cases? In good news for applicants who have had extremely long waiting times, the agency also said in an email shared with The Local that it has overhauled the citizenship process specifically to prioritise older cases, in part as a result of heavy criticism of the long waiting times. This means that applications will be "processed chronologically", the email read, including applications where a request to conclude has been granted.
Local Sweden
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Local Sweden
Swedish Migration Agency ends citizenship freeze and launches ID checks
The Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) has begun contacting citizenship applicants to book in-person identity checks, effectively ending a near two-month freeze on approvals for standard naturalisation cases. Advertisement In a post published Thursday, the agency announced that letters were now being sent to applicants, marking the start of the final step in the citizenship process - a newly introduced 'personal appearance' requirement. Applicants will not be able to book appointments until they receive the official notification by post. "When you have received the letter, you should book a personal visit with us to verify your identity. This is called a 'personal appearance'," the agency wrote. "The requirement for a personal appearance applies to both those who are applying for Swedish citizenship now and those who have already applied and are waiting for a decision." READ ALSO: Eight questions to understand Sweden's citizenship freeze The agency told The Local earlier this month that approvals for citizenship by naturalisation - the most common route - had been on hold since April 1st awaiting a final decision on the routines regulating the system of in-person identification, a key part of new security checks the right-wing government coalition ordered in January. Mats Rosenqvist, section head for the Migration Agency, told The Local last week that everything was ready in practical terms, and that his team was just waiting for the director general, Maria Mindhammar, to sign the directive enabling them to launch the new process. Advertisement The directive was 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. Now these legal requirements are in place, the agency will begin to invite applicants to 'personal appearances' at offices around Sweden. The Local understands that citizenship applicants will be able to attend at any one of the eight offices carrying out the service around Sweden. Applicants who are not resident in Sweden can instead present themselves at a Swedish embassy or consulate. The Migration Agency has recruited extra staff and already set up the teams who will carry out the in-person identification checks. The checks will be one of the final stages of the processing of an application, and at first, everyone will have to do it without any exceptions. It was initially reported that certain nationalities with biometric passports would be exempt and would instead be able to confirm their identity digitally via the Freja app, but the technological solution for that isn't yet in place, Rosenqvist told The Local. Advertisement This means all applicants will initially need to make a personal appearance before they can be granted citizenship. The extra stage in the process is the result of an order from the government and its far-right Sweden Democrat allies in January for 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. 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. Forssell has since denied that the underlying intention is to slow down citizenship applications, telling TT newswire that the point was only "to prevent people who pose a threat to security from being granted Swedish citizenship".
Local Sweden
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Local Sweden
Swedish Migration Agency expected to resume approving citizenship applications 'soon'
The Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) expects to soon be able to start approving standard citizenship applications again, after a moratorium caused by new security checks. Advertisement As The Local was first to report, the government-imposed security checks have left the Migration Agency unable to approve standard citizenship applications for over a month. The sticking point is that the agency hasn't yet fully set up its routines to be able to carry out in-person identification checks required of applicants as of the start of April. But Mats Rosenqvist, section head for the Migration Agency, told The Local that everything is ready 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. 'As soon as we get a directive, we can basically press the button and start opening up time slots at seven of our offices around the country,' said Rosenqvist. Advertisement SWEDEN'S CITIZENSHIP FREEZE: The in-person identification checks will be one of the final stages of the processing of an application, and at first, everyone will have to do it without any exceptions. It was initially reported that certain nationalities with biometric passports would be exempt and would instead be able to confirm their identity digitally via the Freja app, but the technological solution for that isn't yet in place, Rosenqvist confirmed. He could not say when those exemptions might be rolled out. This is despite Migration Minister Johan Forssell telling The Local in January that people who have come to Sweden on a work permit or who from stable countries without security risks need not worry that their applications will be further delayed. Advertisement 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. Only six so-called 'naturalisation cases' were approved in April – down from 3,234 in March. These are the standard kinds of cases which make up by far the majority and are in other words the ones you think of when you think of citizenship applications. A total of 1,120 citizenship through notification cases (an easier route available to mainly children and Nordic citizens) were approved in April, as well as 65 applications for retaining one's citizenship (for example Swedes born abroad) and 57 so-called citizenship declarations (for people who don't know whether or not they are citizens), which are all categories that aren't affected by the new security checks.
