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Local Sweden
4 days ago
- Politics
- Local Sweden
What's in the appointment letter for Swedish citizenship?
Citizenship applicants across Sweden have over the last few days started to receive letters inviting them to book an appointment for an in-person ID check at the Migration Agency (Migrationsverket). The first letters were received this week. Here's what they include. Advertisement One of The Local's readers received a letter earlier this week which appears to have been sent on May 26th. The reader, who wishes to remain anonymous, shared a copy of their letter with The Local. The reader applied for Swedish citizenship in September 2023. Just under a year later, in August 2024, the reader applied for a request to conclude which was first rejected. They appealed the rejected request which was overturned by the Migration Court in October 2024. Their spouse has held Swedish citizenship for over three years. READ ALSO: The extra security questions Sweden's Migration Agency wants citizenship applicants to answer This seems to suggest that the Migration Agency is still processing cases where the applicant has submitted a request to conclude, despite announcing plans to prioritise older cases where applicants have been waiting for longer. Advertisement What's in the letter? The letter includes information on how to book an appointment through the Min Sida page on the Migration Agency, as well as details of which documents the applicant should bring to the appointment. An important detail revealed in the letter is that applicants have eight weeks from the date the letter is sent (not the date it is received) to book an appointment or contact the Migration Agency, otherwise they risk their application being denied. We have translated the letter below. If you have received a letter, make sure to follow the instructions in your own letter rather than this translation if there are any differences. You may notice that we have removed details of how to book an appointment. Booking appears to be open to anyone with an account at the Migration Agency ‒ even those without a pending citizenship application ‒ and we do not want to encourage applicants to book an appointment before they have received their letter and thereby take appointment times from those who need them. Here is a section of the letter in Swedish with personal details removed. Below is the text of the letter in English: Request to book an appointment You have applied for Swedish citizenship. You need to visit a Migration Agency service centre in person for an identity check. You need to book the appointment in advance via the Migration Agency's website and it needs to be carried out at one of the Migration Agency's service centres. Another person cannot carry the appointment out for you, even if they have a power of attorney in your case. Advertisement Be aware that an appointment for an in-person ID check at the Migration Agency can only occur after you book an appointment. You must bring your home country passport to your appointment. If you don't have a passport from your home country, you can bring a form of Swedish ID. If the Migration Agency already has your identity document then you should not request for the agency to send it back before your visit. If you do not have a home country passport or a form of Swedish ID, you should still book an appointment to verify your identity in person with the Migration Agency. More information on appointments is available at Book an appointment You need to book an appointment to visit the Migration Agency in person as soon as possible. Book your appointment on via the Migration Agency's e-service "My Page". You must attend an in-person identity check at a Migration Agency service centre within eight weeks from the date on this letter. If you cannot attend an appointment within eight weeks then you must contact us. If you do not carry out a check or contact us, we will still make a decision in your case. That could mean that you do not become a Swedish citizen.
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
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Local Sweden
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. Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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.
Local Sweden
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Local Sweden
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. Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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
