08-08-2025
'A good rate': Sweden carries out 3,500 in-person citizenship appointments
Sweden has carried out 3,501 in-person appointments for citizenship since the extra security checks began to take place in late May at the government's request.
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"We have seen that bookings for in-person appointments are increasing at a good rate. We have capacity to accommodate more and we currently have no waiting times," Rebecka Paulusson, a spokesperson for the Swedish Migration Agency. "During the autumn, the pace is expected to increase further."
In the months leading up to August 4th, 4,120 people have been sent letters inviting them to book an appointment for the checks, which are supposed to be the final stage of the citizenship application process, and the Migration Agency currently has 4,000 appointments available each month at its various offices around Sweden.
Paulusson said that the agency at present did not know how rapidly those who attend the appointment are granted citizenship. "We don't have any data on this, but it is supposed to be fast," she said.
The ID checks are part of Sweden's new security measures for citizenship applications, which were rolled out by the Migration Agency in April on the government's request.
But because the routines for the appointments hadn't yet been set up by the time the new security checks came into effect, Sweden went almost two months without the agency being able to approve any citizenship through naturalisation cases at all.
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In late May they finally got under way, with just over 2,000 appointment letters sent out to applicants by the end of June, indicating that it is currently sending out about 2,000 letters a month.
READ ALSO: How many Swedish citizenship applicants have been called to in-person ID checks?
Applicants have eight weeks from the date the letter is sent to book an appointment or contact the Migration Agency, otherwise they risk their application being denied.
The letter is sent out by post once an applicant reaches the final stages of their citizenship application. The booking page is currently open to everyone, but only those who have received the letter inviting them to book a time slot should do so.
READ ALSO: What's in the appointment letter for Swedish citizenship?
The extra security checks, which also include applicants being sent an 11-page questionnaire with additional security questions, is the result of an order from the government and its far-right Sweden Democrat allies in January for the Migration 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.
