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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
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Local Sweden
Sweden Democrats welcome citizenship freeze as 'step in right direction'
The far-right Sweden Democrats have welcomed a near total stop in citizenship approvals, predicting new security checks ordered by the government will mean fewer foreigners getting citizenship. Advertisement As The Local was first to report, just six applications for citizenship through naturalisation were approved in April, down from 3,234 in March. This is because the Migration Agency has been unable to approve these kinds of applications for over a month because they have yet to set up routines for the in-person identification, a key part of security checks the right-wing government coalition ordered in January. READ ALSO: Swedish Migration Agency expects to resume approving citizenship applications 'soon' The order came less than two months after the Sweden Democrats' leader Jimmie Åkesson argued in a joint article with the leaders of the three government parties that "measures should be taken to prevent more Swedish citizenships from being granted until new legislation comes into force". Ludvig Aspling, the Sweden Democrats' immigration spokesman, told The Local that the freeze in awarded citizenships was "far from mission accomplished but a step in the right direction", and said he expected the security checks, once implemented, would also lead to fewer approvals. "The new stricter and more meticulous process for applications will result in fewer, but more accurate decisions. Because of the security environment we're in it's completely necessary," he added. READ ALSO: Eight key questions to understand Sweden's citizenship freeze Sweden's Migration Minister Joakim Forssell told The Local in January that people who had come to Sweden on a work permit or who came from stable countries without any security concerns should not be concerned that their applications would be delayed by the checks. "I don't think that they should be worried at all," he said at the time. Advertisement Even when the in-person checks are launched, everyone will initially be affected. 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. When The Local asked Forssell's office for a response to the fact that the security checks had so far not lived up to his promise and were now affecting applicants from all countries, a spokesperson recommended that we contact the Migration Agency. 'The minister's answer was linked to the government's order to address and detect security risks in citizenship cases,' she said. 'The Swedish Migration Agency is currently designing how the security checks will be carried out. For questions about their ongoing work, it is best to contact the authority directly.' Advertisement Annika Hirvonen, the immigration spokesperson for the Green Party – a member of the centre-left opposition – told The Local that it should have been obvious from the start that the new security checks being ordered would have an impact on most applicants. "I'm not sure if he's being misleading on purpose or if he just doesn't really understand how these processes actually work," she said. "If you put into place intentional obstacles on processes that are for everyone, of course it's going to affect everyone." For foreigners waiting for a decision on citizenship, every month of delay matters. If a pending application is not approved before major citizenship reforms are expected to come into force in June 2026, it will be assessed under new rules. Among other things, the new rules require that applicants have been living in Sweden for eight years to be eligible rather than the current five.
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
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Local Sweden
Indians in Sweden: Why were only 25 Indians granted Swedish citizenship in April?
The number of Swedish citizenships awarded to Indian applicants – one of Sweden's largest groups of new citizens in recent years – fell by 94 percent in April. Here's why. Advertisement With 1,234 Swedish citizenships awarded to Indian nationals (including children applying together with their parents) so far in 2025, it's the third top nationality granted Swedish citizenship this year, behind only people from Syria and Afghanistan. In total, 330 Swedish citizenships were granted to Indians in January, 463 in February and 441 in March. But then there was a sharp drop to only 25 citizenships in April. Advertisement But in fact, Indians aren't the only ones affected, although the decrease is particularly stark considering how many received Swedish citizenship every month before that. For example the number of citizenships handed to Syrians fell from 684 in March to 132 in April. People from the UK saw an equally sharp drop as Indians, from 108 in March to six in April, as well as people from Bosnia-Herzegovina (from 56 to three). This article shows how many people of each nationality became Swedes in April. We don't know who those 25 Indians who did receive Swedish citizenship in April are, but based on what we know from the Migration Agency's data, they are presumably either people who were granted citizenship after appealing in court, as well as those given citizenship by notification (an easier route available to children, as well as to Nordic citizens, although the latter is less likely to apply in this case). The reason for the decline is that new security checks imposed by the government have left the Swedish Migration Agency unable to approve any citizenship applications by naturalisation for over a month and a half, which affects nearly all nationalities. 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 all applicants as of April 1st (although we've been told that they're almost ready to have them up and running). The new security checks come after the government and the far-right Sweden Democrat ordered 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. However, at the moment it's also affecting people who aren't security concerns. Advertisement In January, Migration Minister Johan Forssell promised The Local's readers that work permit holders and people from countries without security risks would be unaffected by any delays caused by the new security checks, but so far, everyone is affected. Eventually, the idea is that that certain nationalities with biometric passports will be exempt from in-person identity checks and will instead be able to confirm their identity digitally via the Freja app, but the technological solution for that isn't yet in place. So even once the in-person checks are launched, all Swedish citizenship applicants will have to turn up at a Migration Agency office to confirm their identity in person when instructed to do so by the Migration Agency. A full list of the nationalities that will be exempt is not yet available. India in the process of rolling out biometric e-passports to its citizens, but it is currently not on a list of 22 countries who are able to confirm their passport digitally to receive a Swedish residency permit (the number of countries with biometric passports is however greater). READ ALSO:
Local Sweden
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Local Sweden
Tell us: How are you affected by Sweden's citizenship freeze?
The Swedish Migration Agency has been unable to approve standard applications for Swedish citizenship through naturalisation since April 1st due to government-imposed security checks. We want to know how it affects The Local's readers. Advertisement As The Local has previously reported, 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 the ones you think of when you think of citizenship applications. 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, due to the security checks the government has ordered it to introduce. So at the moment, it's mainly processing clear-cut rejection cases and citizenship by notification (an easier route available mainly to children and Nordic citizens). Advertisement Although this is expected to be resolved soon, and the Migration Agency will then resume approving citizenships, the processing rate of citizenships will likely slow down this year, despite the agency's attempts to speed up its widely criticised long waiting times. To have your say, please fill out the survey below or click here if it doesn't appear for you. We may use your answers in a future article on The Local. Here are a few links to relevant articles if you want to read up on what's going on before you share your thoughts with us:
