Sweden’s government (Riksdag) has finally agreed and passed the new immigration law on 22 June 2021, for the immigrants. Two important changes are that temporary residence permits now become the main rule for staying in Sweden and that higher requirements are placed on providing for relatives who want to join their family in Sweden.
Major changes in Sweden’s new immigration rules
The changes in Alien Act includes the following new rules:
- temporary residence permits shall be the main rule for, among others, those who have grounds for asylum. This means residence permit granted in accordance with the Aliens Act for e.g. persons in need of protection shall, as a general rule, be limited in time;
- permanent residence permits must be granted after at the earliest three years and if, among other things, requirements for support and knowledge of Swedish and social studies are met;
- the category other in need of protection is removed. This means the protection category for other persons in need of protection is eliminated from the Aliens Act;
- relative immigration must be possible in certain cases but requires that those who have been granted a residence permit and want to be reunited with a relative in Sweden must be able to support both themselves and the relative. This means it must be possible to grant a residence permit due to affiliation with an alien who has a temporary residence permit in certain cases. Furthermore, the maintenance requirement that applies as a general rule in the case of relative immigration shall include a requirement that the related person can also support the relative, and an adult who has resided in Sweden with a residence permit and during that time received a special connection to Sweden must be able to be granted a residence permit if the circumstances are particularly painful.
- it must be possible to obtain a residence permit in Sweden due to humanitarian reasons. This means under the law, extended temporary residence permits may also be issued to children and adults, including in “particularly distressing” circumstances under “humanitarian protection”.
Sweden had received the largest number of refugees in the EU per capita, with over 160,000 arrivals in 2015, many of them Syrians.
The new law has been called controversial so far. The basic motive behind the voting on the law is that a new set of laws was required to replace temporary legislation/law which was implemented in 2016 to bring down the unprecedented number of asylum requests at the time. The newly passed law will be active straight away from July 2021.
The bill of the amendment was first sent to the parliament in April, but voting could be done now in June. The proposed changes in Aliens Act are supported by a narrow majority, consisting of the Social Democrats, the Green Party, the Center Party, and the Left Party. However, the Left Party had wanted to see a more generous migration policy.
That we now get through legislation, I want to say is a great success, says Minister of Migration Morgan Johansson (S) who believes that his party has done its utmost to get as broad an agreement as possible.
The political parties M, KD, and SD believe that the government’s proposed changes to the law do not reduce immigration sufficiently. They also say that the government has not fulfilled the election promise of reducing immigration in the country. They also believe to change these laws after the new elections in September 2022.
Some other proposals for immigration rules
Requirements for citizenship
On 13 January 2021, the Government received the commission’s partial report that requirements for language and social skills for Swedish citizenship should be introduced. The proposal is now out for consultation and the responses to the consultation must have been received by the Government no later than 15 April 2021.
Skilled worker / talented professionals immigration
On 2 February 2021, a partial report was presented by the inquiry into labor immigration. The report proposes, among other things, a new basis for residence permits for highly qualified people (so-called talent visas), clarification of the rules for residence permits for entrepreneurs, the possibility of changing the basis for residence permits for labor migrants, and changes in legislation to reduce the incidence of expulsions. The report is out for consultation and the responses to the consultation must have been received by the Government no later than 3 May 2021.
Expulsion in case of crime
An investigation shall review the rules for deportation due to crime and for refusing or revoking residence permits due to crime. Final report 30 June 2021.