Sweden’s citizenship news is bittersweet

This week has been a big week for Swedish citizenship applicants, with two big pieces of news. The first is that Sweden’s citizenship freeze is effectively over, and the Migration Agency confirmed to The Local on Friday that it has already started sending out letters calling for applicants to book appointments at its offices.

The second big piece of news is something a lot of our readers will be very happy about – the agency has also changed the order in which it processes cases. Instead of focusing on simpler cases or cases where a request to conclude has been granted, it will now focus on cases in chronological order.

For me, this news is bittersweet. That’s not only for selfish reasons, like the fact that it will probably affect me negatively, and could even mean that my application is not granted by the time the new rules come into force next summer. Last week, I felt like I was days or weeks away from citizenship. Now, it feels like I could be waiting for years.

Having said that, I’ve only been waiting since September, which is nothing compared to some applicants who have been waiting for almost six years. I welcome the agency’s new prioritisation and see it as a sign that they may, finally, be listening to criticism. 

It’s only fair that I take my place in the queue behind others who have had their applications delayed for no clear reason.

Despite this, the changes do not go far enough. They do not address the issue of people being stuck in Sweden for months without their passport or permanent residency card after sending them off to the Migration Agency, with no information on when they will get them back. This uncertainty leads to missed holidays, missed weddings and funerals and missed work trips, and essentially leaves us trapped in the country due to nothing but bureaucracy.

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Granted, it makes the system more transparent – at least you know your application won’t be arbitrarily placed in a “too complicated to process right now” pile – but I doubt it will get waiting times anywhere close to the six-month goal, especially with the added requirement of in-person identity checks. 

It also, and perhaps most crucially, does nothing to ensure that those of us who fulfil current requirements will have our applications processed in time before the new rules come into force for all applications, not just new ones, in July next year.

With waiting times so long – 75 percent of recent applications were concluded within 23 months – is it even worth applying now if you don’t meet the future requirements? How can you meet them when it’s not possible to even take the obligatory language or culture tests yet?

Now I – and many others – find myself in the strange position of hoping that the Migration Agency either approves my case within the next year, or that the process is so delayed that I end up having lived in the country for long enough to qualify under the new rules by the time I reach the top of the pile.

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In other news

Swedish electric car battery maker Northvolt, which filed for bankruptcy in March, will stop production at its main factory in Sweden in June, the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee said earlier this week.

Fifteen new flight routes are launching from Sweden this summer, including destinations in France, Spain, Turkey, Iceland and Greece. Here’s a full list.

Staying on the topic of flights, cabin crew on multiple airlines will strike in Sweden from Monday, if unions and airlines are unable to come to an agreement.

Sweden’s work permit salary threshold is currently set as 80 percent of the most recent median salary figures, which are from June last year. When are these figures going to be updated, increasing the threshold?

Two of Sweden’s largest game companies, Massive Entertainment and Sharkmob, want to join together with other companies in the gaming industry to create a specialised collective bargaining agreement.

Sweden has approved a law to criminalise buying sex online – including personalised digital content, like that offered on sites such as OnlyFans. Here’s what it means.

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Finally, our editor Emma Löfgren is running an experiment. She wants to see if she can get The Local’s members to help her recruit 100 new members by the end of the month. Read her LinkedIn post here and if you have a friend, colleague or family member who might find our journalism useful, please ask them to sign up via this link. Now let’s see if this actually works…

Have a good weekend,

Becky Waterton

Deputy Editor, The Local Sweden

Inside Sweden is our weekly newsletter for members which gives you news, analysis and, sometimes, takes you behind the scenes at The Local. It’s published each Saturday and with Membership+ you can also receive it directly to your inbox.