Why are there no exceptions for work permit holders in Sweden's citizenship reforms?

Local Sweden

2 days ago

The Swedish government has pledged to attract international talent, while radically limiting asylum and low-skilled immigration. So why do work permit holders so often get the short end of the stick?
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How are the rules set to change?
Sweden is set to carry out the most major overhaul of its citizenship rules in recent years next summer.
Exactly what this means is not 100 percent certain yet ‒ they haven't been formally proposed or voted on in parliament ‒ but we do have a fairly good idea of how they will change due to a government-appointed inquiry which presented its proposals for the new law in January.
The inquiry put forward a number of changes, including an extended residency requirement, tightened rules for good behaviour (technically a hederligt levnadssätt or an upstanding way of life) and a self-sufficiency requirement. There are also language and civics tests in the works.
On top of this, the inquiry proposed almost doubling the application fee from 1,500 to 2,900 kronor.
These changes all have a suggested implementation date of summer 2026.
In what ways do work permit holders have a worse deal than others?
Under the new rules, citizenship applicants will need to live in Sweden for at least eight years (up from the current three to five years), with those who cannot prove their identity having to wait for ten years.
Certain groups will be able to apply after seven years, including refugees and people between the ages of 18 and 21.
READ ALSO: Swedish government inquiry proposes increasing citizenship wait to eight years
People with Swedish partners will also be able to apply after seven years, if they have been living together as a married or cohabiting couple for at least five years and are still living together, and if the Swedish partner or spouse has been a Swedish citizen for at least five years. Children between the age of 15 and 18 will be able to apply after five years.
Nordic citizens and former Swedish citizens will have the shortest wait of all – just two years.
This leaves everyone else, including work permit holders, with an eight-year wait.
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What about students and pensioners? Aren't they in the same situation as work permit holders?
There are exceptions for them too. People studying vocational courses, full-time university studies or upper secondary school studies don't have to meet the self-sufficiency requirements. Pensioners are also exempt.
Are there any other exemptions?
Yes. Stateless people and people declared refugees do not pay application fees for citizenship. They would be exempt from the raised application fee and also exempt from future fees for citizenship tests.
The rules for EU citizens and their family members are also more lenient – they don't need a permanent residence permit (permanent uppehållstillstånd) and can apply with permanent right of residence (uppehållsrätt) instead.
Permanent right of residence is a status they gain automatically (for free) after five years in Sweden, meaning that they don't need to apply for it at the Migration Agency or wait for the agency to process their case. They do not have to pay an application fee for permanent right of residence and are not affected by long waiting times for residence permits.
Work permit holders can apply for permanent residency after four years, so that's slightly shorter than EU citizens, although they have to pay to do so and the long waiting times often mean they are waiting for closer to five years to get a decision.
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Why do refugees, stateless people and family members of Swedish citizens get special treatment?
The Local spoke to lawyer Samuel Vidén from Familjens Jurist, who among other things specialises in Swedish migration law. He explained that the exceptions are due to Sweden's international obligations – essentially, treaties and agreements Sweden has signed with the UN or other countries.
'One is the UN convention from 1951 about the legal status of people escaping a country as refugees,' he told The Local.
'Typically internationally, we want to give refugees an easier way to be assimilated into their new country, into the new society. So Sweden has an international obligation to make sure that refugees have a slightly easier time to fit into Swedish society.'
The UN convention from 1951 requires that Sweden 'facilitate[s] the assimilation and naturalisation of refugees', in particular by making 'every effort to expedite naturalisation proceedings and reduce as far as possible the charges and costs of such proceedings.'
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Another important agreement is the 1997 European Convention on Nationality, Vidén said.
'Sweden has signed that agreement but hasn't ratified it, so technically we're not part of it, but our legislation there is already in coherence with international rules,' he added.
That convention requires Sweden to 'facilitate in its internal law the acquisition of its nationality' for a number of groups, including spouses and children of Swedish citizens (including adopted children), people who were born in Sweden who live in the country 'lawfully and habitually', and people who have lived in Sweden since before they turned 18.
Stateless people and recognised refugees 'lawfully and habitually resident' in Sweden are also covered under that convention.
Those are the main reasons why the government's so-called migration paradigm shift can't always live up to its stated aim to improve conditions for work permit holders while tightening asylum rules, and it isn't limited to the planned citizenship reforms.
For example draft legislation to limit foreigners' access to benefits affects work permit holders, but excludes refugees and most EU citizens. Paperless migrants, refugees and some EU citizens are also eligible for some free health and dental care, including maternity care, which other groups are not offered.
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Nordic citizens' rights are covered under yet another convention.
'The Nordic countries ‒ Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Finland ‒ we can pretty much move freely to each others' countries, and that's due to a joint agreement. We have a special deal because we believe that our cultures are so similar that assimilating into our different cultures takes a shorter time than for your average immigrant from a country outside the Nordics," said Vidén.
Why do work permit holders have to wait longer than other groups?
'Honestly, that's one of the questions I haven't really found a good answer to,' Vidén said.
'Typically, you will have spent at least four years in Sweden when you apply for permanent residency. It's basically still within the lower limits of what international law requires and permits. So I think that's how it's motivated, that you have to wait a little bit longer but it's still within the reasonable international agreements.'
Vidén described the tightening rules for work permit holders as 'ironic'.
'Sweden is a country built on working immigrants. The country was built by immigrants, and that's been true for close to 400 or 500 years at this point. So it's kind of ironic now that the tides have turned.'
He said that prior to the work permit salary hike in November 2023, he would often advise his clients to apply for work permits.
'It's typically been my advice to some people coming from other countries or if their spouse couldn't support them financially to apply for a work permit instead of a residency permit.'
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Does this mean it's easier for refugees to get citizenship?
On paper, yes. But despite the more lenient rules for refugees, Vidén said that they often experience their own issues with gaining citizenship.
'You can never put everyone in the same position when it comes to residency permits or Swedish citizenship, because it's always an individual assessment.'
Vidén has, for example, met Somali people from the Ogaden province of southeastern Ethiopia who have been refused citizenship based on their membership of the Ogaden National Liberation Front.
'You can get asylum in Sweden for belonging to that particular group, but when it comes to applying for Swedish citizenship, what happens? 'Oh no, you've been part of a terrorist organisation', so you can't get it. And that restricts your right to get Swedish citizenship for 25 years.'
Vidén spent seven years working in the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby with exclusively Muslim clients, who he believes are also disproportionately hard hit by Sweden's security-related rules on citizenship.
"I've seen people who just visited a mosque, a place of prayer, who were suddenly suspected of suspicious activity," he said.
For those who are also refugees, being barred from citizenship can effectively trap them in Sweden.
"People get in a state where they cannot go anywhere legally. They have a permanent residence permit, so they can stay in Sweden for as long as they want, but they can never be citizens."
They are also in many cases unable to get or renew their passport from their home country, meaning that the only passport they have is their Swedish främlingspass (alien's passport). They can apply for travel documents, but these do not allow them to move to another country and settle there instead.
"I've had clients that applied for citizenship four or five times and they still cannot get it. They meet all the requirements, they've been here for long enough, they've never given another identity, have a peaceful life, no criminal record, can support themselves and their families. Everything points towards them getting citizenship, but there's always a loophole. There's always some exception to the rule."
There are also issues for refugees who speak languages which use different alphabets, where they are refused citizenship because their name has been transliterated in multiple different ways during their time in Sweden, as well as for people who don't know their date of birth.
'They don't have a working census in Somalia, so you can't say 'I was born on this day in this place to this father and mother. If they ask their parents 'when was I born', the answer is 'ah, you were born a few weeks before the last rain period'.'
'There are groups of people, especially from the Horn of Africa, who have a disproportionately harder time to get Swedish citizenship just because they may have spelled their own name wrong.'
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In some ways, Vidén said, Sweden tries Swedish citizenship as if everyone comes from a country like Sweden, which has been a functioning democracy for centuries.
One of the reasons refugees are offered exemptions when it comes to fees, residency requirements and similar is to try and take into consideration the fact that most refugees come from countries which for whatever reason are not functioning properly. Countries which are for whatever reason not protecting their own citizens.
"We want to give them the best optimal circumstances to work their way into Swedish society, to have time to learn the language and enter the job market and make connections to Sweden," Vidén said.