There are a number of migration-related laws and policies in the pipeline in Sweden, including changes to work permits, citizenship and permanent residency requirements, and plans to tighten up permanent residency and asylum applications.
There are a number of migration-related laws and policies in the pipeline in Sweden, including changes to work permits, citizenship and permanent residency requirements, and plans to tighten up permanent residency and asylum applications.
There are a number of migration-related laws and policies in the pipeline in Sweden, including changes to work permits, citizenship and permanent residency requirements, and plans to tighten up permanent residency and asylum applications.
Language and culture tests for citizenship
What will the proposal do?
It would introduce a language and culture test for citizenship applications, which would apply to those aged between 16 and 66.
An inquiry into bringing in the language requirement concluded in January 2021 that applicants for citizenship should be able to listen to and read Swedish at B1, the second of the six levels in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), equivalent to having completed level D, the fourth-highest level in the Swedish for Immigrants (SFI) course.
This is a fairly high level of Swedish. It’s enough to get the gist of what’s in Swedish newspapers, listen to the radio, or to follow a lecture without too much difficulty.
When it comes to speaking or writing Swedish, the inquiry suggested requiring a lower level, A2. This is equivalent to SFI level C.
In a separate proposal, the government has suggested a language requirement of A2 for permanent residency in all four skills: reading, listening, speaking and writing.
With regards to the culture test, the law proposes a digital test of “basic knowledge needed to live and function in Swedish society focusing on democracy and the democratic process”, which would be based on the contents of a book produced specifically for test purposes.
Stockholm and Gothenburg Universities have been tasked with putting together the language and civics tests by August 2026, but they argue that they don’t have nearly enough time to do so.
In an official response to the government’s proposal, the vice-chancellors of both universities questioned whether this is a task that the universities should be responsible for, as well as warning that the proposed deadline is too soon.
READ ALSO: What we know about Sweden’s citizenship tests so far
What’s the status of the proposal?
This proposal went through a consultation stage, which concluded in April 2021. This is the stage where the inquiry report and its proposals are sent for consultation to the relevant government agencies or organisations, municipalities and other stakeholders, who can submit their comments.
The next step is for the government to decide whether or not to push ahead with the law, then draft a bill which would first be sent to Sweden’s Council on Legislation. It’s not clear yet when it is expected to come into effect, although the government may try and bring it into force at the same time as other citizenship reforms (see below).
Extending residency requirement for citizenship and other changes to citizenship
What will the proposals do?
According to the inquiry report presented on January 15th, 2025, the new proposal would extend the time it takes to qualify for Swedish citizenship from the current limit of five years (three years for spouses or cohabiting partners of Swedish citizens) to eight years “in the normal case”, with exceptions for certain groups.
It would also introduce a self-sufficiency requirement, tighten up the requirements that applicants have an “upstanding way of life”, and almost double the application fee from 1,500 kronor to 2,900 kronor.
On top of this, the government and Sweden Democrats may choose to introduce a new obligatory ceremony, such as an oath of loyalty or a citizenship interview which would act as the final stage in the citizenship process, despite the fact that the inquiry advised against this.
What’s the status of these proposals?
The results of the inquiry into tightening up citizenship rules were presented on January 15th. The key points of that inquiry report are available here, and we’ve also put together a Q&A of reader questions on the new rules.
The proposal was sent out for consultation shortly after, and the consultation period closed on April 1st.
The next step is for a draft bill to be sent to the Council on Legislation, which will analyse the law from a legal standpoint, then it will be sent to parliament for scrutiny before finally being put to a vote.
It has a suggested implementation date of July 1st, 2026, and we don’t know yet if it will be applied retroactively to people who have already submitted their application for citizenship or not. The inquiry proposed a transitional period where applications which were already in the queue would be exempt from the new rules, while Migration Minister Johan Forssell has said that he wants them to apply to everyone as soon as they’ve come into force.
Revoking citizenships
A cross-party committee has proposed changing Sweden’s constitution so that dual citizens who commit “crimes which threaten Sweden’s security” can lose their citizenship.
In its conclusions the cross-party Committee on Fundamental Rights and Freedoms proposed that under the constitution it should be possible to strip Swedish citizenship from dual citizens who commit “serious crimes which threaten national security or are covered by the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court”.
This could include crimes such as espionage, high treason, incitement to war, and rebellion.
The judge Henrik Jermsten, who chaired the cross-party Committee on Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, said that international law would have allowed the committee to go further and strip citizenship from dual citizens found guilty of any serious crime.
Sweden’s three government parties and the far-right Sweden Democrats, however, added a reservation to the conclusions explaining that they had wanted to go further and extend the possibility of revocation to other serious crimes such as gang crime.
What’s the status of the proposal?
The inquiry report on revoking citizenships was out for consultation until the end of April 2025. No bill appears to have been sent to the Council of Legislation (Lagrådet).
Making changes to one of Sweden’s four constitutional laws requires two separate majority votes in parliament, one on either side of a general election.
This means that for the changes the government wants to see to go through, the bill will need to win a majority vote in parliament before the next election in September 2026, then the government will need to win the election, (or the next government will need to support the bill after the election) and then the bill will need to win a second majority vote.
The inquiry had a suggested implementation date of January 2027, taking this into account.
Revoking residence permits
An inquiry looking into extending the possibilities of rejecting and revoking residence permits due to bristande vandel, or a “flawed way of life”, as well as other possible reasons, presented its conclusions on April 1st, 2025.
The inquiry stopped short of proposing a list of what could constitute bristande vandel, leaving it up to the migration authorities and court to make an overall assessment.
But Robert Schött, the judge who led the inquiry, gave a few examples, such as abusing the welfare system through benefits cheating even in cases when there’s been no court verdict, refusing to pay debts, or not being able to account for one’s income.
The inquiry also proposed making it possible to reject or revoke a permit if the holder has made statements that are punishable by law or threaten public order.
It would also be possible to revoke permits for other reasons, such as if the permit is based on false information knowingly provided by for example an employer or family member. Currently, permits can be revoked if the applicant has personally provided false information.
The inquiry also proposes scrapping rules that limit the possibility of revoking residence permits based on how long the foreigner has lived in Sweden.
What’s the status of the proposal?
The proposal was sent out for consultation with the final consultation responses submitted at the end of June 2025. It has not yet been formally proposed, although the inquiry had a suggested implementation date of July 1st 2026.
Plans to tighten rules for family reunification permits
What will the proposal do?
This proposal would introduce a new two-year waiting period for family reunification in certain cases, as well as a self-sufficiency requirement for family members of researchers and holders of long-term EU residence permits.
At first, it was expected to affect all types of family reunification permits where the applicant is applying to join someone with a residence permit in Sweden, including, for example, students, refugees and work permit holders, and even Swedish citizens.
Now, however, the inquiry has proposed different rules for different groups, with only certain groups affected by the two-year wait.
The inquiry also proposed changes to self-sufficiency rules, including allowing the Migration Agency to take the income of all family members into account when assessing self-sufficiency, and introducing a self-sufficiency requirement for varaktig bosatta and researchers.
Finally, it proposed that some applicants should have to take out full coverage health insurance in order to qualify for a permit, and that the Migration Agency should be able to use DNA analysis in more cases to prove that family members are actually related.
What’s the status of the proposal?
The inquiry presented its findings in September 2025. It proposed an implementation date of January 1st, 2027.
Language and culture tests for permanent residency
What will the proposal do?
This would, similarly to the law on citizenship above, introduce a language and culture knowledge requirement for permanent residency applications.
The idea is that the language test would consist of two 50 minute listening tests with a ten minute break, at CEFR level A2, and the culture test would be the same length and would test applicants on a range of topics related to living in Sweden.
More information on what we know about the content of the tests and who will have to take them is available here.
What’s the status of the proposal?
The consultation stage (remiss) of this proposal concluded in September 2023. The next step is for the government to decide whether or not to push ahead with the law, then draft a bill which would first be sent to Sweden’s Council on Legislation.
The suggested date of implementation according to the proposal is July 1st, 2027.
Raising the salary threshold for work permits
What is this proposal about?
The proposal, which came into force on November 1st, 2023, set a new salary threshold of 80 percent of Sweden’s median salary, meaning that anyone earning below this figure no longer qualifies for a work permit or work permit extension.
The median salary is calculated each year by Statistics Sweden, which means that the limit will change every year as the median salary changes. Statistics Sweden last updated these figures on June 17th, 2025 – applicants after this date need to earn 29,680 kronor.
Valid work permits issued before the law change to people earning below the new limit are not affected, meaning people on these permits can stay in Sweden until their permits expire. They will, however, need to earn above the new threshold when they apply for a work permit extension or permanent residency, or if their application submitted before November 1st, 2023 was not approved before the new law came into effect.
In addition to this, the government plans to raise the work permit threshold for new permits to 100 percent of the median salary, currently 37,100 kronor, with exemptions for some categories of workers.
For work permit renewals, the current rule (80 percent of the median salary) will continue to apply for any applications for extensions submitted to the Migration Agency by June 1st 2026 at the latest.
What’s the status of the proposal?
The first part of the proposal, which raised the work permit threshold to 80 percent of the median salary, came into force on November 1st, 2023.
Going forward, the salary requirement will be based on Statistics Sweden’s last published median salary at the time a work permit application is submitted. This is updated every year, most recently June 17th, 2025.
The second stage of the proposal, which would hike the threshold to 100 percent of the median salary, was out for consultation until April 2024. It had a suggested implementation date of June 1st, 2025, but did not come into force on that date. It is unclear when it will come into force, as it has not moved forward in the legislative process since the consultation period ‒ no bill has yet been sent to Lagrådet.
Sweden’s employment minister, Liberal MP Johan Britz has called for the proposal to be scrapped, which may indicate that the issue is deadlocked among the governing parties.
Tighten asylum legislation to ‘minimum level’ allowed in EU
What will the policy do?
The government wants to tighten asylum legislation to the “minimum level” allowed under European Union law or other international treaties to which Sweden is a signatory.
This inquiry has been split into two parts. The first, which reported its findings in spring 2025, proposed stopping any asylum seekers coming to Sweden from being granted permanent residency.
The inquiry also made several other recommendations intended to tighten asylum legislation:
- It recommended limiting asylum to just one hour of free legal advice provided by the state. Those whose asylum claims have been rejected and appealed to the migration court will still have the right to a lawyer.
- It recommended empowering the Swedish Migration Agency to reject asylum applications in more situations than currently permitted, including cases where an international criminal court or tribunal has granted the applicant safe transfer to a Member State or a third country, and under specific conditions when an applicant is subject to a return decision.
- It proposed empowering the Migration Agency to declare an asylum application “manifestly unfounded” in all situations allowed under the Asylum Procedure Regulation.
The second part of the inquiry will look into the possibility of stripping permanent residency from people who have already been awarded it.
What’s the status of this policy?
The first part of this inquiry, which proposed stopping any asylum seekers coming to Sweden from being granted permanent residency, reported its conclusions in spring 2025.
The inquiry has until October 2nd, 2025, to submit conclusions on whether or not it is possible to strip permanent residency from people who have already been granted it.
Travel visas for foreign researchers
It should be easier for foreign researchers and doctoral students to travel in and out of Sweden while they’re in-between residence permits, a government inquiry presented in December 2024 argued.
The inquiry proposes that foreign researchers in between permits should be able to apply for a visa to be able to return to Sweden if they have to travel internationally in connection with their research, for example to attend a relevant seminar abroad.
Additionally, it should also be possible for foreign researchers to apply for a visa to visit family abroad. It shouldn’t be possible, argues the inquiry, to grant a visa just for private holidays, but the applicant wouldn’t have to prove that the trip is essential to attend a major family event such as weddings – just visiting family would be reason enough.
Family members of researchers would also be able to receive a similar visa.
What’s the status of this proposal?
The government is expected to submit it to the remiss round to be reviewed by experts. If successful, the new rules would come into force on March 1st 2026.
WHAT’S ALREADY BEEN DONE (OR NOT)?
Strengthened system for coordination numbers
What is this proposal about?
This law makes the Swedish Tax Agency wholly responsible for awarding coordination numbers, the numbers given to people living in Sweden who are not yet eligible for a personal number, personnummer.
This should make it easier to keep track of which numbers are held by real people and which are dormant. The bill also creates a new category of “supported identity” coordination numbers, where the holder goes to a Tax Agency office in person with a passport or other identity document and has their identity confirmed.
What’s the status of the proposal?
It was passed as law on November 30th 2022, and came into force on September 1st 2023 (January 1st 2023 for affected staff at foreign embassies).
New work permit system for high-skilled labour
What is this proposal about?
Sweden’s Migration Agency launched a new work permit model in January 2024, aiming to speed up waiting times for international talent.
The new system scrapped the former fast-track for certified companies, with an aim to slash processing times for highly-educated applicants to just 30 days.
Instead, all work permit applications to bring highly qualified labour to Sweden, regardless of whether the company is certified or not, are now being handled by new “international recruitment units”, or enheter för internationell rekrytering.
These not only process cases but also include “service teams”, who work closely with employers and businesses in the run-up to applications being submitted, so that they are complete.
What’s the status of the proposal?
The new model came into effect at the end of January 2024. So far it appears to have been largely successful in terms of meeting the 30-day target.
Travel visas for work permit holders
What will the proposal do?
This is not yet a firm proposal, but in a sit-down interview in February 2023, The Local asked then-Migration Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard if the government is planning on introducing a travel visa which would enable work permit applicants to leave Sweden and return, as countries such as Denmark and Germany have done.
“Yes, I will consider it,” she said. “I’m well aware of this problem, which also affects people who would like to go to seminars and so on abroad who are refused [the ability] to do so. So it is truly a problem.”
For citizens of countries which Sweden demands an entry visa from, it has meant that while they are free to leave Sweden, they risk being refused entry at the border if they try to return. Thousands of workers on whom Sweden’s economy relies have as a result been effectively trapped in the country.
What’s the status of the proposal?
This has not yet been formally proposed and there’s no news as to whether or not it’s actually happening.
Did we miss anything? Let us know at news@thelocal.se.