Swedish Parliament Approves Bill to Abolish Future Permanent Residency for Refugees

The Swedish parliament voted through a bill to abolish permanent residency for many future applicants – but some groups, including work permit holders, will still be able to receive permanent residency.

The new law will make anyone with residency in Sweden on the basis of asylum, subsidiary protection, “exceptionally distressing circumstances” or Long Term Residence (LTR) ineligible for permanent residency.

Instead, they will receive LTR permits which need to be renewed every five years.

Permanent residency will be reserved for former work permit holders, those with permits to run their own business, those with permits because they are self-sufficient, and those with permits on the basis of doctoral studies or research.

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The bill will also do other things aimed at tightening Sweden’s asylum rules to the “EU’s legal minimum level”, including lowering the age limit for taking fingerprints and photographs to six years old and limiting asylum seekers’ right to a lawyer.

The government opted not to act on consultation responses which warned that by including holders of LTR in the list of those ineligible for permanent residence the government was also barring many foreigners who do not have an asylum background.

Parliament approved the bill in the afternoon of June 9th.

The new rules are set to come into force on July 12th.

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