A total of 61 people responded to The Local's non-scientific survey on Migration Agency misinformation, of whom 48 (78 percent) believed that they had been given inaccurate information, either by their case officer, by text on the Migration Agency's website, or most commonly by someone on an information helpline or chat service.
Many readers reported calling the Migration Agency's helpline multiple times with the exact same question and receiving different or even contradictory answers each time, leaving them no resort but to go with the most common answer and hope for the best.
"I have been driven completely mad by the Migration Agency's inability to understand and/or communicate its own rules," one British citizen complained of his application for residency as the spouse of a Swedish citizen, and his still pending residency renewal. "I have found that the same question, posed to multiple different staff members at the Migration Agency, whether by email, phone, or at a help centre, will produce a different, perhaps radically different answer, each time."
A clear majority of respondents said they felt they could not entirely trust information received from the agency, with 14 (23 percent) saying they didn't trust the information "at all", and 22 (36 percent) saying they had "some doubts".
Ten respondents (16.4 percent) said they felt they could trust information from the agency "to a large extent" and eight (13 percent) said they felt they could trust it "to a certain extent".
What mistakes did people report the agency making?
Respondents claimed to have been misinformed or given conflicting information in response to a variety of questions, including:
- How to calculate days spent abroad for citizenship applications
- When to apply for permanent residency
- Whether someone can travel outside of Sweden while awaiting a decision on a residency extension
- The requirements for foreign children under 18 to obtain Swedish citizenship
- Whether a card proving post-Brexit residence status needs to be returned when applying for citizenship
One American reader complained that the agency had even got its own address wrong when he attempted to visit.
"I was the first to inform staff there that the address on their new and improved website was listed incorrectly, prompting one of them to exclaim, 'Oh, so that explains why everyone is coming late for their appointments today!'."
Did the agency admit its mistake and what impact did the mistake have on the applicant?
In ten of the cases mentioned, readers said that the Migration Agency had ended up admitting that the information given out had been wrong or misleading.
In some cases, the misleading information had a significant impact on the life of the applicant, with several respondents complaining that because of the incomplete information on the Migration Agency website their applications had been rejected, extending either their or their children's waits for permanent residency or citizenship by a year or more.
"The case officer was resolute and terribly unsympathetic," the British man who had been issued temporary rather than permanent residency said. "It was a case of 'tough luck', you can just apply again in the future. They just didn't care. It was really disappointing."
Others said that the unclear information had made it impossible for them to leave Sweden for fear of not getting back into the country or invalidating a permit application, with one Brit saying she had missed a pre-booked family vacation.
Here is a detailed breakdown of mistakes people believe the agency has made.
Can you work while waiting?
One researcher at the Karolinska Institutet medical university said she had falsely informed by someone at a helpline that she was not allowed to work while she was waiting for a decision on her residency.
"I did not work for a week until the international office at my university made calls directly to the Migration Agency to solve the case and, indeed, I was given the wrong information. Sadly, imagine how many don't have that support and rely solely on the information given to them over the phone."
How to calculate days abroad
Three respondents reported confusion among Migration Agency helpline staff on how to calculate the days abroad for the rule which states that if you are out of the country for more than 6 weeks in a year, that time must be added onto your minimum residency before you become eligible to apply.
"I sent two e-mails to ask about the same question: how to calculate time abroad. I got two answers. One said per calendar year and the other said since the first day in Sweden," complained a software engineer based in Sweden.
A Scottish woman living in Uppsala said that the information specialist in a Facebook Q&A session had said that the six weeks is measured out of a rolling year from the date you are registered as living in Sweden, while on an online chat another officer had said it is measured on a calendar year from January to December.
"It does make a difference when calculating when to apply," she complained. "I assumed that the Migration Agency didn't actually have a clear definition and that each case officer decided for themselves."
When to apply for permanent residency?
Another person said that she had been unable to get a consistent answer from Migration Agency information helpline on when you can apply for permanent residency, with some staff saying you cannot apply until 30 days before your temporary residency is due to expire and some saying you can apply "a few months prior to expiry".
"Staff on the phones clearly aren’t trained well as you can call twice in the same day speak to two different people and get significantly different answers. This impacts applicants stress levels," she complained.
A second person said that their application had been rejected because of this.
"I was advised to apply for permanent resident even though I was a month short of the permit time. It was implied that a case officer might grant it anyway as 'it was close', they said. "Had I obtained correct advice, I would have had permanent residency and later citizenship years earlier. It caused a lot of stress. I wish they had thought about it and informed me correctly in the first place."
Criteria for children under 18 getting citizenship
Several people complained of incomplete information on the Migration Agency website saying that children under the age of 18 become eligible for citizenship after three years living in Sweden.
"At least one of the parents should hold permanent residency," one Indian engineer, whose son's application was rejected because of this, complained.
"If you look at citizenship requirements for kids," another wrote of the Migration Agency website. "It is mentioned nowhere that permanent residency is mandatory for non-EU kids."
Whether you have to leave Sweden while waiting for a decision
Several people said they had been wrongly advised that they had to leave Sweden while waiting for a decision on their applications.
A Chinese statistician said that he had received an email telling him to leave Sweden as he had to wait for his permit to move to Sweden to join a family member to be processed from abroad. He believes this was incorrect, as he was already living in Sweden on a work permit. It was only after he had visited the Migration Agency once and been told to leave, and then chased it up again on the phone, that someone on a phone helpline realised that he was, in fact, allowed to stay.
"He admitted this was a mistake to issue that letter and he has made a note to my case nullifying said letter and I can stay. Funny how they couldn't perform their very job."
Wrongly taking residency/Brexit card
The Uppsala researcher said that the agency had wrongly taken away her residency card when she came in to give fingerprints for a new permit. The agency has since admitted the mistake, calling her in for a meeting to get a new card, but that is of little help to her.
"It's been three weeks since then and today I called just to know the request to print the cards hasn't even been sent. That same afternoon I was asked to go visit their office to give biometrics again, because there was an issue with the system. I am suppose to travel in 10 days and they promise they will fix it."
A British woman living in Skåne was similarly asked to hand in her card detailing her post-Brexit residence status when she applied for citizenship.
"I was asked to return my Brexit card when going through the citizenship process. When I explained that I have read that this is not required by another person in the same situation, and their case worker had checked and it was not required, they simply told me 'you have to return it immediately'."
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