Back in January, the government and its far-right Sweden Democrat allies ordered the Migration Agency to take “forceful measures” to “as far as possible” prevent people who pose a threat to security or use a fake identity from being granted citizenship.
“We must never compromise when it comes to Swedish security and hand out citizenship on the wrong grounds,” said Migration Minister Johan Forssell at the time.
On April 1st these security checks were implemented, meaning that new applicants have to fill in more information when they apply for citizenship, including details of every job they had before moving to Sweden, every time they left their home country for more than two months and every trip outside of Sweden in the past five years.
People who applied before April 1st, but haven't yet received a decision on their application, are also required to supply the same information in the form of a questionnaire which will be sent to them by the Migration Agency when their case is processed.
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On top of the extra details, applicants will also have to confirm their identity in person, and some may also need to show up for an in-person interview.
Experts had previously guessed that security checks would be tightened as a pretext of slowing down the awarding of new citizenships until stricter rules are in place – a slowdown strongly hinted at by the government in an opinion piece in the DN newspaper in November.
In that opinion piece, the government pledged, among other things, to “as much as possible, take measures to stop more Swedish citizenships from being granted until new rules are in place” – a move criticised by top lawyers as either unconstitutional, if those measures were to be far-reaching enough, or ineffectual and unrealistic if they were to use security checks to slow down decisions.
Forssell told the TT newswire that the security checks were not meant to slow down citizenship decisions, but rather were “to prevent people who pose a threat to security from being granted Swedish citizenship”.
When The Local asked Forssell’s spokesperson Daniella Roos about the security checks, she however said they came against the backdrop of the strategies presented in DN’s opinion piece.
"The purpose is to strengthen the security perspective in citizenship cases as Sweden faces serious security threats from terrorism, violent extremism and organised crime," she said in an email. "The assignment begins immediately and there is no end date but runs until further notice. The assignment will however be followed up and evaluated regularly by the government."
She said a "large number of cases" could be affected, but said the government didn't have an estimated number.
"It's not possible to say exactly how many will be affected by this. It's the [Migration] agency that determines which specific measures could be required and in which cases these measures may have to be taken. In light of the large increase in security risks which we have seen in recent years, it can't be ruled out that a large number of cases could be affected," she said.
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