What is the Migration Agency changing?
The Migration Agency is changing the way it prioritises citizenship cases from the beginning of October.
The change, initially announced in May, will mean that the cases which have been waiting the longest for a decision, some of which have been in limbo for as long as six years, will be brought to the front of the queue.
"We will handle cases chronologically based on the day the application has been received, and old cases will no longer be left dormant without any actions being taken," Sara Sjudin, a section chief in the Migration Agency's citizenship division, told The Local at the start.
On the other hand, the uncomplicated cases which are currently fast-tracked will in future be handled strictly chronologically, meaning they will have to wait for processing until case officers have dealt with the more challenging cases which have been in the queue for longer.
In addition, the cases which are currently given priority because the applicant has filed a 'request to conclude', which has then been upheld by a Migration Court, will no longer be automatically handled ahead of older cases.
How much progress has been made since the change was announced in May?
Sjudin said the agency had spent the last few months setting up the new guidelines and reordering cases according to time of application. They will begin processing cases according to the new system once case officers have completed the cases already assigned to them, which she expects to happen by October.
"There is no need for any new software or anything like that, because the actual processing is the same," she said. "The biggest thing has been to change the prioritization and redistribute resources so that we know which cases to handle and distribute."
This process is now largely complete, she said.
"We have have now re-prioritised our resources and changed our internal procedures, which means that we will be able to decide on more older cases," Sjudin, a told The Local in an update in mid-August. "We started during the summer, but have not yet completely finished setting the order of the cases, but we expect it to be finished and implemented in October."
How big is the backlog of old cases?
The agency estimates that 18,400 people have been waiting more than three years for their case to be handled, of whom 11,390 cases have been waiting more than four years, 5,200 had been waiting more than five years, and 1,130 have been waiting more than six years.
How quickly will the agency be able to clear the backlog of old cases?
Sjudin said that the agency hoped it would be able to come to decision on the overwhelming majority of four-year-old cases by the end of 2025, but said there was as yet no forecast for how long it would take to clear the roughly 7,000 cases where people have been waiting between three and four years.
"We think that we are in a strong position to be able to handle the majority of cases that are four years older or older this year," she said. "That's if nothing changes - there could suddenly be a large number of 'requests to conclude' approved by the court which could change the situation. But as things are now, it looks positive."
Will absolutely all cases be handled in order of application?
No. Cases where it is obvious that the grounds for citizenship have not been met - for example, if the applicant has only been resident for one year - will be rejected as soon as possible.
There will also be exception for cases where a court has upheld a so-called "request to conclude". These cases will also be decided in order of application, but will be handled in a separate stream from other cases.
Why is a new priority system necessary?
The change is a response to the enormous backlog of cases which built up since about 2020, when many of the asylum seekers who arrived in Sweden during the refugee crisis of 2014–2015 became eligible for citizenship.
The agency at that time decided to prioritise simple cases, and was required under Swedish administrative law to fast-track decisions on cases where there had been a request to conclude.
As a result, more complicated cases have often been left dormant, with no action taken to bring them closer to a decision, sometimes for four years or more.
Both Sweden's government and the Migration Agency have faced repeated criticism, from the National Audit Office, the Justice Ombudsman, and other watchdogs for the "unreasonably long" processing times for citizenship.
What will the new system mean for recent applicants?
The Migration Agency will no longer fast-track uncomplicated cases which are 'complete' with all the papers in place, which is likely to mean that these cases take longer to process than at present.
"Anyone who already has a caseworker will continue to have their case handled. We will not remove them. But when we hand out new cases we will distribute them according to the new system," Sjudin said. "All cases are going to be handled in order of application, so if you submit an application today, you have no chance of getting a decision in the near future, we will handle the oldest ones first."
What will the new system mean for people who have had a 'request to conclude' upheld?
It's almost certain that they will not get a decision as quickly.
Under Swedish administrative law, anyone who has been waiting more than six months for a decision from a government agency can send in a 'request to conclude', which is intended to force the agency to take a decision.
The Migration Agency has long complained that this system forces it to prioritise certain cases in a way that is unfair and inefficient. The agency is not, however, able to ignore a request to conclude once it has been upheld by a court, but Sjudin said the agency aimed to give such cases less weight.
"We cannot disregard them. We will continue to work with requests for decisions as required by law," Sjudin said in June. "As it is today, requests to conclude have taken over quite a lot, but we’re going to try to find a better balance so that we can both handle the requests to conclude and also the older cases," she said.
This would mean, she said, managing "two parallel processes" that the agency would aim to keep in balance.
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