Sweden Tightens Up Citizenship Rules Amid Illegal Immigration Crackdown

The Scandinavian country has made further moves to alter its once-liberal immigration policies, following concerns about crime rates and social tensions.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson speaks during a press conference in Rome on Feb. 26, 2025. Reuters/Remo Casilli

Sweden’s government has announced plans to further tighten up the process for claiming asylum, following years of concern about soaring levels of immigration.

The Nordic nation, once regarded as ultraliberal on immigration, will introduce more-stringent citizenship rules, with applicants facing an increased wait before they can apply, a minimum wage threshold, and a new test that they must pass, the center-right government said on Feb. 9.

“These requirements are much tougher than the situation as it is today because currently there are basically no requirements (to become a citizen),” Swedish Migration Minister Johan Forssell told reporters on Feb. 9.

Applicants for citizenship will have to live in the country for eight years, up from five years, receive a monthly income of more than 20,000 Swedish crowns (about $2,240), and pass a Swedish language and culture test.

“It seems reasonable that you should know whether Sweden is a monarchy or a republic, if you want to be a citizen,” Forssell said.

Criminal Records

Those with criminal records—either in Sweden or abroad—will have to wait longer before they can apply, with the timeframe depending on the severity of the convictions. Someone who has served a four-year prison sentence, for instance, would have to wait 15 years before being eligible to apply for citizenship.

Although the number claiming asylum has fallen sharply since the historic high of 2015, the government, led by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, says more needs to be done to cut the number of people entering the country illegally.

The new rules on citizenship are expected to come into effect from June 6, and follow a series of measures from successive governments designed to reduce immigration since 2015, when about 160,000 people illegally entered and claimed asylum in the Scandinavian country.

New Rules for Asylum Claimants

The government announced last week that it would toughen requirements for those claiming asylum.

Under proposals announced on Feb. 6, all those entering the country illegally will have to live in migrant reception centers while their cases are processed.

Those claiming asylum will have to prove that they live in the centers in order to receive state benefits, as well as agree to travel restrictions, Forssell said on Feb. 6.

Soaring immigration has caused public reaction in Sweden, with a surge at the polls for parties pledging to be tougher on those entering illegally, chiefly the socially conservative nationalist party, the Sweden Democrats, led by Jimmie Akesson.

The leader of the Sweden Democrats, Jimmie Akesson, arrives at the party's election watch in Nacka, near Stockholm, on Sept. 11, 2022. Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP via Getty Images

The current government is a coalition of centrist and right-of-center parties, propped up in parliament through an agreement with the Sweden Democrats.

Demand has grown for investigations into whether both asylum and legal immigration systems are being misused to seek generous social welfare benefits on offer in the country.

Forthcoming Election

Sweden’s parliamentary election is due to take place in September, with the issue of immigration likely to play a key part in the parties’ campaigns and voter decisions.

“People who are in the system will have to live with the Migration Agency. ... I want to stress that these aren’t prisons,” Forssell said on Feb. 6.

Current law in Sweden allows those seeking asylum to choose their own living arrangements, which has led to some failed claimants remaining in the country illegally as they are not properly monitored.

Under the proposal, which the government hopes will come into force in October, those who fail to comply could have their asylum applications automatically withdrawn.

People whose cases have been rejected would be required to register their whereabouts on a regular basis to prevent them from going underground.

People walk past a Swedish flag in Stockholm on April 4, 2020. Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP via Getty Images

Gang Crime Surge

The government has blamed decades of unrestricted immigration for a surge in gang crime and violence in recent years. Significantly more men than women have entered the country and claimed asylum since 2014, although the gender imbalance has fallen in recent years, according to official statistics.

A study by Lund University, published in 2025 and widely discussed in the media, detailed the overrepresentation of foreign-born men among rapists in Sweden.

Since the 1990s, Sweden’s population has increased to 10 million from 8 million, primarily because of immigration from conflict-affected regions in the Horn of Africa and the Middle East. This population surge led to problems with soaring welfare spending, increased crime, and social and cultural tensions between Swedes and immigrants and among various immigrant populations.

In January, the migration minister urged the European Union to come up with a unilateral way to issue ID and travel documents to Afghan nationals whose asylum applications have been rejected and for those who have committed crimes in their host countries.

Forssell said it was “more or less impossible” to deport Afghan nationals who don’t fulfill asylum criteria because they don’t have a passport or any other form of identification.

“It is a major concern for us that we are seeing quite a few cases of people that have committed crimes, Afghan people that committed crimes in Sweden, and it is more or less impossible to expel them today,” Forssell said.

“If you come to Europe and you commit crimes, you have chosen yourself not to be part of our society. And we need to do everything we can to make sure that you are expelled.”

The government also suggested in January that Sweden should remove citizenship from those regarded as a threat to the state, with Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer saying the country is facing violent extremism and organized crime from a portion of the individuals it has granted asylum to.

Among incentives to get those who have entered the country illegally to leave, those who voluntarily return to their countries of origin are now eligible to receive up to 350,000 kronor (about $39,200).

Reuters contributed to this report.