World Immigration News

(The Conversation)Immigration in Sweden: how the country went from one of Europe’s most welcoming, to one of its most restrictive

Release Date: 2026-09-07
Media: The Conversation
Summary: Sweden, once known for having one of Europe’s most generous refugee policies, has become one of the continent’s more restrictive countries on migration. The turning point was the 2015 refugee crisis, when Sweden received more than 160,000 asylum applications. The government subsequently tightened family migration rules, introduced border controls and shifted most refugees from permanent to temporary residence permits.

Since 2022, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s centre-right government, supported by the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, has expanded restrictions across asylum, family and labour migration, citizenship, social benefits and deportation policy. At the same time, Sweden continues to encourage highly skilled immigration.

Asylum applications have fallen sharply, from the exceptionally high levels of 2015 to about 6,700 first-time applications in 2025, with a further decline expected.

Most significantly, restrictive migration policy has become a broader political consensus. The Social Democrats have also indicated that they would maintain the main direction of current policy. As a result, the 2026 election is increasingly about not whether Sweden should retain restrictive migration policies, but which political bloc can be trusted to maintain them.
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2026-09-07

Immigration in Sweden: how the country went from one of Europe’s most welcoming, to one of its most restrictive(The Conversation)

Sweden

2026-09-05

Sweden confirms 458 Britons deported or forcibly removed since Brexit(The Guardian)

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2026-09-02

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Sweden halts deportations of teen migrants whose families remain(InfoMigrants)

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‘A lot of fear’: the families bearing brunt of Sweden’s immigration crackdown(The Guardian)

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New proposal on increased maintenance requirement for family immigration(KPMG)

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2025-10-24

New rules for labor immigration – stricter requirements and new sanctions proposed from 1 June 2026 (KPMG)

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