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Full Screen Minister Johan Forssell. File image. Photo: Jessica Gow/TT
More people waiting for expulsion after asylum rejection should be able to end up in custody and be allowed to sit there longer, up to a year and a half. It proposes the government’s investigator.
At Sweden’s six repository there are foreigners who have received a rejection or deportation decision and who do not leave the country voluntarily.
Today, a person can be kept locked up for a maximum of 12 months (except those sentenced to deportation for crimes that can be held longer).
Now, the Government’s investigator Johan Lundmark proposes that the time limit be extended to 18 months, the longest time allowed under EU law.
The investigator also proposes extended opportunities for taking a foreigner in custody, and new alternatives to detention, including that the person should be obliged to stay within a designated area, which can be combined with electronic monitoring.
In addition, special security departments must be set up at the repository for certain foreigners, according to the investigator.
The legislative changes are proposed to enter into force on 1 July 2026.
Today, people can be taken into custody if it is judged that they will stay away or do not cooperate on an expulsion. But it is also required a reasonable view that the expulsion can be enforced.
In 2023, more than 3,000 people were in custody, according to the Migration Board.
Another thousands of asylum seekers with rejection can move freely in society because the authorities do not see any prospects to send them out, often because their home countries do not cooperate. The Border Police has previously pointed to great difficulties in expelling to countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia.