The maneuvers before the new law comes into force • The criticism: “Trying to fiddle”
As TV4 Nyheterna previously revealed, the citizenship issue is one of the points in the updated Tidö agreement that the cooperation parties have agreed on. Next year, an investigation will present a bill that will make it more difficult to obtain Swedish citizenship. Among other things, there will be requirements for an “honest way of life” in order to become a citizen – and the time you must have lived in Sweden will be extended from today’s six years. But the new tightened law will not enter into force until the beginning of 2026 at the earliest. Before then, the Tidö parties fear that tens of thousands of new citizenships may be issued, which they now want to limit.
Since it would, among other things, be contrary to the Swedish constitution to introduce a total stop to the issuance of new citizenships, the Tidö parties want to find other legal ways. What they plan to do is, among other things, to ensure that the bureaucratic process is longer for those seeking citizenship, according to information to TV4 Nyheterna. So long that they do not have time to have their case tried – before the new law has time to come into force.
A source says explicitly that it is about getting the Swedish Migration Agency to “delay and delay” the trials of new citizenships. Right now tens of thousands of people are waiting to get Swedish citizenship.
That’s how it can happen
One method the government can use is, according to TV4 Nyheternas sources, to instruct the Migration Agency via the so-called regulatory letter to carry out more thorough security checks. A more thorough security check also takes longer, which is the whole point. An amended regulation letter applies for the whole of next year so such a change could have an effect on citizenship investigations fairly immediately.
Changing laws in Sweden takes a long time, and according to the constitution requires some investigation. But the government can change regulations instead. Regulations are often a kind of detailed control of legislation, and a regulation change can have great impact and can come into force more quickly than a law change.
Annika Hirvonen, migration policy spokesperson for the Green Party, is strongly critical of the method.
– That one should try to prevent the Migration Agency from making a decision in accordance with the Administrative Act’s six-month deadline. I think that sounds very problematic. The government should not fiddle with its management of authorities, she says.
The criticism: “Trying to fiddle”
A third way is to select a few key paragraphs that have a particularly strong effect. Instead of presenting a legislative package, which takes time, they choose small changes that hit many applications – all in anticipation of the big legislation presented in January 2025, which is expected to come into force about a year later.
– It is certainly not uncontroversial. This sounds like the government is trying to fiddle with the regulations to prevent an independent authority from making decisions in accordance with the times stated in the Administrative Law, says Annika Hirvonen.
TV4 Nyheterna is looking for all parties within the Tidö collaboration.