IMMIGRATIONImmigration in Sweden: How the Country Went from One of Europe’s Most Welcoming, to One of Its Most Restrictive
For decades, Sweden was known as one of Europe’s most welcoming countries for refugees. It took pride in pursuing one of Europe’s most generous asylum policies, and often presented itself as a humanitarian role model. But today it has one of the continent’s most restrictive migration policies.
For decades, Sweden was known as one of Europe’s most welcoming countries for refugees. It took pride in pursuing one of Europe’s most generous asylum policies, and often presented itself as a humanitarian role model.
But today it has one of the continent’s most restrictive migration policies. That transformation has taken little more than a decade.
The turning point came during the 2015 refugee crisis. Sweden received more than 160,000 asylum applications, more than 12% of all applications in the European Union. Around 35,000 were unaccompanied minors, more than one third of the EU total that year. The scale of the inflow exposed strains on the country’s system and fundamentally changed the political debate around migration.
The immediate response was a broad cross-party agreement introducing stricter asylum and family migration rules. This was followed by temporary border controls, and the replacement of permanent residence permits with temporary ones for most refugees.
These measures, introduced by a leftwing Social Democratic government, were more than a response to an exceptional situation. They signaled the emergence of a new political consensus: that Sweden should pursue a substantially more restrictive migration policy.
The next decisive step came after the 2022 election. A center-right coalition led by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson took office, with parliamentary support from the anti-immigration party the Sweden Democrats under the so-called Tidö Agreement. Although the Sweden Democrats remained outside the government, the agreement gave them substantial influence over migration policy and provided the political foundation for the most far-reaching package of migration reforms in modern Swedish history.
Drastic Restriction of All Migration Policies
Once in office, the new government embarked on the most comprehensive overhaul of Swedish migration policy in modern history. Since 2022, reforms have been introduced across virtually every area of migration policy, including asylum reception, refugee policy, family migration, labor migration, citizenship, return policy, detention and access to social benefits.
The government’s stated ambition has been to make Swedish asylum policy as restrictive as possible, while continuing to comply with the minimum standards required under EU law and international refugee law. This restrictive policy direction also extends to other categories of non-EU migration, including family and labor migration, while highly skilled labor migration constitutes an important exception.
The first reforms, including tighter rules on family reunification and humanitarian residence permits, entered into force in late 2023. At the same time, the refugee resettlement quota was reduced from 5,000 to 900 places annually.
