A total of 98,867 asylum seekers have been given permanent residency in Sweden since the height of the migrant crisis, out of 163,456 who applied for asylum that year.
During the height of the European migrant crisis in 2015, Sweden took in over 163,000 asylum seekers, the highest per capita in Europe and one of the highest total numbers, despite the country’s comparatively small population. Some 80,000 entered the country in two months before the government enacted border controls in November of that year.
According to a report from Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Radio, 60 per cent of the asylum seekers who arrived that year were granted permanent residency in Sweden, while the rest were granted temporary residency.
Mikael Ribbenvik, Director General of the Migration Board, spoke to the broadcaster, saying: “We had desk lawyers standing in ports and at stations in yellow vests. We arranged 64,000 accommodation places during these months. We got everyone in the system, which was important.”
“Since many people were granted residence permits during those years, this results in increases in applications for family reunification. And then, about five years later, there will also be an increase in the number of citizenship cases,” he added.
Family unification has been a major source of new migrants in the years since 2015, according to several annual migration reports released by the Swedish Migration board.
Between 2010 and 2020, Sweden granted 1.2 million residency permits, with around a quarter being granted for family reunification or 365,000 in total. Asylum permits over the same period amounted to 295,000, while work permits totalled 300,000.
The influx of new people to Sweden has been so dramatic in recent years — and heavily impacting a national population that was comparatively small to start with — over one in five of all people in the country is now born abroad, with 1.9 million residing in the country. 73 per cent of Sweden’s population growth is down to mass migration, and the country has the second-highest rate of growth in the EU.
A rise in family reunification permits has been met with criticism from some, including Anders Knape, the head of SKL, an organisation that represents Swedish municipalities and county councils.
“Much of the family migration will end up, at least initially, in places that already have a strained situation,” Knape said.
Many municipalities across the country have begun to face real financial difficulties after accepting many migrants, including Bengtsfors, which claimed the added costs could force the municipal government to declare bankruptcy without national government aid.