A Swedish Foreign Ministry employee faces prison after being arrested for granting over 100 visas on fraudulent grounds to migrants from Afghanistan.
The man, now a former employee of the government ministry, is alleged to have granted at least 121 fraudulent residential visas to people from Afghanistan while working at the Swedish embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan.
According to Prosecutor Arne Fors, the man ignored what were described in a report from broadcaster SVT as “obvious warning signs” from the Afghan applicants, including forged documents that suggested the Swedish company Ericsson had invited some of the Afghans to participate in a tennis event.
“I think I will ask for a prison sentence,” Fors told the broadcaster. The former ministry employee’s lawyer, Thomas Bodström, however, rejected all the charges, arguing the entire matter was based on a misconception on the part of the Swedish Migration Board and that his client committed no errors.
“This is a labour law conflict that has got out of hand,” Mr Bodström claimed.
In 2018, the Swedish National Audit Office claimed to have found many irregularities in Swedish embassies regarding the handing out of visas. One embassy had even lost hundreds of visas that were suspected of having been stolen and sold on the black market.
Sweden has seen a surge of mass immigration over the last decade, with the country granting 1.2 million visa permits since 2010.
Immigration continues to be the main driver of population growth in Sweden. In 2019, it was responsible for 73 per cent of the population growth.
Sweden’s birthrate, meanwhile, has seen a steady decline in recent years, with a 2018 report stating that the average birthrate was just 1.78 children per woman, far below replacement levels.
For the native Swedish population, the rate was actually slightly lower than 1.78, while for migration-background women the birthrate was as high as 2.2 children per woman.