The Swedish government has announced plans to tighten the immigration requirements for family members of foreign residents in the country. The decision comes in response to the

challenges posed by extensive immigration and the lack of integration, according to a statement released by Maria Malmer Stenergard, Sweden's Migration Minister.

Stenergard emphasized the need for measures to address the growing exclusion resulting from the combination of significant immigration in recent years and insufficient integration. In order to reverse this trend, the government has proposed a series of actions.

As part of the proposed changes, the government intends to raise the age limit for refusing residence permits to family members of foreign residents from 18 to 21 years. This adjustment aims to prevent forced marriages, with Stenergard noting that the age limit aligns with the maximum permissible under EU law.

The government also seeks to limit exemptions from the support requirement for relative immigration when the dependent individual could alternatively be in need of protection. Furthermore, the government plans to remove the provision that grants residence permits based on particularly distressing circumstances, instead focusing on granting such permits to children facing similar circumstances.

These proposals have been developed as part of an agreement between the Sweden Democrats and the government. If approved, the changes to the law are scheduled to come into effect on December 1, 2023. Photo by News Oresund, Wikimedia commons.