Wikipedia

Swedish Migration Agency

The Swedish Migration Agency (Swedish: Migrationsverket), is a Swedish government agency, established on 1 July 1969.[3] Its task is to evaluate and decide on applications from people who want to seek a temporary residence permit, acquire permanent residence or citizenship in Sweden. This makes it involved in immigration to Sweden

Swedish Migration Agency
Migrationsverket
Logotype of the Swedish Migration Agency
Agency overview
Formed1 July 1969
HeadquartersNorrköping[1]
Minister responsible
Agency executives
Parent departmentMinistry of Justice
Key document
Websitewww.migrationsverket.se

The Swedish Migration Agency is under the Ministry of Justice and operates nationwide from about 40 offices. It is headquartered in Norrköping in Östergötland and is led by a Director General, currently Anders Danielsson. In 2014, the agency received 81,301 applications for asylum, of which 31,220 were granted.[1][4]

In 2017 according to calculations done by weekly magazine Fokus, the agency's budget for unaccompanied minors alone at 27 billion krona represented 37% of the UNHCR's budget for managing refugees over the entire planet.[5]

History

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On 1 July 1969, a new government agency was established: the National Swedish Immigration and Naturalization Board[6] (Swedish: Statens invandrarverk, commonly known as Invandrarverket), which at the time was responsible for both integration and immigration matters.[7] On 10 September 1999, the agency introduced a new name to its employees: Swedish Migration Board[8] (Swedish: Migrationsverket), with the subtitle Sweden’s central authority for alien affairs (Sveriges centrala utlänningsmyndighet). The agency officially adopted the new name the following year.[9] As part of a reorganization in March 2025, its English name was changed to Swedish Migration Agency.[10]

Criticism

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Swedish Migration Agency annual expenditure 2007- , 109 SEK
  Billion (109) SEK. Expenditure is Område 8 and Område 13
According to table Redovisning mot anslag
Column Utgifter for each year in the annual reports.[11]

The Swedish Migration Agency has come under criticism for its opaque handling of expatriate work permit applications and inordinate delays coupled with over-zealous, often controversial, readings of Swedish regulations related to insurance requisites for work permit extensions. The Agency continues to process applications with delays extending up to 10 months in some cases.

In May 2016 the Swedish National Board of Forensic Medicine sv: Rättsmedicinalverket (RMV) started aiding the agency with determining the age of migrants claiming to be under 18. The first batch of 518 investigations indicated that 442 were likely adult and the rest retained their status as unaccompanied minors, which gave access to education, better housing and greater likelihood of refugee status. Of the 442, 430 were men and 12 women.[12] RMV was tasked with doing the backlog of 3000 - 14000 age investigations which had been obstructed by Swedish Bar Association lawyers, doctors, dentists and officials of National Board of Health and Welfare.<\ref>

In June 2016 the SMA expressed doubts about 70% of asylum applicants purportedly 15-17.[13]

In July 2018, the agency together with municipalities of Sweden was criticised by the national agency against honor-related crime (Swedish: nationella kompetensteamet mot hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck) for not doing enough to discover and rectify child marriages among migrants.[14]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "About the Migration Agency". Swedish Migration Agency. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Senior Management". Swedish Migration Agency. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  3. ^ "Historik" (in Swedish). Swedish Migration Agency. 26 August 2020.
  4. ^ "Regleringsbrev för budgetåret 2015 avseende Migrationsverket" (in Swedish). Swedish National Financial Management Authority. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  5. ^ "Röntgentraumat - Fokus". Fokus (in Swedish). 23 February 2017. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  6. ^ Gullberg, Ingvar E. (1977). Svensk-engelsk fackordbok för näringsliv, förvaltning, undervisning och forskning [A Swedish-English dictionary of technical terms used in business, industry, administration, education and research] (in Swedish) (2nd ed.). Stockholm: Norstedt. p. 1586. ISBN 91-1-775052-0. SELIBR 8345587.
  7. ^ "Historik" [History] (in Swedish). Swedish Migration Agency. 10 September 2020. Archived from the original on 9 December 2020. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
  8. ^ Utrikes namnbok: svenska myndigheter, organisationer, titlar, EU- och EG-organ, EU-titlar och länder på engelska, tyska, franska, spanska, finska och ryska (PDF) (in Swedish) (6th ed.). Stockholm: Utrikesdep., Regeringskansliet. 2002. p. 31. ISBN 9138319357. SELIBR 8450358.
  9. ^ "Invandrarverket byter namn" [The board changes name]. Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). TT. 12 September 1999. p. 4. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
  10. ^ Hjalmarsson, Ola (4 March 2015). "Migrationsverket byter namn på engelska" [The Swedish Migration Board changes its name in English]. www.altinget.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 30 April 2025.
  11. ^ "Redovisning av verksamheten". www.migrationsverket.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  12. ^ "De första medicinska åldersbedömningarna klara - Rättsmedicinalverket". Rättsmedicinalverket (in Swedish). Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  13. ^ Wood, Vincent (19 June 2016). "Migrants set to undergo age tests after 'lying child refugees' bamboozle officials". express.co.uk. The Swedish Migration Agency claim there is reason to doubt as many as 70 per cent of asylum applicants who say they are between the ages of 15 and 17.
  14. ^ Medelius, Raina (13 July 2018). ""Barnäktenskap måste upptäckas tidigare"". Sveriges Radio (in Swedish). Retrieved 14 July 2018.
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