The Swedish Migration Agency ( sv, Migrationsverket; previous English name: Swedish Migration Board), is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

government agency, established on 1 July 1969. Its task is to evaluate and decide on applications from people who want to seek a temporary residence permit, acquire permanent residence or

citizenship Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

in Sweden. This makes it involved in

immigration to Sweden Immigration to Sweden is the process by which people migrate to Sweden to reside in the country. Many, but not all, become Swedish citizens. The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused some controversy regarding e ...

The Swedish Migration Agency is under the

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

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 Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea ...

, of which 31,220 were granted. In 2017 according to calculations done by weekly magazine Fokus, the agency's budget for

unaccompanied minor An unaccompanied minor (sometimes "unaccompanied child" or "separated child") is a child without the presence of a legal guardian. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child defines unaccompanied minors and unaccompanied children as those "who ...

s alone at 27 billion krona represented 37% of the

UNHCR The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrat ...

:s budget for managing refugees over the entire planet.

Criticism

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

s, which gave access to education, better housing and greater likelihood of refugee status. Of the 442, 430 were men and 12 women. RMV was tasked with doing the backlog of 3000 - 14000 age investigations which had been obstructed by

Swedish Bar Association The Swedish Bar Association ( sv, Sveriges advokatsamfund) is an organisation for Swedish lawyers, including members of the Bar practicing law, under the title of ''advokat'', a title which is protected by Swedish law and reserved for the exclus ...

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. 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 marriage Child marriage is a marriage or similar union, formal or informal, between a child under a certain age – typically 18 years – and an adult or another child. * * * * The vast majority of child marriages are between a female child and a mal ...

s among migrants.

References

{{authority control Migrationsverket Foreign relations of Sweden

Criticism

See also

References