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 A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administrati ...

, 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 eth ...

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 Norrköping (; ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Link� ...

Östergötland Östergötland (; English exonym: East Gothland) is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish) in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland and the Baltic Sea. In older English ...

and is led by a Director General, currently

Anders Danielsson Sven Anders Herman Danielsson (born 27 December 1953) is a Swedish government official who served as Director-General and Head of the Swedish Security Service The Swedish Security Service ( sv, Säkerhetspolisen , abbreviated SÄPO ; until 19 ...

. In 2014, the agency received 81,301 applications for asylum, of which 31,220 were granted. In 2017 according to calculations done by weekly magazine

Fokus Fokus was a political party in Denmark. The party was founded in 2010, originally as a splinter group of the Danish People’s Party (DF), but the politics of Fokus differed from that of DF on a number of issues. For example, while DF supported ...

, 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 integrati ...

: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 The Swedish National Board of Forensic Medicine ( sv, Rättsmedicinalverket, abbreviated RMV) is a Swedish government agency organized under the Ministry of Justice, responsible for forensic psychiatry, forensic chemistry, forensic medicine and ...

''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 The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare ( sv, Socialstyrelsen) is a Swedish government agency. The agency was the result of a merger between the National Swedish Board of Health and the Swedish Royal Board of Social Affairs in 1968. ...

.<\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 ma ...

s among migrants.

References

{{authority control Migrationsverket Foreign relations of Sweden

Criticism

See also

References