SA Migration International

News Articles

Sweden rejects less than a quarter of asylum seekers

Source: The Local, 01/01/2017

The border controls such as this one in Hyllie, MalmÃ¶, has reduced
refugee numbers. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT
Swedenâ€™s Migration Agency accepted 77 percent of the record 112,000
asylum claims it processed in 2016, it has revealed in its end of year
figures.

The agency processed twice as many decisions in 2016 as it did in
2015, putting on track to clear the backlog built up during Europeâ€™s
refugee crisis.

Some 17,000 asylum seekers were registered as refugees, 47,000 were
given a permit due to "alternative needs of protection, and 5,880
withdrew their applications.

â€œWeâ€™re handling it,â€ the agencyâ€™s General Director Mikael Ribbenvik
told Swedenâ€™s TT newswire after issuing the figures in a press
statement. â€œIn the autumn we hit a peak of 14,000 to 15,000 cases a
month. But we canâ€™t keep up that pace and we donâ€™t need to either. We
were a bit behind in the autumn and needed to catch up.â€

He aims to keep processing 10,000 cases a month up until the summer,
allowing him to clear the remaining 70,000 asylum seekers waiting for
a decision.

â€œThereâ€™s no point in us making decisions if theyâ€™re not legally
sound," he said. "The risk of being tested in court hangs over all our
decisions and if we donâ€™t handle them carefully we just end up with a
court case.â€

The number of asylum seekers coming to Sweden dropped to just 29,000
in 2016, down from more than 160,000 in the crisis year of 2015.

According to the Agency, this is partly as a result of Swedenâ€™s
decision to tighten its rules on family reunion and permanent
residency, and partly as a result of a refugee deal struck between the
EU and Turkey.

The number of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in Sweden has
dropped the most dramatically, with just 2,200 applications compared
to 35,400 in 2015.

Search

Latest News

... Read more...
... Read more...
... Read more...
... Read more...

If you are visiting SA or already here on a visa, take this as a public-interest warning. In 2025, a quiet, but sharp, shift has taken hold inside parts of home affairs adjudication ranks: applications are being refused almost mechanically if they were not submitted at least 60 days before visa expiry.A wave of refusals repeating near-identical wording:The applicant did not submit his/her application no less than 60 days prior to the expiry date of his/her.

The rigid application of this rule, devoid of consideration for mitigating circumstances, raises serious concerns about the fairness and legality of such administrative decisions.

... Read more...

... Read more...
... Read more...
... Read more...
... Read more...
... Read more...