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Brits continue mad rush for Swedish passports

Sweden has hit another weekly record in the number of Britons applying for citizenship on the back of Brexit.

Published: 4 July 2016 16:18 CEST
Brits continue mad rush for Swedish passports
Fancy joining these flag-waving Swedes? Photo: Maja Suslin/TT

A total of 150 Brits filed for citizenship in Sweden last week, according to fresh figures released to The Local by the Migration Agency on Monday, just a week after the number of applications went up by 500 percent.

It stands in stark contrast to a normal weekly average of 20 applications.

The rush among British nationals to get their hands on a Swedish (and by extension ensuring they hold onto an EU) passport began in the run-up to and immediately after their compatriots voted on June 23rd to leave the union. The new figure follows 129 applications during the week of the Brexit vote, according to statistics emerging on Tuesday.

EU citizens who have lived in Sweden for at least five years and have a right of residence – or who have lived here three years, two years of which with a Swedish citizen – are able to apply for Swedish citizenship.

However, any British readers who do not meet the requirements for citizenship, but are perhaps hoping that Swedish authorities will take pity on them, may find themselves disappointed. The head of the agency's citizenship unit told The Local that the applications are to be processed according to normal procedure.

“We haven't started looking at them, and I can't make any predictions. But if you don't meet the requirements you can't get citizenship. If you apply too early you risk getting rejected,” said Annette Grafen Silander.

The most recent available statistics show there were 19,782 UK citizens without Swedish passports living in Sweden in 2015.

Simon Linter, a writer living in Stockholm, told The Local after the vote: “I will be forced into applying for Swedish citizenship providing that the UK allows dual citizenship after it exits the EU.”

Nazia Hussain, a British entrepreneur now living in Skellefteå, northern Sweden, was hopeful she would eventually get a Swedish passport when she too spoke to The Local after the referendum.

“Having lived here for almost three years, I am now confident that this is where I want to be, so I hope that by the time Britain is out of the EU, I will have managed to acquire Swedish nationality and so remain in the EU. I don’t think I want to go back to the UK to live as I am grateful for living here,” she said.

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Commission official: ‘Up to Sweden how strict it is on Brexit applications’

An official from the European Commission has defended its decision not to take action on Sweden's strict treatment of late applications for post-Brexit residency, arguing that it is up to member states how to apply the Withdrawal Agreement.

Published: 15 July 2024 10:14 CEST
Commission official: 'Up to Sweden how strict it is on Brexit applications'

In an email sent to The Local, the official confirmed the latest data, published at the end of last year, which showed that 22 percent of residence applications from UK nationals under the Withdrawal Agreement had not been successful in Sweden. The official said this was similar to the rejection rate for Swedish citizens’ applications in the UK. 

“Through its regular monitoring in Annual reports under Article 159(2) of the Withdrawal Agreement, the European Commission is aware of the fact that Sweden has a high rate of refusal of residence applications under Article 18(1) of the Withdrawal Agreement,” the official said. 

But they said that this in itself did not indicate that Sweden was failing to apply the UK Withdrawal Agreement correctly. 

“As long as there is no indication that a Member State in question is incorrectly applying the Withdrawal Agreement rules, it is not for the Commission to tell Member States how strict or lenient they should be when processing late applications,” the Commission official said.

READ ALSO: Brits in Sweden still in limbo years after Brexit deadline

Two EU lawyers The Local spoke to earlier this summer said that they believed that the Swedish Migration Agency had not been correctly applying the proportionality test to late applications, and had been too narrow in its interpretation of what constitutes “reasonable grounds” for a late application.

They also said that they believed the Migration Agency had been overly strict on what level of employment or savings UK citizens were required to have to qualify as resident in Sweden under EU law, and to therefore be qualified for post-Brexit residency.

SEE MORE: Why did Sweden reject Brits for post-Brexit residency? 

But the Commission official said that when it came to the late applications at least, Sweden was entitled to take the position it had done. 

“If the host State authorities reach the conclusion that a late applicant did not have reasonable grounds for missing the application deadline, they do not have to deal with the application on substance,” the official said.

“This means that someone who would have qualified for the residence rights under the Withdrawal Agreement might not be granted those rights if they missed the application deadline and did not have a valid reason for doing so.” 

READ ALSO: Is Sweden getting EU law wrong on Brexit cases? 

An unusual high rejection rate, the official continued, did not mean that Sweden was breaking the terms of the EU Withdrawal agreement. 

“The fact that there are negative decisions being taken by Member States under Article 18 of the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) does not, in itself, indicate that those Member States apply the Withdrawal Agreement incorrectly,” they said.

The Migration Agency had carried out a review of refusals, they said, checking a selection for “legal quality”, something The Local has previously reported on.

The Commission had received the Migration Agency’s review, they said, but had yet to complete its analysis of the findings. 

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