Starting in June, Sweden will require that people have lived in the country for 8 years, earn a modest income and pass a test to gain citizenship. Successive governments have tightened migration rules since 2016.

Sweden’s government introduced plans for stricter rules on gaining citizenship on Monday, with the plans set to come into force in June.

Successive governments have gradually tightened migration and citizenship requirements since 2016, when around 160,000 asylum seekers sought refuge in a country of fewer than 11 million people.

What are the changes to citizenship requirements?

The main requirements for obtaining status as a naturalized citizen are as follows:

Typical applicants will need to have been residents in Sweden for at least 8 years, up from 5 previously

A monthly income of at least 20,000 Swedish crowns (roughly €1,900 or $2,200)

Passing a basic language and culture test

People with a criminal record, in Sweden or abroad, will have to reside in Sweden longer before they can apply

The rules are planned to come into force on June 6

“These requirements ‌are much tougher than the situation as it is ‌today ⁠because currently there are basically no requirements [to become a citizen],” Migration Minister Johan Forssell told reporters at a press conference on Monday.

The residency requirement changes go in the opposite direction to relatively recent ones in Germany, where a required period of residency of typically eight years was reduced to five.

The income requirement of 20,000 crowns per month is considerably less than the median wage in Sweden or the typical entry-level pay scale for full-time work in unskilled sectors, such as hospitality. Therefore, almost anyone working full time should qualify. Sweden doesn’t have a fixed national minimum wage making a comparison against that figure impossible.

Migration Minister Forssell portrayed the planned citizenship test as comparatively simple in nature, saying: “It seems reasonable that you should know whether Sweden is a monarchy or a republic, if you want to be a citizen.”

Longer residency required for people with criminal record

The rules for convicted criminals, whether they have a record in Sweden or abroad, will vary. But as an example, someone who had served four years in jail would need to reside in Sweden for 15 years before they could apply.

The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, who are not part of but back the minority coalition government, have blamed what they say are decades of failed immigration policies for a wave of gangland crime that has swept the country.

National elections are scheduled this September in Sweden.

Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko

DW News