NordenBladet – The Swedish Migration Agency (Swedish: Migrationsverket; previous English name: Swedish Migration Board), is a Swedish government agency. Its task is to evaluate and decide on applications from people who want to seek a temporary residence permit, acquire permanent residence or citizenship in Sweden.
The Swedish Migration Agency is under the Ministry of Justice 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, of which 31,220 were granted.
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 2017 according to calculations done by weekly magazine Fokus, the agency’s budget for unaccompanied minors alone at 27 billion krona represented 37% of the UNHCR:s budget for managing refugees over the entire planet.
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 unaccompanied minors, 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 lawyers, doctors, dentists and officials of National Board of Health and Welfare.
Up until 2017, this agency awarded temporary residence permits also to people considered war criminals and security threats. This allowed these individuals to claim welfare benefits and healthcare from the state of Sweden.
In September 2017 staff at the agency reported rising levels of death threats and harassment from migrants applying for residence permits. The nature of the threats changed with staff members being sought out at their homes or receiving threatening messages on private phones or in social media.
The Mission of the Migration Agency
One of the Migration Agency’s tasks is to consider applications from people who want to take up permanent residence in Sweden, visit, seek protection from persecution or get Swedish citizenship.
In Sweden, the Migration Agency is the authority that considers applications from people who want to take up permanent residence in Sweden, visit, seek protection from persecution or get Swedish citizenship.
In the reception of refugees, the Migration Agency provides housing and money for food to asylum-seekers, while they wait for a decision in their asylum case. When a refugee is granted a residence permit in Sweden, we give compensation from the state to the municipalities and county councils. If the application of an asylum-seeker is rejected, the Migration Agency is actively involved in the process of having this person leave Sweden.
Once a foreign national has been granted a residence permit in Sweden, it is primarily the job of the Swedish municipalities and county councils, along with the Swedish Public Employment Services, to be involved in the integration with Swedish society.
We are given our tasks by the people
The Swedish Migration Agency is commissioned by parliament and government, who set the Swedish asylum and migration policy. We are thus commissioned by the Swedish people, through the politicians who make decisions on migration policy.
The Agency is to apply the regulations that the citizens, through their elected representatives, have decided should apply when it comes to migration. Every year we get appropriation directives from the government, stating objectives and commissions, and how much money the Migration Agency may spend.
The government’s goals for the Swedish Migration Agency:
The goal is to ensure a long-term, sustainable migration policy that safeguards asylum rights and, within the framework of regulated immigration, facilitates mobility across borders and promotes a needs-driven labour immigration, while utilising and considering the development effects of migration, and furthering European and international cooperation.
Swedish Migration Agency´s official website: migrationsverket.se