Friday, September 5, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Over 100,000 Swedish residence permits issued in 2023

Published 25 January 2024
– By Editorial Staff
The number of residence permits granted for asylum has decreased, while family immigration has increased.
2 minute read

The Migration Agency’s latest report on migration and immigration shows that it has increased its focus on repatriation and stepped up its efforts to revoke permits. At the same time, however, the number of extended work permits has almost doubled.

During the past year, the Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) issued a total of 102,000 residence permits, mainly for work, family ties and asylum. Over 68,000 new citizenships were also granted during the year.

In particular, there was a decrease in the number of protection applications, especially from Ukrainian citizens, which greatly influenced the relative overall decrease from 142,000 permits in the previous year.

– While there was a sharp increase in the number of asylum seekers to other EU countries in 2023, we saw a continued decrease in Sweden, says Maria Mindhammar, Director General of the Swedish Migration Agency.

The report points to the agency’s “increased focus on efficiency”, with return as a key measure. The year 2023 saw a near doubling of revoked permits compared to the previous year, and the agency emphasizes the goal of shortening processing times while encouraging more people without the right to stay to return.

The labor market

In the labor market, the report shows a decrease in the number of granted first-time work permit applications, but also a significant increase in the number of extension applications. The number of work permit extensions is explained by an increased workforce and a better balance in extension decisions, with an emphasis on occupational groups such as berry pickers, planters and IT specialists.

– The fact that the number of extension decisions increased in 2023 is partly due to the fact that there were more employees working on this and could work down the balance of extensions, says Maria Mindhammar.

A visible trend in the report is the decrease in demand and granting of citizenship. The number of applications and granted citizenships decreased significantly compared to the previous year. Despite this, a marginal increase is seen in the number of residence permits granted for studies.

In summary, the report shows an overall change in the Migration Agency’s operations, with a decrease in the number of residence permits granted and an increased focus on efficiency and return work.

Statistics - Approval of first-time applications for residence permits

År                                                 2023                 2022

Family                                         25 110              20 990

Work                                            36 514                41 396

EU/EES                                       6 731                  7 883

Protection*                                  16 810                56 622

Studies                                         15 825                14 537

Enforcement impediment            1 149                      751

Total residence permits               102 139               142 179

Citizenships                                   68 168                89 967

*The 'Protection' figure includes, in addition to asylum seekers, 11,000 persons protected under the Mass Refugee Directive and 297 quota refugees selected under the UNHCR resettlement program. The corresponding figures in 2022 were 47 566 beneficiaries of protection under the Mass Refugee Directive and 3 744 quota refugees.

Source: Migrationsverket.se

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Swedish politicians refused to receive migrants – face prosecution

Migration crisis in Europe

Published today 13:21
– By Editorial Staff
The chairman of the municipal council, Christian Sonesson of the Moderate Party, is one of those charged.
2 minute read

Six municipal politicians in Staffanstorp, a town in southern Sweden’s Skåne region, are being prosecuted for gross misconduct in office after the municipal board decided in 2022 not to receive a Syrian family assigned there by the Swedish Migration Agency.

Among those prosecuted is Christian Sonesson (M), chairman of the municipal council from the Moderate Party, who has previously commented on Facebook about the interrogations in the case.

“From a purely legal standpoint, we currently know nothing more than that all members have the right to a public defender”.

In March 2022, the Swedish Migration Agency assigned four quota refugees – a Syrian family – to Staffanstorp municipality according to the Settlement Act. A few days later, the municipal board, following a proposal from the chairman, decided on an immediate halt to reception, reports Bonnier newspaper Expressen.

When the family arrived at Sturup airport on May 12, no one from the municipality was present to receive them, and the Migration Agency was forced to cancel the assignment at the last minute and instead place the family in another municipality.

“Uncharted territory”

Chief prosecutor Magdalena Petersson argues that the local politicians’ decision violates the law since Swedish municipalities are obligated to follow the Migration Agency’s assignments, which cannot be appealed.

— A municipality is obligated to receive a newly arrived person after assignment. The proposal from the chairman and the municipal board’s decision violates the Settlement Act. I have therefore brought charges against six people on the municipal board who participated in the vote without reserving themselves. The crime is to be assessed as gross because the defendants have seriously abused their position as municipal politicians. It has also had consequences for both individuals and the public, she argues in a press release.

All six defendants deny wrongdoing.

— This is uncharted territory, we need to establish precedent about what applies. As far as I know, there are no previous judgments in this area, the chief prosecutor notes.

Staffanstorp under Christian Sonesson has positioned itself as one of Sweden’s most restrictive municipalities on migration issues and has repeatedly attracted national attention for its decisions. The municipality’s stance has led to friction with the Moderate Party’s significantly more immigration-liberal party leadership, which has distanced itself from the southern Swedish local politicians on several occasions.

Malmö schools to block social media

Published 3 September 2025
– By Editorial Staff
As mobile restrictions have been implemented, students have started browsing social media using school computers instead.
1 minute read

Social media will be blocked on all school computers in elementary schools in Malmö, Sweden. The implementation is a pilot project to see if it counteracts harassment in schools and provides increased study peace.

It began when a special education teacher raised alarm about students’ use of social media during class time, where she emailed some concrete suggestions to the city of Malmö. This then led to an investigation into students’ digital work environment with a focus on social media.

Now the city of Malmö has decided to block social media on students’ school computers. The platforms being blocked are Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, Google Chat, Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, Roblox, Discord and Threads. The blocking applies both during and after school hours.

Most schools today have introduced some form of mobile phone restrictions. But young people are very resourceful and find new ways, so they have replaced phones with computer, says Malmö’s education commissioner Sara Wettergren from the Liberal Party to the Bonnier publication DN.

During the investigation, teachers were positive about the blocking, but not all students were completely satisfied. However, they now hope for more study peace in schools and also that it could lead to fewer instances of harassment.

The pilot project will run throughout the 2025/2026 school year and will then be evaluated.

Swedish preschool chain extracts millions – children get less butter

Welfare collapse

Published 2 September 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Tax funds finance preschool – butter is portioned out in the smallest possible amounts.
2 minute read

The Swedish preschool company Hagvidson has extracted millions in profits in recent years. Meanwhile, the company is rationing butter and sandwich toppings for preschool children.

Hagvidson currently owns over 21 preschools across Sweden, including facilities in Falun, Stockholm, and Uppsala. The preschool company has grown significantly in recent years and has purchased ten new preschools during this period. During the same timeframe, the owners – three men from the Örebro region in central Sweden – have extracted €6 million in dividend payments.

The men have taken director fees and salaries totaling around €900,000, which is primarily based on tax funds and municipal preschool funding.

Despite the million-euro profits, the company is strict about imposing restrictions on the children, according to an investigation by the Schibsted newspaper Aftonbladet. The restrictions primarily concern children eating too much sandwich toppings, but also include limits on paper towel usage for both staff and children.

We need to think about how much butter we put on the sandwiches and the amount of toppings – more is being used than usual right now. If we want to keep using Bregott (a popular Swedish butter-margarine blend), we need to be mindful of this”, states a protocol sent to employees, which the newspaper obtained.

Half a cheese slice

One solution from the preschool company is for adults at the table to portion out the butter to ensure children don’t take too much from the package themselves. Furthermore, only one topping per sandwich is allowed, something that employees at one of the preschools also confirm.

The children get half a cheese slice or half a thin slice of turkey on their sandwich and eat a maximum of two slices of bread – one soft and one hard per day – yet this still seems to be too much, the educator tells Aftonbladet.

Hagvidson’s CEO Michael Enghag declined an interview regarding the children’s restrictions on sandwich toppings, citing the company’s “communication policy”.

Number of prisoners in Sweden has doubled in ten years

Published 29 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
1 minute read

The number of inmates in Swedish correctional facilities has nearly doubled in the past ten years, according to statistics from the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå). The number of new admissions has also been the highest in almost 30 years.

At the end of 2024, the total number of people in correctional facilities was 8,206 people, 593 women and 7,613 men. This is referred to as having an ongoing prison sentence execution. This represents an increase of 17 percent compared to the previous year. Compared to 2015, the figure has increased by 91 percent.

The number of new admissions, that is, those who have begun serving a prison sentence, has reached a record high of 11,812 people, which is the highest figure in 28 years.

The increase in the number of inmates in correctional facilities since 2017 is primarily explained by the harsher penalties for serious crimes that have been implemented in recent years, says Charlotta Lindström, statistician at the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, in a press release.

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