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https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/sweden/sweden-third-of-foreign-students-disappear/

Sweden

Sweden: Third of foreign students ‘disappear’

Published March 24, 2024 – By Editorial staff

Montage. Photo: Sincerely Media/Unsplash, Swedish Migration Agency

Nobody really knows where many of the foreign students go.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

According to a new report, 72% of those who are granted a residence permit drop out of their studies before the second year - and a third of them disappear from the radar of the Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket).

– If they settle in Sweden, it is not where they studied. The cases will probably and hopefully end up in the hands of the police, says a source at the agency.

Last autumn, the Swedish National Audit Office (Riksrevisionen) criticised the Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) for revoking the residence permits of immigrants who had come to work. The audit found that there were thousands of cases where residence permits had not been revoked, even though the people concerned were no longer allowed to stay in Sweden. In 2020 alone, there were more than 13,000 cases where there were strong reasons to investigate whether the person was fulfilling the conditions of their residence permit.

The review also found that almost one in four people who came to Sweden to study had no record of studying in Sweden, but neither the Migration Agency nor the universities knew what the people had done during their time in Sweden. Nor did the Migration Agency follow up on those who dropped out.

An internal report from 2022 by the police's National Operations Department (NOA) shows that studies have been abused as a way to come to Sweden to work, according to Fokus, which has read the report.

"Really unpleasant"

The report, which focuses on Pakistani citizens because they make up the largest group of students, shows that 72 percent of those granted a residence permit dropped out of their studies before the second year. According to Swedish regulations, a foreign student is granted a work permit if he or she has completed one semester of studies, equivalent to 30 credits, without being employed by an employer. In addition, the student is not subject to the minimum wage requirements for immigrants. Students also have the right to bring close relatives to Sweden.

Almost a third of students drop out to work instead, but another third of those who come to study also disappear from the radar, the report shows. "They don't work or continue their studies, and you don't know where they go.

– This is where it's getting really uncomfortable, a source at the Swedish Migration Agency told Fokus.

Rumours of human trafficking

In Pakistan and other countries, Sweden is marketed as a "life-changing package for you and your family", "unlimited work allowed", "free education for children" and "travel with family", with agents working on behalf of those who want to come to Sweden. The phrase "No IELT" is also often used, meaning that the education does not require an English test.

The report also suggests that Swedish universities are trying to attract students from outside the EU because they have to pay between 50,000 and 100,000 SEK per semester in course fees. There are also suspicions that courses are being created specifically for these students, as several institutions are offering 30-credit courses with very low levels of difficulty and no language requirements.

The source points out that it is becoming "unclear whether people from poor countries want to come here to study, or whether the studies are there because they want to come here for other reasons", and there are also rumours of trafficking and prostitution, although there is currently no clear evidence of this. For example, there is a high proportion of young women from Nigeria - one of the world's biggest trafficking countries.

– We don't see what's happening, we just have this big empty number of asylum seekers. If they settle in Sweden, it is not in the place where they studied. The cases will probably and hopefully end up in the hands of the police.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/sweden/residents-in-vulnerable-areas-most-supportive-of-swedens-new-return-grant/

Sweden

Residents in vulnerable areas most supportive of Sweden’s new return grant

Population replacement in the West

Published November 17, 2025 – By Editorial staff

Photo: Swedish Migration Agency/Tomislav Stjepic

After the Swedish government, together with the Sweden Democrats party, significantly raised the cap for return migration grants, support for receiving the grant is now increasing among certain immigrant groups.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

The Swedish government's significant increase of the return migration grant at the turn of the year is meeting mixed reactions among the population. A new opinion poll shows that support is strongest among foreign-born residents in so-called vulnerable areas – and weakest among left-wing voters.

At the same time, debate is growing about how the grant should be used and what effects it may have for municipalities and the state.

When the Tidö government (Sweden's center-right coalition government) raises the return migration grant from approximately €900 to €31,000 at the turn of the year, the goal is to encourage more migrants who are deemed difficult to integrate to voluntarily return to their countries of origin.

The reform has created extensive political debate, not least after several red-green (left-wing) municipalities indicated their opposition to the measure.

This has led representatives from the Tidö parties and the Sweden Democrats to question whether state support should continue to municipalities that do not participate in the program.

Now a new survey from Indikator Opinion, commissioned by the Järvaveckan Foundation, shows that support for the significantly increased grant varies greatly between different groups.

Support varies greatly

According to the survey, attitudes are significantly more positive among foreign-born residents living in vulnerable areas than in the rest of the country.

In these areas, 39 percent say they are positive about an increased return migration grant, while 30 percent are negative. In the rest of the country – including both native Swedes and immigrants – the proportion of positive responses is 27 percent and the proportion of negative responses is 38 percent.

The most positive group is migrants who have lived in Sweden for less than five years and who also live in vulnerable areas. There, 46 percent say they view the grant increase positively.

Ahmed Abdirahman, CEO of the Järvaveckan Foundation, believes the reaction says something important about how people experience their situation in Sweden.

— That support for an increased return migration grant is greater among foreign-born residents in vulnerable areas may seem surprising at first glance. But the results show how complex the question of integration is. I see it as a sign that we need to talk more about opportunities, not just about benefits. When people don't feel included in nation-building, the willingness to consider other alternatives also increases, he says.

Right-wing voters more positive

The survey also shows large differences between different party sympathies. Among Sweden Democrats' voters, 47 percent are positive about the grant increase, while the corresponding proportion among Christian Democrats' voters is 45 percent.

The least support is found among Left Party and Green Party sympathizers, where a majority view the government's direction negatively.

Per Oleskog Tryggvason, opinion director at Indikator Opinion, emphasizes that the proposal is still unpopular among broader segments of voters.

— A significantly increased return migration grant is a relatively unpopular proposal among Swedish voters – clearly more people think it's bad than think it's good. Even though the proposal is significantly more popular among the Tidö parties' voters, there is a considerable proportion of right-wing voters who are skeptical. Based on these figures, it doesn't appear to be an election-winning proposal, he says.

The grant increase takes effect at the turn of the year. How many people will actually choose to apply remains to be seen – interest has been lukewarm so far, but the government hopes the new amount will change the situation.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/sweden/swedish-public-health-agency-wants-to-classify-red-fly-agaric-as-narcotics/

Sweden

Swedish Public Health Agency wants to classify red fly agaric as narcotics

Published November 14, 2025 – By Editorial staff

Photo: Andriy Nestruiev/Unsplash

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

Products containing muscimol from fly agaric mushrooms have become increasingly popular and are often sold as natural medicine. Now the Swedish Public Health Agency (Folkhälsomyndigheten) wants the government to stop the trade by classifying the substance as narcotics.

The fly agaric has long been regarded as a symbol of poisonous mushrooms, but it is not quite as toxic as the destroying angel (Amanita virosa) – which is deadly. Historically, the fly agaric is said to have been used by Siberian shamans, among others, to alter their state of consciousness in order to establish contact with the spirit world in rituals.

In Sweden during the 1800s, people hardly ate any mushrooms at all, but the fly agaric was still considered useful as it was used as an insecticide against flies, from which it also got its name. When food became scarce for Swedes, authorities tried to encourage more mushroom consumption, which briefly led to a group of mushroom enthusiasts claiming that the fly agaric was edible, something that Populär Historia has written about. During the 1970s, the mushroom began to acquire its bad reputation after new knowledge about mushroom species began to take shape.

Poses a risk

Muscimol is a psychoactive substance that can produce sedative and hallucinogenic effects, and today the substance is often promoted by so-called alternative health groups as a remedy for sleep disorders, among other things. So-called retreats are even organized where participants ingest the mushroom in ceremonial settings.

Now the Swedish Public Health Agency wants to classify the substance as narcotics. According to the agency, the substance is currently available for purchase as candy and in e-cigarettes through various online stores, and they emphasize that the mushroom is poisonous and that people are exposing themselves to risk. In addition to relatively common symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, nausea, and hallucinations, there are reports of people falling into comas after taking the preparation.

— It has properties that pose a danger to people's lives and health and which can be assumed to be used for the purpose of achieving intoxication, said Adli Assali, head of unit at the Swedish Public Health Agency, to P3 Nyheter.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned trade in muscimol at the end of last year. This summer, the Swedish Public Health Agency initiated its own investigation following a request from the Swedish Customs Service (Tullverket), which had seized the substance at border controls. The Swedish government will now decide whether the substance should be classified as narcotics in Sweden.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/sweden/swedish-prison-service-opposes-plan-to-lower-criminal-age-to-13/

Sweden

Swedish Prison Service opposes plan to lower criminal age to 13

Published November 12, 2025 – By Editorial staff

Photo credit: The Swedish Prison and Probation Service

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

The Swedish government's proposal to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 13 is facing strong criticism. In its consultation response, the Swedish Prison and Probation Service (Kriminalvården) states that it is not equipped to receive such young children in prison and that they should be cared for in other ways.

By July 1 next year, the Swedish Prison and Probation Service is expected to have built prison units for children where both 15–17-year-olds and 13–14-year-olds convicted of serious crimes will serve sentences. At the same time, places at the special youth homes (SiS homes, state-run institutions for youth care) will be phased out.

In the consultation response, the Prison and Probation Service writes that imprisonment at a young age can lead to negative consequences, and that children "as young as 13 should be cared for in other ways".

— These concerns become more significant the younger the children in question are, says Elisabeth Lager, acting legal director, to TT.

The Prison and Probation Service is clear that the organization does not have the required resources. It lacks both the expertise and suitable facilities to handle children as young as 13 within prisons, detention centers, or community-based sanctions such as probation. Practical issues such as education must also be addressed. At the same time, it is noted that the level of the age of criminal responsibility is ultimately a political matter.

Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer writes that the government will "carefully analyze all consultation responses". He emphasizes that society must "care for children in a completely different way than today" in cases of the most serious crimes, both to protect victims and society, but also the children themselves.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/sweden/syrian-man-convicted-of-rape-remains-in-sweden-six-years-after-deportation-order/

Sweden

Syrian man convicted of rape remains in Sweden six years after deportation order

Migrant violence

Published November 10, 2025 – By Editorial staff

Photo montage. Photo: private, Police

The tent at the Emmaboda Festival 2017 where the Syrian migrant Noraldin Alhamamy, now known as "Emil Jordensson," raped a 15-year-old girl.---**Context note:** Emmaboda Festival is a music festival held in Emmaboda, a small town in southern Sweden. The case refers to a criminal incident that occurred at the festival in 2017.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

A migrant who was sentenced to deportation for aggravated rape of a 15-year-old girl at a music festival in 2017 is still in Sweden. During this time, the 30-year-old has committed new crimes and ran as a candidate in the Swedish church elections this summer. Now Swedish Migration Minister Johan Forssell calls the situation "sick" and promises legislative changes.

The 30-year-old Syrian citizen Noraldin Alhamamy came to Sweden in 2015 and received a permanent residence permit in the fall of 2016. Just six days before that decision, he was convicted of his first crime in the country: sexual molestation, reports Fria Tider.

In the summer of 2017, he committed the crime that would lead to deportation. At the Emmaboda Festival in southern Sweden, he raped a 15-year-old girl in her tent. He threatened her with a knife and covered her mouth during the assault. The girl developed post-traumatic stress disorder and has described how she lives in constant fear and anxiety.

— He has destroyed my life, the girl said during the trial.

The man, who now goes by the name Emil Jordensson, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison and deportation with a ten-year entry ban. However, the deportation has not been carried out because he has claimed several obstacles to enforcement.

Claimed conversion and military service

First, he claimed that he risked being called up for military service in the Syrian army. Later, he claimed that he had converted to Christianity, which he argued would put him in danger in his home country. His case has been heard in the Migration Court of Appeal and has become precedent-setting for other courts. Despite being denied refugee status due to the severity of his crime, he remains in Sweden more than six years after the verdict.

During this time, he has committed additional crimes. Last year, he was convicted of aggravated assault against a public official after making a revenge visit to a police officer who had arrested him, as well as for assaulting his wife, car theft, and harassment. The crimes were deemed to have been committed during a psychosis and he was sentenced to probation with supervision.

This summer, it was revealed in the regional newspaper Smålandsposten that the man was running as a candidate in the Church elections, which was possible because he is registered in the Swedish population register. He withdrew his candidacy after the revelation.

New legislation planned

— It is of course sick. It is completely unacceptable, says Migration Minister Johan Forssell to the Bonnier newspaper Expressen.

The government will propose a new law called "tolerated stay" to handle people in this situation. They will then not receive temporary residence permits, be prohibited from leaving a certain area, have reporting obligations, and not be able to access Swedish welfare or register in the population register.

The man has been in detention since September after the Swedish Migration Agency decided that he cannot be held in regular detention due to his criminal record.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

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