Swedish court rules stricter citizenship
Photo: Henrik Montgomery/TT

Swedish court rules stricter citizenship residency rule applies to old cases

The requirement to have lived in Sweden for at least eight years to obtain Swedish citizenship also applies to people who applied for citizenship before the change in the law and who met the old five-year requirement when they applied.

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The Migration Court in Malmö has reached this conclusion in a ruling regarding a man from a country outside the EU who has lived in Sweden since 2019. He applied for citizenship in June 2025. The Migration Board rejected his application on June 9, 2026 - three days after the legal amendment that tightened the requirement for eight years of residence in Sweden.

"The legislator has democratically decided to tighten the conditions for being granted Swedish citizenship. That legislation came into force on June 6, 2026 without transitional provisions, which was undoubtedly deliberate on the part of the legislator," the court writes in its decision.

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AuthorTT News AgencyEnglish edition by Sweden Herald, adapted for our readers
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