Swedenistan : 89,000 new residence permits handed out in 2019

Despite the widespread consequences the country has experienced from taking in large numbers of migrants, immigration into Sweden doesn’t appear to be slowing down at all. According to new statistics from the Migration Board, 89,000 residence permits have been granted by the Swedish government in the first nine months of 2019.

The report says that of the 89,000 residence permits that were issued, 13,000 were given to so-called ‘asylum seekers’, including 3,700 quota refugees, 2,300 to migrants who arrived under the Higher Education Act, and 2,100 to migrants with so-called ‘alternative protection requirements’.

Close to 23,000 residence permits were given to relatives of migrants who are already living in Sweden, while another 34,000 permits were handed out to migrants who’ve come to Sweden to work.

In recent years, the phenomenon known as ‘chain-migration’ has increased significantly in Sweden.
In 2018, 15,400 relatives of immigrants with work permits were granted residence permits in Sweden. A decade, earlier the corresponding figure was just 3,600. Relatives of immigrants now account for 42 per cent of the total labor migration coming from countries outside the EU. A decade ago, the same figure was only 17 percent, Sverige Radio reports.

Similarly to other Western countries, those who’ve obtained work permits in Sweden are able to bring their immediate family to also stay and live in Sweden.

Most of the relatives of Swedish migrants are coming from Iraq and Syria.

If immigrants continue to pour in at the same rate, the number of residence permits granted by the Swedish government is expected to reach around 120,000 by the end of the year – one of the highest numbers to date.

It should be noted that these figures only included first-time decisions that were granted. Meaning, those who already had temporary residence permits that were granted extensions are not included. If residency permit extensions were added in, the figure would be much larger.

In 2018, 132,696 residence permits were handed out.