STOCKHOLM (Feb 9): Sweden will tighten citizenship rules with applicants facing a longer, eight-year wait before they can apply, a minimum wage threshold and a test of their understanding of Swedish society, the centre-right government said on Monday. Successive governments have tightened immigration policies since 2015, when around 160,000 asylum seekers sought refuge in Sweden. But the minority coalition government is betting that an even more restrictive line on immigration will prove popular with voters in September's parliamentary election. Anyone with a criminal record, either in Sweden or abroad, will have to wait longer before they can apply. The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, who back the minority coalition government, have blamed decades of what they say are failed immigration policies for a wave of gangland crime that has swept the country.

Source: The Edge Markets February 09, 2026 17:41 UTC