Sweden tightens conduct rules for residency permits

New legal changes took effect on Monday, allowing Sweden’s Migration Agency to assess an applicant’s overall conduct when deciding on residency permits, as the government seeks to enforce stricter standards for “honest and orderly” behaviour.

Migration Minister Johan Forssell (Moderates) defended the reforms in a debate on SVT’s Aktuellt, stating the law clarifies expectations for newcomers. “People should live honestly and responsibly. Most immigrants already do, but now it’s clearer. For example, benefit fraud will not be tolerated,” he said.

Niels Paarup-Petersen, the Centre Party’s migration spokesperson, criticised the rules as arbitrary. “No one knows what ‘conduct’ means. We’re getting arbitrariness—legal certainty like Fifa’s, not Sweden’s,” he said, referencing a disputed suspension in the Football World Cup.

Forssell rejected claims the term was vague. “It’s natural for a guest to behave well. A country must be built on law, not improvisation,” he said, while Paarup-Petersen argued even minor mistakes by workers or others should not risk their status. “A country should be built on law—not on made-up rules,” he countered.

When pressed on how applicants could know the boundaries, Forssell pointed to examples in the parliamentary bill, including debt and fraud. He added that treating well-behaved immigrants the same as those who break rules would be unfair to the majority.