New citizenship law may be tested in the Migration Court of Appeal

What happened

A high-profile case regarding Sweden's new citizenship law is expected to proceed to the Migration Court of Appeal. The case concerns whether the stricter requirements, which took effect on June 6, should apply to applications submitted before the law changed. The Migration Court in Malmö recently rejected a man's appeal on the grounds that the Riksdag and government intended the rules to apply to pending cases. The court's chief judge Fredrik Löndahl stated in an interview with The Local that he expects the supreme instance to take up the issue. The applicant has until October 1 to appeal.

Our analysis

The issue concerns fundamental legal certainty for new Swedes. When authorities change the rules in the middle of the game, people lose trust in the state. Thousands of people have submitted their documents in good faith and waited for months or years, only to be met with entirely new requirements at the finish line. If the Migration Court of Appeal upholds the Malmö court's interpretation, it establishes that political promises of tightening take precedence over predictability in administrative decisions. Legal certainty cannot be an exception that only applies when it suits prevailing political opinion.

Explained

The Migration Court of Appeal is Sweden's supreme court in migration matters. The court's decisions become precedent-setting, meaning that all other courts and the Swedish Migration Agency must follow the same interpretation of the law.

Source: The Local Sweden