Minister defends young-adult deportation rules as Left warns of delays

Migration Minister Johan Forssell defended Sweden’s new permit rules for young adults on Sunday, while the Left Party warned that long processing times could still leave people without protection against deportation.

In an Agenda debate with the Left’s migration spokesperson Samuel Gonzalez Westling, Forssell said the government’s changes allowed young adults to extend family-based residence permits. He called the opposition’s proposed law to stop deportations unclear.

Gonzalez Westling argued that applicants could miss the chance to extend their permits because cases take so long to process. He also rejected the deportations as immoral.

The dispute concerns young adults who previously held permits through a parent but reached adulthood before securing a continued right to stay.

The Migration Agency says the rules that took effect on 1 October allow extensions after age 18 and temporarily cover some people who already have deportation orders. It has resumed examining cases that were paused.

The agency says its aim is to let all affected young adults apply and have their cases assessed without processing time determining the outcome. A temporary route to apply on another basis from inside Sweden runs until December 2027, but applicants must still meet the conditions for that permit.

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