New family rules could add years before Sweden starts deciding
A proposed two-year eligibility wait would come before processing that already takes many family cases well over a year.
Some families could wait two years before applying to reunite in Sweden, then enter a system where many decisions already take another 14 to 23 months. The combined delay can consume school years, careers and the practical possibility of maintaining one household.
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A government proposition proposes a two-year waiting rule for family reunification in specified cases. The final reach depends on the law, its exceptions and each sponsor's status.
The Migration Agency's published waiting times show that 75 percent of recent decisions took about 14 months for partners, 17 months for children joining parents and 23 months for parents joining children.
Those figures are backward-looking, not promises for a new application. They cover different case types and do not measure every family's full separation. Even so, they reveal why an eligibility delay cannot be discussed apart from administrative time.
For a child, the combined clock can span school years. For partners, it can shape work, housing and decisions about where a shared life is realistically possible.
Lawmakers should publish the expected total separation under each route, including the eligibility rule, queue and appeals. A waiting policy is not fully described by the period written in legislation when the deciding institution adds a second, much longer uncertainty.
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