Sweden is preparing to change its constitution to be able to revoke the passports of individuals who obtained citizenship by fraudulent means or are a threat to the state.
Currently, Sweden’s constitution does not allow for citizenships to be revoked.
According to Reuters, people with dual nationality who received Swedish citizenship by providing false information, bribery, or threats could be stripped of their passports. Additionally, people convicted of crimes like espionage or treason would lose their passports, as well.
"The background is that Sweden is dealing with three parallel and very serious threats to our internal security," Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer said during a news conference. "Violent extremism, state actors acting in a hostile manner towards Sweden, as well as systemic and organized crime."
Reported, right-wing lawmakers promised to make these kinds of changes in 2022 (via Reuters):
Sweden's minority government and its backers, the far-right and anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, won the 2022 election on a promise to keep reducing immigration and gang crime, which they say are linked. Stockholm granted the lowest number of residence permits to asylum seekers and their relatives on record in 2024.
The proposals to revoke citizenship were put forward by a cross-party parliamentary committee. To change the Swedish constitution, the proposals need to pass a vote in parliament with a simple majority, followed by a general election and then a second Riksdag vote.
The right-wing government parties and their backers wanted to go further to also be able to revoke the citizenship of gang criminals with dual citizenship, but that proposal did not make it into the committee proposal.
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Reportedly, about 20 percent of Sweden's citizens were born in a different country.
Additionally, the government proposed that the time before an immigrant living in Sweden can obtain citizenship be increased from five years to eight years.
About 600 people who were considered security threats by authorities applied for Swedish citizenship last year, Migration Minister Johan Forssell said this week, according to EuroNews. And, the country is dropping the hammer when it comes to immigration:
However, the country has cracked down hard on immigration in recent years. While more than 86,000 residence permits were granted to asylum seekers and their relatives in 2016 following the European migration crisis, that number dropped to a record low of 6,250 last year.
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