Move is another message to refugees that Sweden’s warm welcome has cooled as many now face being forcibly ejected
Refugees sleep outside Swedish Migration Agency’s arrival centre in
Malmö. Sweden received more than 160,000 asylum applications last year.
Photograph: Tt News Agency/Reuters
Sweden
is gearing up to reject up to 80,000 people who applied for asylum in
the country last year, as many as half of whom will be forced to leave
against their will, according to official estimates.
The interior ministry has called on police and migration authorities
to prepare for a sharp increase in deportations, and to arrange charter
flights to expel failed asylum seekers to their country of origin.
Sweden is also approaching other EU countries, including Germany, to
discuss cooperation to increase efficiency and make sure flights are
filled to capacity, it said.
The country received more than 160,000 asylum applications last year –
by far the biggest influx in the EU as a proportion of the population.
Between 60,000 and 80,000 of them will be rejected, the interior
minister, Anders Ygeman, told Swedish media on Thursday.
The revelation that a large proportion of asylum seekers will be
turned down, and as many as half of failed applications will be forcibly
ejected, sends another signal to refugees that Sweden is no longer extending the warm welcome it offered to them just a few months ago.
Other
Scandinavian countries are stepping up their attempts to broadcast to
the war-torn regions of the world that they are no longer such an
attractive destination for refugees. Norway last week began deporting asylum seekers to Russia through the Arctic, while Denmark’s new law enabling police to confiscate cash and valuables from refugees has drawn sharp international criticism.
Sweden started to introduce border controls in November to stem a
flow of asylum seekers running at 10,000 each week. In January it made
it impossible for refugees to cross the bridge linking Sweden with
Denmark unless they could show a passport or driving licence, since when
the numbers are down to about 800 per week.
“If it stays at these levels we expect 45,000 applications in 2016 – still a very high number, but manageable,” Harju said.
Last year Sweden turned down some 20,000 asylum applicants, or 45% of
those who had previously arrived and made claims. About 3,000 were
deported with a further 7,000 who were handed over to police
disappearing from the immigration system and avoiding expulsion.
The remaining 10,000 people whose applications were rejected left the country of their own accord, the justice ministry said.
The overall approval rate may actually increase in 2016, the
immigration ministry said, as the record 160,000 who put in asylum
requests in 2015 included more citizens of Afghanistan and Syria, for
whom it is easier to obtain refugee status than for other groups.
Syrians used to receive an automatic right to permanent residency,
but this was removed late last year, to be replaced by temporary
residence of up to three years. However, it does not affect the way
asylum applications are treated, according to the ministry.
The backlog of asylum applications in the system means it will take
up to two years for all the expulsions to be decided among 2015
applicants, the ministry said. The migration board is still dealing with
applications from 2014, with the average processing time at more than
eight months.
The border police said it was “vigorously expanding” its activities
and aiming to double police numbers in the next few years to cope with
the task of returning failed asylum seekers, and to deal with the
“significant risk” of people going underground to escape deportation.
“What the government has done is acknowledge that the issue of
returning nationals to their country of origin is going to be a big task
because of the high numbers,” according to Jonatan Holst, a
spokesperson for the immigration ministry.
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