STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s center-right government said on Friday it planned to make all asylum seekers live in migrant reception centers while their cases are processed, in a further tightening of immigration regulations.
People will have to prove that they have moved to the centers, or risk losing their benefits, and also agree to travel restrictions, Migration Minister Johan Forssell told reporters.
Successive governments have tightened immigration policies since 2015 when around 160,000 asylum seekers sought refuge in Sweden. The issue has driven the rise of anti-immigration parties across Europe and is likely to be a key factor in Sweden’s parliamentary elections in September.
“People who are in the system will have to live with the Migration Agency ... I want to stress that these aren’t prisons,” Forssell said.
He said the current law, which allows asylum seekers to choose their own living arrangements, had led to problems with overcrowding, social exclusion and made it easier for people to stay in Sweden illegally.
