Indians in Sweden: Why were only 25 Indians granted Swedish citizenship in April?
The number of Swedish citizenships awarded to Indian applicants – one of Sweden's largest groups of new citizens in recent years – fell by 94 percent in April. Here's why.
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With 1,234 Swedish citizenships awarded to Indian nationals (including children applying together with their parents) so far in 2025, it's the third top nationality granted Swedish citizenship this year, behind only people from Syria and Afghanistan.
In total, 330 Swedish citizenships were granted to Indians in January, 463 in February and 441 in March. But then there was a sharp drop to only 25 citizenships in April.
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But in fact, Indians aren't the only ones affected, although the decrease is particularly stark considering how many received Swedish citizenship every month before that.
For example the number of citizenships handed to Syrians fell from 684 in March to 132 in April. People from the UK saw an equally sharp drop as Indians, from 108 in March to six in April, as well as people from Bosnia-Herzegovina (from 56 to three).
This article shows how many people of each nationality became Swedes in April.
We don't know who those 25 Indians who did receive Swedish citizenship in April are, but based on what we know from the Migration Agency's data, they are presumably either people who were granted citizenship after appealing in court, as well as those given citizenship by notification (an easier route available to children, as well as to Nordic citizens, although the latter is less likely to apply in this case).
The reason for the decline is that new security checks imposed by the government have left the Swedish Migration Agency unable to approve any citizenship applications by naturalisation for over a month and a half, which affects nearly all nationalities.
The sticking point is that the agency hasn't yet fully set up its routines to be able to carry out in-person identification checks required of all applicants as of April 1st (although we've been told that they're almost ready to have them up and running).
The new security checks come after the government and the far-right Sweden Democrat ordered the Migration Agency to take 'forceful measures' to 'as far as possible' prevent people who pose a threat to security or use a fake identity from being granted citizenship.
However, at the moment it's also affecting people who aren't security concerns.
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In January, Migration Minister Johan Forssell promised The Local's readers that work permit holders and people from countries without security risks would be unaffected by any delays caused by the new security checks, but so far, everyone is affected.
Eventually, the idea is that that certain nationalities with biometric passports will be exempt from in-person identity checks and will instead be able to confirm their identity digitally via the Freja app, but the technological solution for that isn't yet in place.
So even once the in-person checks are launched, all Swedish citizenship applicants will have to turn up at a Migration Agency office to confirm their identity in person when instructed to do so by the Migration Agency.
A full list of the nationalities that will be exempt is not yet available.
India in the process of rolling out biometric e-passports to its citizens, but it is currently not on a list of 22 countries who are able to confirm their passport digitally to receive a Swedish residency permit (the number of countries with biometric passports is however greater).
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