35,000 Ukrainians want to stay in Sweden

Published 16 March 2024 at 10.02

Domestic. On March 4, the application to extend a residence permit in accordance with the mass migration directive closed. About 35,000 Ukrainians have applied for extended protection until March 4, 2025, according to the Migration Agency.

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The application for extended temporary protection opened on January 29. At that time, roughly 38,000 people with residence permits according to the mass migration directive were registered in the Migration Agency's reception system until March 4 this year. They all received a letter to their postal address with information on how the extension application would go.

Approximately 35,000 people have now submitted an application for an extended residence permit.

– We are now going through the cases for the roughly 3,000 people who had protection but did not apply for an extension. Individuals who are judged to be expelled from Sweden are written out of the reception system, says Per Möller, process manager at the Migration Agency.

Of those who applied for an extension, close to 18,000 people have already received their decisions. Many have also managed to get their new residence permit cards.

The mass migration directive now applies until March 4, 2025. According to the Swedish Migration Agency, it is still too early to say which rules will apply after that date.

– The work to decide what will happen to the people who have fled the war in Ukraine is ongoing at both national and EU level. The Swedish Migration Agency will contact those affected before their residence permit expires and tell them what to do, says Per Möller.