STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden is preparing to change the constitution to be able to take away the passports of people who obtained citizenship by fraudulent means, or who are a threat to the state, the government said on Wednesday.
People with dual nationality who received citizenship by providing false information, bribery or threats, as well as people convicted of crimes like espionage or treason could be stripped of their Swedish passports if the law is passed.
“The background is that Sweden is dealing with three parallel and very serious threats to our internal security,” Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer told a news conference. “Violent extremism, state actors acting in a hostile manner towards Sweden, as well as systemic and organized crime.”
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.
Around 20% of Sweden’s 10.5 million citizens were born abroad.
Earlier this week, the government proposed that the time before an immigrant living in Sweden can apply for citizenship be raised to eight years from five.
The committee also recommended making the right to abortion part of the constitution.
(Reporting by Johan Ahlander; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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