Call for evidence: Residence card delays in Sweden

Are you the non-EU family member of an EU citizen living in Sweden?

Are you experiencing delays in receiving your residence card?

The EU Rights Clinic can help!

Under EU law, the Swedish authorities are required to issue residence documents within six months to the family members of EU citizens who come from a country outside the EU.

However, the reality is that the Swedish migration authority (Migrationsverket) is taking well over a year – sometimes even two years – to issue a residence card to non-EU family members.

As a result, family members are unable to lead a normal life: they cannot prove their right to work, they are unable to leave Sweden while awaiting their residence document, and the state of uncertainty caused by excessive delays can lead to anxiety and depression.

This undermines the right of free movement which EU citizens and family members are guaranteed under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

The EU Rights Clinic have received several complaints from non-EU family members in Sweden and we have therefore launched a review to determine whether this is a systematic problem which merits a complaint to the EU institutions.

We are therefore calling upon all non-EU family members of EU citizens who are living in Sweden and who have been waiting more than six months to obtain a residence card from the Migrationsverket to contact us by email (eurightsclinic) and share their experiences.

If you or anyone you know have been waiting for more than six months to obtain a family member residence card (“uppehållskort för en unionsmedborgares familjemedlem”), please contact us by email (eurightsclinic).

All information received will be treated confidentially and will not be divulged without your explicit consent.

Tack så mycket!

The EU Rights Clinic

The EU Rights Clinic is a partnership between ECAS and the University of Kent in Brussels. It helps EU citizens and their family members overcome problems they encounter when moving within the EU.

The EU Rights is grateful for the financial support it has received from the European Programme for Integration and Migration under its sub-fund on EU mobility.