Nordic nations change immigration approaches to reflect current policy trends

Sweden

Last year, the number of people who were granted asylum in Sweden dropped to its lowest level in 40 years. Furthermore, the number of people who applied for asylum in Sweden in 2024 was also at its lowest in almost three decades, with well under 10,000 applications.

Successive Swedish governments have made it more difficult and less attractive to seek protection in the Nordic nation, with more recent measures introduced to reduce migration including the granting of only temporary residence permits to asylum seekers, tighter rules on family reunification, and raising income requirements for work visas. 

The current government also tabled a bill late last year to restrict the possibility of rejected asylum seekers reapplying for asylum.

The proposed change in legislation is intended to close a loophole, whereby many failed asylum seekers in Sweden went underground after being rejected, and presented their case again four years later, after the statute of limitations had expired.

If the law is passed, failed asylum seekers will have to prove that they left the country before submitting another application in the future.

The current Swedish government has also announced plans to encourage migrants to leave the country by offering a cash incentive of 34,000 dollars (around 33,000 euros).

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Finland

The situation along Finland’s 1340-kilometer border with Russia is largely informed by the war in Ukraine as well as reports saying Moscow is sending irregular migrants from the Middle East to parts of the EU’s eastern external border to weaken those countries and to undermine cohesion within the bloc.

Helsinki has claimed that an increase in migrants presenting along its border with Russia was orchestrated by the Kremlin along these lines. They like other eastern European countries bordering Russia or Belarus, accuse Moscow of plotting hybrid war, using migrants as ‘weapons’.

Finland’s government confirmed recently that it plans to keep its border with Russia closed until further notice, and that it will also be extending a controversial law on a monthly basis, which will allow border guards to turn away asylum seekers along that border under certain circumstances.

Only certain asylum seekers, such as children or people with disabilities, are allowed to seek protection on the border — a practise, which some rights groups as well as the Council of Europe have decried as a violation of human rights.

“The security situation at Finland’s eastern border is tense but stable for now. However, we must be prepared for rapid and critical changes,” Interior Minister Mari Rantanen told the AFP news agency.

Last year, Finland tabled a series of bills to restrict its current asylum and citizenship laws, including shorter periods of protection granted to asylum seekers, a reduction in welfare benefit payments and longer residency requirements to qualify for citizenship.

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Norway

The wealthiest Scandinavian country, Norway, is also adapting its asylum and immigration regimen to meet broader migration trends.

The most recent changes affect mainly Ukrainians, with the Norwegian government declaring six oblasts (areas in Ukraine) as “safe” in November 2024.

Minister of Justice and Public Security Emilie Mehl said at the time that while Norway’s support of Ukraine remained “unwavering,” the “collective protection scheme (for Ukrainians) will now be more precisely targeted to those who need it.”

“In the future, asylum seekers from Ukraine will be treated on a par with other asylum seekers.”

Like other EU countries, Norway also wants to shift its overall immigration pattern from irregular migration to skilled migration, and has launched a number of programs to facilitate this.

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Denmark

The Danish government has repeatedly hit the headlines with its novel, and sometimes criticized, approach to immigration.

In line with several other European countries, like Italy and Austria, Denmark continues to float the idea of outsourcing asylum procedures to third countries outside the European Union.

Even though the Danish government had distanced itself from the specific scenario of following the UK’s former policy of setting up asylum centers in Rwanda, it continues to be a main proponent of the approach of ensuring migrants and refugees are sent outside the EU to have their fates decided on there.

In a separate development, the Danish government is also considering scrapping a general rule that allowed failed asylum seekers to remain in the country for another 18 months.

However, this particular legal loophole has only applied to 18 individuals since 2016.

Meanwhile, the northern European nation has also repeatedly extended its checks along its border with Germany to ensure that only people who are allowed into the country will travel there.

At the end of December, Denmark’s leader Mette Friederiksen said during Prime Minister’s Question Time that she expected Syrians to start returning home to help rebuild their country, now that the circumstances causing them to seek refuge had changed.

Like many other European countries, Denmark also annouonced a temporary halt to the processing of new asylum claims from Syria until a new assessment could be made of the situation in the country following the fall of President Assad and his regime.

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Iceland

Iceland witnessed some political turmoil late in 2024, as parliament was dissolved and fresh elections called. The Social Democrats took over leadership with a campaign that partly focused on holding a referendum to join the European Union by 2027.

A slight majority of Icelanders currently are in favor of joining the bloc, which would mean that all of the island nation’s asylum and immigration laws would have be in line with EU law.

Iceland has some of the most liberal laws in all of Europe and is likely to maintain its current policy of welcoming people who are fleeing persecution.

However, the country also wants to shed its image as a final-attempt destination for migrants whose asylum cases are rejected in the EU.

Under EU law, if one member state rejects an individual case, that ruling applies to all other states; however, with Iceland currently not part of the bloc, many people keep the option of trying their luck in the sparsely populated Nordic nation as a card up their sleeves.

That said, Iceland’s geographic position makes it more difficult to arrive there in the first place, since it is surrounded by sea and has no land borders with any other European nation.

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