On October 1st, Sweden raised the maximum age at which a young adult can qualify as a dependant of a parent who has permanent residency, from 18 to 21 years. This move was meant to reduce the problem of teen deportations – young adults who are forced to leave Sweden after they turn 18, or because a parent receives permanent residency and they are no longer counted as a dependant.
But at the same time, in the same bill, the age limit for dependants of parents with long-term residency – a separate permit available under EU law – was lowered from 21 to 18.
"In my view, this demonstrates that the Tidö government lacks a genuine desire to ease the situation for the group of young adults currently affected by 'teen deportations' – given that, on the very same day they announced their safety valve, they also introduced restrictive measures targeting that exact same age group in the same situation," lawyer Tomas Fridh told The Local.
"It also shows that a solution for this group requires a substantive review of the legal framework governing migration. The politicians in power in recent years have either lacked the will or the knowledge to present a solution for this group which actually helps those affected," he added.
According to Fridh, many people applied for long-term rather than permanent residency when the age limit for the former was still 21, because their teenage children otherwise risked deportation.
Those who currently have a pending application will be hit by the lowered age limit, meaning that an 18-year-old who would previously have been allowed to stay as a dependant of their parent with long-term residency, will now have their application rejected and face leaving Sweden.
Fridh warned that it could be a growing problem, as the decision to phase out permanent residency for many immigrants has pushed a lot of people towards long-term residency instead.
The issue of "teen deportations" became one of the biggest stories in the Swedish media and sparked a public outcry in 2026, long after the issue was first raised by The Local in 2022.
When the media storm around deportations was at its peak, at the end of February of that year, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson claimed that the problem only affected "a handful of individual cases".
But investigations by The Local, as well as the Aftonbladet newspaper, showed that the problem was far more widespread, likely affecting hundreds of families living and working in Sweden.
It eventually prompted the government to create what it called a "safety valve" for teenagers, which came into effect on October 1st 2026, raising the age limit for children of permanent residency holders and making it possible to apply for an independent permit without having to leave Sweden first.
The centre-left parties, who argue the safety valve isn't sufficiently far-reaching, agreed on October 6th to draft a temporary mechanism to halt teenage deportations until a new and permanent solution is put in place. It's not yet clear whether this would cover the children of those with pending long-term residency applications, who now risk deportation after they turn 18.
The Local has asked the Migration Agency for statistics to find out how many teenagers or young adults risk being deported as a result of the new rules.