Sweden's immigration "safety valve" quietly creates new teen deportation risk, lawyer warns

Sweden's government raised the age limit for children counted as dependants of a parent with permanent residency from 18 to 21 on 1 October, calling it a fix for so-called teen deportations, and let young people apply for an independent permit without first leaving the country. The same bill lowered the dependant age limit for parents on the separate, EU-law "long-term residency" track from 21 to 18, which immigration lawyer Tomas Fridh warns will strip residency from teenagers whose applications were filed under the old limit. He said the government introduced new restrictions on the same group the day it announced the fix, showing it "lacks a genuine desire to ease the situation."

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