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1. An increased focus on North and East Africa in this year's refugee quota

   The Swedish Migration Agency has now determined the allocation of this year's so-called refugee resettlement quota. An increased focus on North and East Africa, as well as continued strong support for Syrian refugees, accounts for the majority of the places.

2. Reports of suspected war crimes are increasing

   The Swedish Migration Agency is reporting an increasing number of suspected war crimes to the police. “This is the result of a clear increase in the authority’s ambitions in recent years when it comes to address this issue,” says Oskar Ekblad, Section Manager at the Swedish Migration Agency.

3. More youths may be covered by the new law on upper secondary education  

   The Swedish Migration Agency has decided that unaccompanied minors who had arrived in Sweden before 24 November 2015, but whose asylum application was registered with the Swedish Migration Agency after this date, may under certain circumstances be covered by the new law on upper secondary education.

4. Forecast for the number of asylum seekers unchanged

   The Swedish Migration Agency still aims to settle 54,000 asylum cases this year, and a clear reversal of the trend, with shorter processing times, can be seen. “Our work is going in the right direction. We are now settling the last of the older cases”, says Veronica Lindstrand Kant, head of the Swedish Migration Agency’s National Coordination Department.

5. Over 3,000 relocated asylum seekers from Greece and Italy are in place in Sweden

   Sweden has now fulfilled its commitment to the EU’s decision of 2015 that member states should take asylum seekers from Greece and Italy. 3,045 people have arrived here from the middle of June 2017 to the beginning of January 2018. “Those who have come here have been very happy. They have been well looked after following a long and hard wait,” says Louise Weber, who has been leading the Swedish Migration Agency’s work on this assignment.

6. Forecast: “We now have the right conditions to work differently”

   By mid-2018, those who applied for asylum prior to 2017 will have received a decision in their cases. “We have now created the right conditions for working differently, in a way that utilises the agency’s full capabilities. We have settled a quarter of a million asylum cases over the last three years”, says Mikael Ribbenvik, Director-General of the Swedish Migration Agency.

7. Sweden is the third largest recipient country of quota refugees

   The Swedish refugee quota has increased from 1,900 to 5,000 places since 2016. Sweden is now the third largest recipient country. This year too, the focus of the quota is on refugees from Syria. In addition, large groups are to arrive from East Africa and along the central Mediterranean route in North Africa.

8. New position on Iraq

   The situation in Iraq has changed in several ways over the past year, not least because IS has lost all of its territorial control. The Swedish Migration Agency has therefore made a new assessment of the security situation in the country.