Citizenship processing: auditor finds it not effective

If your citizenship case has taken years, a state audit now explains a big part of why. Most of the time is spent waiting in a queue, not on active work on your case.

This is not a new law, and it is not our own reporting. It is a public audit from Riksrevisionen (the Swedish National Audit Office), and here we summarise what it says.

What the audit found

On 25 March 2025, Riksrevisionen published its report, RiR 2025:5. It looked at how Migrationsverket handles citizenship cases.

Migrationsverket's handling of citizenship cases is not effective.

The audit found weak routines and a weak basis for some decisions. This affects how Migrationsverket assesses identity and hemvist (the time you have lived in Sweden).

It also looked at the handläggningstid (the handling or processing time). In a median case, waiting in the queue was about 82 percent of that time.

The report also found that in nearly one third of granted cases, the applicant could not fully prove their identity.

Riksrevisionen also gave recommendations to Migrationsverket and to the government. They point at better routines and a firmer basis for decisions, so that identity and hemvist are assessed on solid ground.

The government's answer

The government replied in a skrivelse (a written government response to parliament). It is Skr. 2025/26:9, from 11 September 2025.

The government called the findings valuable. But it accepted the audit's recommendations only in part.

What it means if you are waiting

This audit does not change the law. It does not speed up your own case, and it does not give you a new right or a new deadline.

What it does is explain, from a state body, why the wait is long. Much of the time is queue time before active handling even starts.

One practical point is worth knowing. Your waiting time counts from the day you applied, not from the day someone opens your file. So a long queue shows up as a long total time, even when the active work is short.

For your own case, only Migrationsverket can tell you where it stands. Questions about your application, your identity documents, or your hemvist belong with them.