Permanent residence: plan to take back permits is paused

A government inquiry has proposed taking back permanent uppehållstillstånd (permanent residence permits) that people already hold. Nothing has been decided. Your permit is not affected today.

Migrationsverket (the Swedish Migration Agency) states that the question of revoking permanent residence permits has been paused until the next mandate period.

What the inquiry proposed

The report is SOU 2025:99, Ändring av permanent uppehållstillstånd för vissa utlänningar. It was handed over on 26 September 2025. An SOU is a statens offentliga utredning (a government inquiry report), and an inquiry report is a proposal, not a law.

The main rule in the proposal is that a permanent permit in certain groups would be revoked. It would be replaced by a tidsbegränsat uppehållstillstånd (a residence permit with an end date).

These are the groups the inquiry names.

• Refugees and other people who were granted a permit because they need protection.
• Quota refugees who were resettled to Sweden.
• People with varaktigt bosatt status (long-term resident in the European Union).
• People who got a permit because of synnerligen ömmande omständigheter (exceptionally distressing circumstances).
• People who got a permit under the temporary law or the gymnasium law.
• Family members of everyone in the groups above.

Two exceptions in the proposal

The inquiry writes that a permit would not be revoked from someone who has already started a Swedish citizenship case within a certain time. That protection holds as long as the case has not been finally refused.

There is also a general exception. A permit would be kept when there are synnerliga skäl (very special reasons) against taking it back.

How many people it would reach

Migrationsverket answered the consultation on 19 December 2025. In its response the agency estimates that about 185,000 people could be covered.

The agency also put the cost of examining all of those cases at close to six billion kronor. The inquiry itself had estimated 1.2 billion kronor.

Where it stands now

The remiss (the round where authorities and organisations give their views) is over, and the government has not written a bill. Migrationsverket states that the question has been paused until the next mandate period.

The next mandate period starts after the general election on 13 September 2026. The newly elected Riksdag (the Swedish parliament) meets for the first time on 28 September 2026.

So nothing changes for your permit right now. If the question comes back, it would still need a bill, a vote in the Riksdag and a start date before it applies to anyone.

This article describes a proposal that is paused. What applies to your own permit today is something only Migrationsverket or a qualified lawyer can answer.