The right-wing Sweden Democrats (SD) party has called for a review of permanent residence permits for Syrians in Sweden, arguing that the fall of ousted president Bashar al-Assad signals a potential opportunity for refugees to return home.
Taking to X, the SD leader Jimmie Åkesson urged those celebrating the regime change — after Islamist rebels seized control of large swathes of the country — to return to their homeland.
“Unfortunately, it speaks volumes that Syria has now emerged from the ashes of the fire because destructive Islamist forces are behind the change of power.
“I note that there are groups that are happy about this here in Sweden. You should see this as a good opportunity to go home,” he wrote.
Some European countries including Austria, Germany, and indeed Sweden, have suspended asylum applications from Syria following last week’s events. However, the Sweden Democrats — which keeps the center-right Swedish government in power with its support — want the government to go further with the potential revocation of permanent residence permits handed out to those who fled the previous regime.
Germany and Austria have frozen asylum applications from Syria.
Now, @GeertWildersPVV is calling for the Netherlands to do the same — and calls for those cheering the new regime to go home. pic.twitter.com/sdH2M9mtae
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) December 9, 2024The proposal aligns with the Tidö Agreement, which led to the formation of the current coalition with SD support and which already includes plans to convert permanent residence permits to temporary ones.
Ludvig Aspling, the SD’s migration spokesperson, stated that refugee status should not automatically translate into a lifetime right to remain in Sweden.
“Refugeeship is by its nature temporary. It is not meant that you should automatically stay for the rest of your life,” he said in an interview reported by Aftonbladet.
The Syrian community in Stockholm, Sweden took to the
streets today to celebrate Assad’s downfall
🇸🇪
pic.twitter.com/DTmhN2WUKE
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Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) December
8, 2024Despite the calls for returns, Aspling admitted the current safety of Syria is uncertain. “It is difficult to say at the moment. We’ll see how it develops,” he said, though he noted that some Syrians themselves believe it is safe to return. Aspling pointed to data from Denmark, where authorities have revoked residence permits for Syrians who traveled back to Syria during the war, often for holidays. He suggested similar patterns likely occurred among Syrians in Sweden.
Indeed, Remix News previously reported on a 2022 Novus survey which revealed that 79 percent of refugees in Sweden had vacationed in their countries of origin. Just last week, the Swedish government tasked multiple authorities with mapping instances of refugees traveling to their home countries, a practice Migration Minister Johan Forssell described as undermining the integrity of the asylum system.
The Swedish government is tasking authorities with enhancing efforts to investigate and address cases of refugees vacationing in their home countries, aiming to protect the legitimacy of the asylum system. https://t.co/TyymnS7KHW
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) December 6, 2024“We can assume that many have flown out of Sweden, even during periods when the war has been going on. So now that the war is over, it’s hard to see how that would make the situation worse,” Aspling noted.
The SD spokesman dismissed concerns about the new Islamist regime in Syria, stating that “many destructive Islamists” already live in Sweden. He added that fleeing from an Islamist regime does not automatically grant the right to asylum. “Refugee grounds are required.”
After thousands of Syrians took to the streets of Vienna to celebrate the fall of Assad, Austria's right is already saying "farewell" to the group. https://t.co/xCXqeIfd4T
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) December 9, 2024Asked whether Sweden could see itself receiving even more refugees from Syria as those in step with the former regime flee the country, Aspling said categorically, “Sweden cannot accept more asylum seekers. It is completely out of the question.”
However, those with legitimate grounds for asylum will not be forced out.
“If people who live here have reasons not to go back, they will not lose their protection status declaration. Then they can stay,” he added.
