Sweden’s Green Party wants the country to accept 5,000 quota refugees each year, compared with the current level of 900. Co-leader Daniel Helldén presented the position during Swedish Radio’s party leader interview on Thursday, 6 August.
Helldén said Sweden could receive more people than it does today. The proposal forms part of a wider Green Party plan to restore permanent residence permits as the main rule and make it easier for some workers to remain in Sweden.
Green Party proposes 5,000 quota refugees
“We can receive more than we do today,” Helldén said during Ekot’s party leader interview. The quotation has been translated from Swedish.
Helldén said Sweden should increase its participation in the United Nations resettlement system because quota refugees are often among the people most in need of protection.
Quota refugees are selected for possible resettlement by the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR. They receive a residence permit before travelling to Sweden and are assigned to a municipality after arrival.
The Swedish Migration Agency says the government has set Sweden’s annual quota at 900 people since 2023. UNHCR identifies refugees for assessment, while Swedish authorities decide which people will be accepted.
The Green Party wants Sweden to return to an annual level of 5,000 quota refugees. This would be more than five times the present figure. The party describes resettlement as a safe route for children, women, torture survivors and people with serious legal or medical protection needs.
MP wants permanent residence restored
The Green Party also wants permanent residence permits to become the main rule in Sweden again.
The party argues that people who know they can remain in the country have better opportunities to work, study, learn Swedish and plan for the future. It also wants stronger family reunification rights and shorter processing times for asylum cases.
Another proposal concerns the Swedish system known as spårbyte, or “track change”. It previously allowed some people whose asylum applications had been rejected to apply for work permits without first leaving Sweden.
Parliament abolished track changes on 1 April 2025. The Swedish Migration Agency estimated that the decision affected around 4,700 people, including workers with existing permits and members of their families.
The Green Party wants to restore the system for people who work, support themselves and have become established in Sweden. It says wages that follow collective agreements or normal conditions in the relevant industry should be sufficient for a work permit.
Current rules normally require a monthly salary equal to at least 90 per cent of Sweden’s median salary. The present threshold is SEK 34,470, although lower limits apply to certain exempt professions and groups.
Government parties criticise the proposal
The announcement received strong criticism from parties supporting Sweden’s current centre-right government.
Liberal Party leader Simona Mohamsson said Helldén was ignoring Sweden’s integration problems. She argued that the country should not return to what she described as the earlier red-green approach to migration.
Ludvig Aspling, migration policy spokesperson for the Sweden Democrats, said the Green Party’s plans could return Swedish migration policy to the situation of about ten years ago. His comments referred to the high number of asylum seekers who arrived during the 2015 refugee crisis.
The Green Party’s proposals are not changes to current law. Their implementation would depend on the result of the 2026 election, negotiations between parties and decisions by the Swedish Parliament.
