Sweden to Tighten Immigration Laws Amid Record Refugee Inflow

Sweden's ruling Social Democrat-Green coalition and the four parties in the centre-right Alliance opposition agreed to introduce a new category of temporary residence permits for some of the refugees arriving in the country, according to media reports.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Swedish government and four opposition parties reached a deal on Friday to tighten rules on immigration, a day after the state authorities more than doubled their migrant inflow forecast for 2015, The Local news portal reported.

Sweden's ruling Social Democrat-Green coalition and the four parties in the centre-right Alliance opposition agreed to introduce a new category of temporary residence permits for some of the refugees arriving in the country, the media outlet reported. Families with children and unaccompanied minors arriving to the country are not included in the proposal.

"We have got further than many thought we would. Perhaps even a bit further than we ourselves thought," Justice and Migration Minister Morgan Johansson of the Social Democrats said, as cited by the news portal.

Parliament also agreed to make it mandatory for all local authorities to take in some of the refugees and to raise the number of migrants Sweden accepts under the EU quota system to 5,000 from the current 1,900, the media outlet reported.

On Thursday, the Swedish Migration Board said the country expects an inflow of 140,000 to 190,000 asylum seekers this year, while in July the agency forecast a total of 74,000 refugees in 2015.

So far in 2015, about 100,000 refugees from war-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa have arrived in the country amid the major migrant crisis unraveling in Europe.