‘I did nothing wrong’: Sweden’s migration regime hardens, upending lives
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xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoBy Heba HabibPublished On 1 Jul 20261 Jul 2026Earlier this month, Raquel Viveira’s partner handed her an envelope he had just retrieved from their postbox in Malmo.
The 31-year-old Brazilian felt hopeful when she saw the letter from Sweden’s migration agency. She had been waiting months for permanent residency. But her partner’s face went pale when he handed it to her.
“He said, ‘You gotta leave,’” said Viveira, who had been given days to leave the country. The next day was June 6, Sweden’s National Day. Viveira had planned to paint her nails in the colour of Sweden’s flag, blue and yellow.
Having completed Swedish for Immigrants language classes, she could speak the language. She had set up a sole trader business and paid taxes. She called the agency, seeking an explanation for the order.
Her removal was said to be because she had changed track between two cohabiting partner visas, as a previous relationship had ended. Under Sweden’s current migration framework, that technicality was enough. She booked a plane ticket and left.
“I did nothing wrong,” she told Al Jazeera by phone from Sao Paulo, where she is awaiting responses to her new application. Viveira runs an Instagram account about navigating Swedish bureaucracy. One video detailing her experience has amassed nearly 300,000 views.
The private messages never stop, she said, with white-collar workers, Swedish speakers and spouses of citizens all getting in touch to say they have lost their status. If family reunification laws tighten further, she could face removal again even after returning.
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