Sweden’s parliament passed a law on Monday allowing authorities to revoke immigrants’ residency permits based on bad behaviour, such as having unpaid debts, doing undeclared work or links to extremist organisations.
The law, which covers pending permits but also retroactively already granted permits, is part of a wider tightening of immigration rules by the right-wing government and its support party, the nationalist Sweden Democrats, ahead of a parliamentary election in September.
The law has been criticised by the opposition and human rights advocacy groups as arbitrary because decisions would be taken on behaviour that has not been deemed criminal.
“The good behaviour law leaves people in uncertainty about what actions or expressions can be used against them,” Stockholm-based group Civil Rights Defenders said in a statement.
“It undermines the rule of law and the principle of equality before the law.”
The government, which won the 2022 election on a promise to reduce immigration and crack down on crime, has said that people who misbehave or commit crimes are not welcome.