A discussion has erupted among Kenyans in Stockholm as to whether the Swedish immigration rules have changed to allow Kenyans without papers to settle in the country. The debate was ignited through “BBC Stockholm” (Kenya underground News channel in Stockholm) that a Kenyan national who has been living “chini ya maji” is travelling to Kenya today after he was granted a Permanent Residence Permit (PUT). The Kenyan had applied for asylum more than five years ago but his case was dismissed by both the Swedish Immigration Department and the Swedish Aliens Board where he had appealed.
According to Inger Laggerström, a Press contact at the Swedish Immigration Department, “there is no law that has changed recently for asylum seekers whose cases had been dismissed by the authorities”.
Inger told KSB that the last change in the rules occurred on 9th November 2005 when Swedish Parliament decided through a “temporary six month law” that asylum seekers whose cases were facing dismissal between 15th November 2005 and 31st March 2006 would be reconsidered to stop their deportation by force.
FAMILY CONNECTIONS: NO PERMIT ON SWEDISH SOIL
The case also applied to refugees who had gone underground after their cases were dismissed by the Swedish authorities. This reconsideration of cases ended on 30th September 2006. A total of 8,000 refugees in the underground submitted their cases for reconsideration.
Because of this legislation, 31,112 cases were submitted for reconsideration out of which 1,000 cases were of those who had re-applied for asylum to benefit from the temporary law. At the end of the “test period” on 30th September last year, 13,021 Permanent Residence Permits were issued while 4,163 Temporary Permits were also issued, bringing the total figure to 17,184. From those who were allowed to stay, non was from Kenya. Majority were from Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan while others were families who have been waiting for Permits for long periods of time.
Majority of those who were issued with temporary Permits could not have their identities verified and their inability to travel back to their countries were considered to have been of “a temporary nature”.
Out of those who were granted Permits, 15,500 had been settled in a Kommun in Sweden while another 1,500 were still waiting to be settled.
Inger said that Kenyans and other persons seeking Residence status through family connections had to travel back to their respective countries to submit their applications for Residence Permit at the Swedish Embassy then wait. The waiting period ranges between 3 months and one year.
She said that there is no Permit being issued on Swedish soil in cases of family connections unless their was a “special circumstance”, a euphemism routinely used by Immigration officials to refer to cases where the woman was pregnant and the applicant was destined to become a parent.
FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION, MUNGIKI AND KENYAN ASYLUM SEEKERS
Last year, 120 Kenyans were given Residence Permits in Sweden. Out of this figure, 65 were women while 55 were men. A total of 55 Kenyan women and 21 Kenyan men were allowed to stay because of family connections. Permit related to work was granted to 1 woman and 8 men. Guest students were 9 women and 25 men while at least 1 Kenyan was allowed to stay because of unspecified reasons.
The statistics show that last year, more Kenyan women got married to persons with connections to Sweden as opposed to men who married 21 women with connections to Sweden.
Last year, 22 Kenyans sought asylum in Sweden although non was allowed to stay. According to the breakdown, 12 of the asylum seekers were women while 10 were men. At least 3 Kenyan children also sought asylum.
The major reasons why women were fleeing Kenya were related to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) while many men claimed that they were members of Mungiki sect who were facing death after abandoning the Movement.
The position of the Swedish government is that the problem of FGM is actively being addressed in Kenya by women’s groups, human rights organizations and the Kenyan government which has banned the practice by law.
On Mungiki, the Swedish government believes that the Kenyan government is in a position to deal with the sect and provide security for those threatened by the sect members. The arrest of a leading Mungiki sect leader is the latest argument that has been used as proof by the Swedish authorities to argue that the Kenyan government is addressing the security threat posed by Mungiki and that under the circumstances, Kenyans seeking asylum as a result of connections to the Movement have no case.
Okoth Osewe
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