Many exceptions to entry bans in Sweden - people who do not have permits admitted
There is a temporary entry ban in Sweden, right now until 15 May. But the exceptions are many and it still lands about 40 planes on Arlanda per day. Anyone with flu-like symptoms is encouraged to seek care, but no special check is made.
And every day at least a couple of people who do not have the right to cross the border are stopped. The majority of them are admitted anyway.
- Apocalyptic, right?
Border Police Gustaf Engström looks out through the huge glass sections at the F-pier at Arlanda. At the far end of the concrete slab are three obviously abandoned Norwegian planes parked, behind them some equally stranded "SAS carts".
- It doesn't even smell like aviation fuel here anymore. As it usually does, Gustaf Engström continues.
No wonder. So far in April, air traffic has decreased by 97 percent. Since you normally have 170 border police on duty on a rolling schedule, you are now down to 20, plus, of course, a number of passport inspectors. Out of 600 flights per day, some 40 remain, many of them going to and from countries outside Schengen.
About ten of the flights are cargo flights, some of the plans are so-called repatriation flights, ie trips that are carried out with the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Others are more or less half-empty regular flights, a few of the flights have come on private initiative - such as the plane that landed last night with just over 90 Swedish citizens on board. It was lifted from Baghdad - without the border police being informed of who was actually on board.
- There it broke down in the communications, the permits to land came very late and tight in, states Arlanda's deputy local police area manager Lars Hammarsjö who also noted that some information has been broken regarding some less private chartered planes that have been allowed to land on Bromma during the last for weeks - without the border police in place.
According to Swedavia, there are about 15 flight movements per day at Bromma, where it is about socially important flights such as ambulance flights, cargo flights and private business flights.
Two of the passengers on the privately chartered plane from Baghdad, a married couple, were rejected directly at border control when they were not allowed to enter Sweden because of the "Temporary Travel Ban Regulation" (SFS 2020: 127).
Three days later, when DN is in place, they are still left in a deserted transit hall; all restaurants and cafes are closed. They have access to water and toilets, but that's all. Here also sits a man from Ukraine who had hoped to come to Sweden to work.
- We've bought food at McDonald's a couple of times. But tonight we hope that all three will come away, watches the border police officer Finnsson who does not want his first name in the newspaper.
He has difficulty concealing that the situation is far from satisfactory.
For a few weeks now he has fixed blankets, bought diapers and shelter for several people who have ended up in the no man's land that is the transit hall.
So there are those people where the police believe that you can find a flight back within three days - and that is far from everyone. Since the entry ban was first introduced in mid-March, some 70 individuals have been rejected directly at the border check - but most of them have been admitted into Sweden anyway because there were no flights back to their destinations of origin within a reasonable time.
- We don't know where to do them. You can't live here at the airport. So we handle their passports and let them go, with the hope that they will return as soon as they can, says Finnsson.
The Border Police Section of Noa, the national police department of the police, is aware of the difficulties in enforcing the rejection decisions that are made. Everyone knows that there is a lack of flights that the people in question can return with.
- How these cases are handled practically is up to the decision makers in the region. Legally, the same legislation applies as before and the police's mission is the same - that they should be rejected, says Kristoffer Tunander, Noa's administrator.
He confirms that border police, for practical reasons, allow travelers, even though they do not have the right to enter.
- In order to reduce the risk that the individual in question does not consider themselves in connection with the departure, the travel documents are handled. They must also provide contact information and there is also the opportunity to make decisions about supervision, that is, the person in question must regularly report to a police station, says Kristoffer Tunander.
Upon departure, it is then recorded that the person in question has left the country. So far, no follow-ups have been made.
- We can only conclude that the transit area or other parts of Arlanda are not meant for a longer stay, Kristoffer Tunanader continues.
Finnsson sighs and looks up at the blackboard where the afternoon's arrivals are announced:
14.35 Zurich, 16.34 Doha, 16.35 Helsinki, 19.30 Tunis, 20.30 Amman. After all, there will be some jobs.
- We notice that those we reject have become more and more desperate. Some of us have dragged the crying up to the transit hall when they understand that they must not enter, he says.
This afternoon, only airplanes announced on time land. The border police's so-called "second line" (those who make in-depth checks and investigations) already have full control over which individuals in theory are on board. A few of the hundreds of passengers who are on entry have been "highlighted" in the computer system, someone because they have no known domicile in Sweden, someone else because the police have other (and classified) reasons to want to know how that individual is moving .
The plan from Tunis in Tunisia and Amman in Jordan are two of the thirteen flights where the Foreign Ministry is behind the event and they are therefore basically full, the regular flights are not even half full.
Thus, QR 167 lands from Doha with only 68 passengers and almost 200 empty seats. Gustaf Engström and border commander Finnsson occupy their positions in the smaller arrival hall which lies before border control takes place. There they will now engage in so-called profiling of the passengers. Does anyone look aberrant? Does anyone disappear into the toilets without coming out within a reasonable time?
In the passports, where there is overpressure to protect the passport controllers from contaminated air, Varley Colin and Joakim Melbius are ready to review passports, visas and other relevant documents, in accordance with the boundary code prevailing in normal cases. In addition, the new regulation stipulates that the basic rule is that only Swedish citizens or persons already resident in Sweden may enter and thus return home.
Anyone who is in transit - who has to change flights to go home to another EU country - may pass.
As soon as the question mark arises, the passport inspectors push a button, which immediately leads to one of the investigators coming to the rescue to find out what is valid.
- Border control is of high quality and I have no concern that "wrong" people are admitted. Lars Hammarsjö believes that the risk of, for example, terrorism-lowering or human smugglers entering themselves is minimal.
Most passengers who arrive on the flight from Doha in Qatar are wearing mouthguards as they step into the terminal at Arlanda. A child family from Gothenburg who has been more or less isolated with relatives in Tehran for 70 days is tired but happy to finally be on Swedish soil and Mathilda Willén, who was an exchange student in Singapore but also happy to be home again.
- They feel a bit like I was the last Swede to leave Singapore. It will be interesting to experience the difference, I realize that there are two different worlds.
- In Singapore, you get SEK 2,000 in fines if you stay outside without a mask, here I understand that it is not at all as strict, she says.
As an exchange student, she had insurance - the Chamber College helped her get home and she also had contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- I've never been directly worried about being infected. But it's clear that I thought I might be safer in Singapore than here, says Mathilda Willén and grabs her luggage.
None of the travelers are particularly checked for any symptoms of illness. Anyone who feels that they have symptoms is asked to seek medical care upon arrival, that's all. For each flight, the captain on board is also responsible for the persons who got on board - in theory at least no one who is obviously sick should be present.
In addition to the 13 flights organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry has made it possible for Swedes abroad to travel with another 150 flights. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has then had close dialogue with local authorities all over the world. This has involved everything from getting to the necessary flights and landing permits to high-level contacts, in some cases at the Foreign Minister level, to enable these flights.
In the next few days, landings at Arlanda will come from, among others, Amsterdam, Tenerife, Bangalore, Singapore, Beijing, Bratislava, Minsk and Doha.
- So despite the wastefulness, there is at least little to do, says border commander Finnsson and cast a glance at the clock.
Soon time for the plane from Tunis.
ddi.sutd.edu.sg
