Sweden Deporting Young People
Forced Out as They ‘Age Out,’ as Families Remain
Christina Abdulahad
Senior Coordinator, Advocacy
CAbdulahad
Susanné Seong-eun Bergsten
Acting Research Assistant, Women's Rights Division
SuzeBPark @suzebpark.bsky.social
Ayla, 21, Jomana, 18, and Ilya, 19, came to Sweden as children, though at different ages and under different circumstances. Today they face the same reality: all have been ordered to leave the country alone while their families remain.
These
cases stem from
Sweden’s increasingly
restrictive migration
policy, under which young people who turn 18 before obtaining permanent residency are no longer considered part of their parents’ family unit. The Swedish Migration Agency
states that residency based on parental ties is granted only in exceptional cases involving “special dependency.” A normal parent-child relationship is not sufficient.
On February 17, 2025, a multiparty
proposal to stop these deportations did
not gain a majority in the Parliamentary Committee on Social Insurance, despite cross-party recognition that the practice
separates families.
Jomana Gad, 18, arrived in Sweden at age 4 and faces deportation to
Egypt. “I have my whole life here,” she told
media, describing her hopes for education and work.
Ayla Rostami, 21, who arrived at 15, recalls seeing Sweden as a place of freedom.
Ilya Taheraki, 19, came at age 8 and applied for permanent residency at 15. He was rejected days after turning 18. He and Ayla now face deportation to Iran.
Young people cannot be deported from Sweden if they have permanent residency, but many children spend years in the country on
temporary permits. Combined with long processing times and increasingly restrictive policies—including stricter
family reunification rules, higher
income requirements, and narrowed humanitarian protection such as limits on “
particularly distressing circumstances”—the safeguards that keep families together have weakened. As a result, some “age out” at 18 and lose their right to remain in the country as they can no longer claim residency based on ties to their parents.
