According to the ebo-law, an asylum seeker has the right to settle freely in the country with a grant. But to reduce segregation, a new law came into force at the turn of the year. This means that 32 municipalities in the country, which have been under high pressure from asylum seekers, have the opportunity to identify socially vulnerable areas where asylum seekers cannot choose to live with grants.

Want to change the regulations

Eleven of these 32 municipalities have flagged that they will exclude all areas from the law. This means that an asylum seeker will only be able to settle in the municipality with a grant if the Migration Board directs them there. Therefore, the government now wants to change the regulations, something that Swedish Radio was the first to report on.

- The purpose of the restriction has always been to include areas with social and economic challenges. We are now proposing certain amendments that prevent a municipality from reporting an area in violation of the purpose of the regulation, says Justice and Migration Minister Morgan Johansson on the government's website.

The proposal means that the county administrative boards should be able to prevent a municipality from reporting an area where it is clear that the area's social and economic conditions do not justify a notification.

Sörmland municipalities are affected

Katrineholm and Eskilstuna are municipalities in Sörmland that want the exemption to cover the entire municipality, and these can now therefore be affected.

The changes are proposed to take effect from 15 August.