After many trips, Eskilstuna municipality was able last year to introduce a permit requirement for passive fundraising at nine locations in Eskilstuna and Torshälla.

When other municipalities were waiting for a decision in the Supreme Administrative Court, which would decide whether a local ban on begging was allowed, Eskilstuna chose another path.

28 have been granted

The idea was partly to make it more difficult for beggars through the bureaucratisation it means to apply for a permit with the police, at the same time as it was expected to have a deterrent effect for the applicant. In addition, it was seen as a profit to establish a contact with the authorities with those who, after all, wanted to obtain a permit.

Now a year has passed and a total of 28 people have been granted a permit. Several people have been granted permits a number of times.

According to the police, no one has had their application rejected.

27-year-old Pamela from Argeș in Romania has been going back and forth to Sweden for about five years. In the clip, she talks about how the permit requirement has improved her situation.