The Swedish Migration Agency plans to close the reception units in Mariestad, Borås, Jönköping and Högsby. About 20 employees are affected at each unit. There are two units in Jönköping. The employees have been informed that the business will close next year.

- These 20 jobs are important for Mariestad. We need academics and government jobs, says Johan Abrahamsson.

He now wants to raise the issue at government level.

- There are far too many works in the big cities with high rents. Our rental levels are completely different in the smaller towns. By moving operations to the smaller towns, with modern technology, the whole of Sweden can live, says Johan Abrahamsson.

Collective housing is a priority

Stefan Bergman at the Swedish Migration Agency Region West tells SVT that major closures have already taken place in the big cities and that the agency has now chosen to prioritize collective housing and it is not in Mariestad or Borås, but in Vänersborg and Halmstad.

- In Mariestad and Borås, there have been apartment housing, but it has turned out that the collective housing has worked better as a support in the asylum process, says Stefan Bergman.

Most activity was in Mariestad after the big wave of refugees in 2015. The following year, about 90 people worked at the Swedish Migration Agency's reception unit there.