Right now, more than 90,000 cases are on the agency's table, which more than 200 employees at the citizenship tests in Norrköping and Gothenburg will handle.
The fact that the pressure right now is extra high is due to two things:
"Those who received residence permits, especially in 2014-2016, have been in Sweden for so long now that they meet the requirements to apply for Swedish citizenship.
In addition, there is a section in the Administrative Procedure Act that gives an applicant the right to request that his or her case be decided after six months. Those who rushed to apply after the Tidö agreement was presented have thus waited long enough, and the Swedish Migration Agency must start processing the increased inflow from last autumn.
A quarter of a million applications are pending
"Over the past three years, we have handled and settled 250,000 applications, and the next three years look exactly the same. We have to deal with and settle about a quarter of a million new applications.
This summer, the government is expected to present the directives for the new stricter requirements. Mats Rosenqvist emphasizes that he does not interfere in or have views on the political decisions, but focuses on how it can affect the agency's work:
"The more requirements or changes that mean that we have to take more processing measures, it takes a little longer in each case. Since we are talking about such huge volumes, it will be quite a lot of time.
The Tidö agreement affects the handling
In particular, the proposal that applicants must show that they are self-sufficient risks prolonging the process at the Swedish Migration Agency.
But Mats Rosenqvist believes that stricter requirements can also reduce the workload:
"If fewer people can apply for Swedish citizenship, there will be less to work with in the citizenship assessment.
"At the same time, you can see that citizenship will be even more valuable in the future, so I can imagine that it is important for many to have their application decided.