The Swedish Sambo Visa in 2015 Part 6c: A Response from Migrationsverket

In my blog post about the discontinuation of priority status, I had mentioned that I was going through some difficulties recently and, in a bit of a venting session, Johan said (threatened?) that he was going to file a priority request for us. He of course did not submit the request (we both knew there was no chance on this green earth we'd get it anyway), but it was also at this time that we learned he couldn't have filed even if he had wanted to.

And then, the 8-14+ month processing time update came.  I think that wrecked all of us a little bit. Johan and I both had our meltdowns.  And in Sweden, Johan's mom could do nothing but watch on and see what it was doing to her kids.  So she did as any mother does when she see's her child hurting; she hand wrote and mailed a letter to the director of Migrationsverket.

We were not made aware of the letter until the day she mailed it, and only Johan got to read a copy of it (he said it was very gentle and only expressed concern over the situation we all are in - especially the conflicting information we all receive). In less than a week, MV responded with a very thorough and direct email. I debated posting it here because it never feels right to publish emails. None of what was written was in any way bad or secret; it just is the principal of the matter, I guess.

However, I feel the letter was a well-written, data-supported and sincere response.  It was written by a sort of spokesperson for MV as I understand, and I appreciate how they did not sugar coat anything; their compassion and understanding of the situation sounded genuine, and the transparency via numbers makes one feel like MV is not trying to ignore that it is dealing with some severe logistical problems, and they are trying to address them -- it just is going to take time (which we all already knew, but there is a lot of damage control that can be done when someone comes out and just "tells it like it is", instead of giving people the run around and telling them to just be patient while it seems like the sky is falling every other week.)

And by sharing it, it may provide others seeking answers, something to digest.

I have anonymized the letter, redacted one sentence, and did my best to translate it (I improvised a bit; sorry!)   While it does not fix or change anything, or give me any increased cause for hope, it does no less give the cold hard truth, and a fair assessment of the current state of affairs.

Original Swedish Version (time stamped 3 November 2015, 14:50:42 CET):

Hej xxxxxxx!

Du har skrivit till generaldirektören om din son och hans flickvän. Här är några rader till svar i xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxs ställe. 

Jag beklagar att Migrationsverket just nu inte kan hålla de väntetider som de sökande har rätt att förvänta sig. Flyktingsituationen gör att vi måste lägga mycket kraft på att ta emot asylsökande, registrera deras ansökan och erbjuda boende. Det har kommit över 112 000 asylsökande i år, varav hälften de senaste två månaderna. Men det är inte så att handläggningen av all annan migration, t ex ”kärleksmigration”, får vänta. Den rullar på nästan som vanligt även om vi skulle önska att det gick snabbare. Kapaciteten inom området är trots flyktingsituationen intakt såtillvida att antalet nettoanställda (inom det vi kallar besök, bosättning och medborgarskap) inte har minskat på permanent basis. Antalet var i september drygt 700 jämfört med 670 vid samma tidpunkt året innan. Det som har hänt under hösten är att cirka 70 personer från den  s k tillståndssidan tillfälligt har ryckt in för att bl a ta emot och registrera asylsökande. De ska så fort som möjligt tillbaka till ordinarie uppgifter. Den tillfälliga omfördelningen av resurser påverkar givetvis handläggningstiderna i viss mån och det kan vara det som är skälet till den senaste ändringen av tidshorisonten för Johans och Megans del. Men det kan också bero på fler faktorer. Utvecklingen mot längre väntetider har skett under en längre tid och den beror inte i huvudsak på flyktingsituationen utan på andra saker. Bland annat har övergången till digital handläggning varit förenad med tekniska problem som skapat fördröjningar.

De genomsnittliga väntetiderna har sett ut så här de senaste åren när det gäller anknytningsärenden:

2013: 196 dagar (6,5 mån),
2014: 244 dagar (8,1 mån),
2015 (jan-sep): 303 dagar (10,1 mån).

Antalet förstagångsansökningar på anknytning ökade mellan åren 2013 och 2014 från drygt 48 000 till drygt 57 000. Migrationsverket har inte hunnit avgöra ärenden i samma takt som de har kommit in. I slutet av 2013 fanns det drygt 23 000 öppna anknytningsärenden (alltså ärenden där beslut ännu inte fattats), idag är siffran drygt 48 000. Vi skulle behöva öka takten och kapaciteten i prövningen för att vända den negativa utvecklingen. Det finns en planering som syftar till att arbeta av de äldsta ärenden för att på sikt korta väntetiderna men det tar som du förstår tid att vända utvecklingen och under tiden drabbas enskilda tyvärr av alltför lång väntan.

Som ett led i arbetet med att vända utvecklingen har vi sett över rutinerna för hantering av förturer. När väntetiderna är så långa som nu söker nästan alla  förtur. Då blir det en stor administration kring den hanteringen, kapacitet som istället kan ägnas åt att utreda och fatta beslut i ärendena. Därför har förtursbedömningen tagits bort till förmån för beslutsfattande enligt en fast prioriteringsordning. Det är få kategorier av ärenden som prioriteras. Det handlar t ex om ansökningar från barn som saknar vårdnadshavare i hemlandet eller ärenden där den sökande hinner fylla 18 år inom det närmaste året (då begränsas rätten till familjeåterförening i förhållande till föräldrarna).

Jag förstår att det skapar en känsla av stor frustration och besvikelse med tanke på hur länge de har väntat. Frustrationen ökar naturligtvis också om man får information om väntetider som sedan ändras efterhand.

Jag vet inte hur den dagsaktuella situationen ser ut på enheten som handlägger ärendet men jag utgår ifrån att de arbetar så fort de kan för att kunna ge besked så snart som möjligt och att den info ni har fått om väntetiden bygger på det. Generaldirektören handlägger som du förstår inte enskilda ärenden utan om ni har fler frågor så är ni välkomna att vända er till den ansvariga enheten. Beklagar än en gång den långa väntetiden.

 

Med vänliga hälsningar, 

xxxxxxxxxxxx

English Translation (please note I improvised a bit on the translation, because some of the context was lost in Google Translate.  So I tried to work through the words and ultimate meaning.  Please let me know if I went astray!) 

Hi xxxxxxxxx!

You have written to the Director General about your son and his girlfriend.  Here are a few lines to reply in [the Director General]'s place.

I regret that MV cannot currently keep the waiting times as applicants have a right to expect.  The refugee situation means that we need to spend a lot of effort taking in asylum seekers, registering their applications and providing accommodation.  More than 112,000 asylum seekers have come in the past year, half of which came in the past 2 months.  But this does not mean that the processing of other forms of migration, for example "love migration", must wait. [Those cases] carry on almost as usual, even though we would wish it went faster. The capacity in the area [ie, permit units for visitor's visas, residence permits and citizenship] is, despite the refugee crisis, intact - insofar as that the net number of employees has not reduced on a permanent basis. The number in September [2015] was more than 700 [employees], compared to 670 at this time last year. What has happened this fall was that about 70 people from the so-called "state side" [of MV] have temporarily joined others who receive and register asylum seekers. They will, as soon as possible, return to their regular tasks. This temporary allocation of resources obviously affects the processing time to a certain extent, and it may be the reason for the most recent modification of the timeline for Johan's and Megan's [case]. But it may also be due to other factors. The trend towards longer waiting times has been the case for a long time, and it does not depend primarily on the refugee situation, but on other things too. Among other things, the transition to digital processing has been associated with technical problems that have created delays.

The average wait times have looked like [the following] in recent years, in terms of related issues:

2013: 196 days (6.5 months),
2014: 244 days (8.1 months),
2015 (Jan-Sept): 303 days (10.1 month). 

The number of first-time applicants increased between 2013 and 2014 from just over 48,000, to just over 57,000. Migrationsverket has not had time to make decisions on these at the same pace as they have been received. At the end of 2013, there were over 23,000 open-related cases (ie, cases where the decision had not yet been made); today, the figure is just over 48,000. We would need to speed up the rate and capacity of making the decision in order to reverse the negative trend. There is a plan aimed at working through the oldest cases to eventually shorten waiting times, but as you may understand, it takes time to reverse the trend and meanwhile, affected individuals unfortunately have a long(er) wait. 

As part of efforts to reverse the trend, we have overseen the policies for handling priority requests. When waiting times are as long as they are now, almost everyone is looking for priority status. Then it becomes a huge administrative [task] for management -- capabilities that could have rather been devoted to investigating cases and making decisions on them. Therefore, priority assessment has been removed in favor of decision-making according to a fixed order of priorities [ie, first come, first served?]. There are a few categories of cases that still can be prioritized. For example, applications from children without guardians in their home country, or cases in which the applicant turns 18 within the next year (and who would then be restricted on their rights to family reunification with their parents). 

I understand that it creates a sense of great frustration and disappointment given how long [Johan and Megan] have waited. And frustration increases naturally also, if you get information about waiting times which are then altered later.

I do not know how the daily situation is at the unit handling their case, but I assume that they are working as fast as they can to provide information as soon as possible, and that the information you received about the waiting time is based on it. The Director General does not handle individual cases as you know, but if you have more questions, you are welcome to directly contact the responsible unit. Sorry once again for the long waiting time.

Regards,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

I am appreciative of the thorough and direct response.  I'd rather MV shut me up with statistics and the cold hard truth, than to get the run around from the website and what MV reps say on the phone. As the author of this letter even said, frustration naturally increases when you are told one thing and yet see another.  Being transparent - for better or worse - is better than placating people with false hopes, or not even sharing anything specific at all.

FYI, I had already calculated the annual increased wait time according to the 2013 and 2014 EMC Policy Reports of Sweden (see links and page references at the end of the first paragraph of Sambo Visa Part 3), and what the author above quotes is exactly accurate.  Also, MV posts a lot of statistics transparently right on their own website (click here), if you're the type looking for numbers and trends.  Math and information are soothing to me, personally; but maybe it's not for everyone.

Basically, the bottom line is this:  We all simply chose a bad year to fall in love and decide now was the right time to make that next step.  The good news is, the government is recognizing there is a problem, and hopefully we will not see wait times get any worse as we see them work to "reverse the negative trend."