--- description: Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said on Tuesday that the country will severely curtail its hitherto liberal asylum policies title: Sweden to Drastically Restrict Refugee Numbers image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa6f7932c53da804/698872b1196cf436cf0392a5/gettyimages-498032036.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [sweden](/tag/sweden/) ## sweden Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Sweden Will Seriously Restrict the Number of Refugees It Accepts by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 25, 2015 3:51 AM CUT  Police organize the line of refugees on the stairway leading up from the trains arriving from Denmark at the Hyllie train station outside Malmo, Sweden, on Nov. 19, 2015 Police organize the line of refugees on the stairway leading up from the trains arriving from Denmark at the Hyllie train station outside Malmo, Sweden, on Nov. 19, 2015Johan Nilsson—AFP/Getty Images by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 25, 2015 3:51 AM CUT Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven [said](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/24/sweden-asylum-seekers-refugees-policy-reversal "undefined") on Tuesday that the country will curtail its liberal asylum policies, saying it is “no longer capable” of accommodating the droves of refugees who continue to flock there. New temporary legislation will restrict the number of migrants seeking asylum to the “E.U. minimum” and restrict their right to bring their families into Sweden, the _Guardian_ reported. Passengers aboard the country’s transit systems will face identity checks. Roughly 10,000 migrants have arrived in Sweden every week since this autumn; some estimate that as many as 190,000 will have entered the country by the end of the year. “The situation is untenable,” Lofven [told](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/24/us-europe-migrants-sweden-idUSKBN0TD1SC20151124#zHisC6eQCFmgLK7S.97 "undefined") reporters. “Now, to put it bluntly, more people will have to seek asylum and get protection in other European countries.” The announcement of the legislation comes two weeks after the country introduced stricter border control [policies](http://time.com/4109049/sweden-border-controls/ "undefined"), which forbade migrants from using Sweden as a waypoint en route to other countries. \[[_Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/24/sweden-asylum-seekers-refugees-policy-reversal "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4126728/sweden-refugee-crisis-asylum/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4126728/sweden-refugee-crisis-asylum/"},"headline":"Sweden Will Seriously Restrict the Number of Refugees It Accepts","datePublished":"2015-11-25T03:51:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:53:53.874Z","description":"New laws will restrict intake to the \"E.U. minimum\"","url":"https://time.com/4126728/sweden-refugee-crisis-asylum/","keywords":["sweden","europe","Refugees","Immigration","migrant crisis"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa6f7932c53da804/698872b1196cf436cf0392a5/gettyimages-498032036.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa6f7932c53da804/698872b1196cf436cf0392a5/gettyimages-498032036.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SWEDEN-EUROPE-MIGRANTS","caption":"SWEDEN-EUROPE-MIGRANTS","creditText":"Johan Nilsson—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/sweden/","name":"sweden"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4126728/sweden-refugee-crisis-asylum/","name":"Sweden Will Seriously Restrict the Number of Refugees It Accepts"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"What EU's budget says about the refugee crisis","description":"How is EU spending its billions on the refugee crisis?","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/FkwSq141/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-10-07T23:43:26.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FkwSq141.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4126728/sweden-refugee-crisis-asylum/","duration":"PT2M4S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4126728/sweden-refugee-crisis-asylum/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```