Municipalities' wishes in the distribution of newly arrived immigrants under the new settlement law
What's at stake: How newly arrived immigrants are distributed between the country's municipalities affects municipalities' planning conditions and newcomers' chances of an even and fair establishment across the country.
Case texts and AI reasoning are AI-translated from the Swedish originals; the Swedish text is authoritative.
What the vote decides
The question is whether municipalities' own wishes should be allowed to factor into the distribution of newly arrived immigrants between municipalities, in addition to the proposed objective distribution criteria, or whether the distribution should be based solely on such criteria.
Yes Yes — the committee proposal
The committee backs the government's bill on settlement for certain newly arrived immigrants, including the design of the distribution criteria, and rejects the motion calling for removal of the possibility to take municipalities' wishes into account in the distribution. The committee considers the bill well formulated, partly because the government is given the power to issue further regulations on which criteria should be taken into account, and judges that the weighting between criteria is a matter of application.
No No — the reservations
Reservation 1 (S)
The reservation (S) considers that the government's proposal to take municipalities' wishes into account in the distribution of newly arrived immigrants risks undermining the purpose of the settlement law, which was introduced to break away from an arrangement where reception depended heavily on municipalities' willingness. It wants the distribution to continue to be based solely on objective criteria that ensure both a fair division of responsibility and good conditions for establishment, rather than on municipalities' own wishes.
Summarised from the committee report. Party labels in the summary come from the report, not from the vote.
V–
S–
MP–
C–
L–
KD–
M–
SD–
YesNoAbstainAbsent
What do the votes mean here?
Yes The committee proposal: adopting the government's legislative proposal and rejecting the motions (keeping things as they are).
No Backing the counter-proposal: reservation 1 by S.
Abstain The party marks a position of its own that is not one of the two final alternatives.
The plan's stance / Actual vote
AI
Vote
Confidence
Evidence
V
–
Abstain 0/0/21/0
Sown reservation
–
No 0/105/0/1
MP
–
Abstain 0/0/18/0
C
–
Yes 24/0/0/0
L
–
Yes 16/0/0/0
KD
–
Yes 19/0/0/0
M
–
Yes 66/0/0/0
SD
–
Yes 70/0/0/0
Committee proposal
Parliament adopts the government's proposal for
1. law on settlement for certain newly arrived immigrants,
2. law amending the Land Code (jordabalken),
3. law amending the Act (2002:546) on the processing of personal data in labor market policy activities,
4. law amending the Reception Act (2026:000).
Thereby Parliament approves proposition 2025/26:215 points 1-4 and rejects the motions
2025/26:4077 by Tony Haddou et al. (V) motions 3 and 4,
2025/26:4079 by Ardalan Shekarabi et al. (S) motion 3 and
2025/26:4086 by Leila Ali Elmi et al. (MP) motions 2 and 3.
Original (Swedish)
Riksdagen antar regeringens förslag till
1. lag om bosättning för vissa nyanlända invandrare,
2. lag om ändring i jordabalken,
3. lag om ändring i lagen (2002:546) om behandling av personuppgifter i den arbetsmarknadspolitiska verksamheten,
4. lag om ändring i mottagandelagen (2026:000).
Därmed bifaller riksdagen proposition 2025/26:215 punkterna 1-4 och avslår motionerna
2025/26:4077 av Tony Haddou m.fl. (V) yrkandena 3 och 4,
2025/26:4079 av Ardalan Shekarabi m.fl. (S) yrkande 3 och
2025/26:4086 av Leila Ali Elmi m.fl. (MP) yrkandena 2 och 3.
Riksdag decision: Parliament approved the government's proposal for a new law on settlement for certain newly arrived immigrants.
The decision entails, among other things, that municipalities shall continue to be required to receive newly arrived immigrants by assignment and that the distribution of assignments between municipalities shall be based on the conditions for integration in the municipalities. A municipality's request regarding the reception shall, however, under certain conditions be taken into account in the distribution. This means that municipalities will have greater influence over the reception of newly arrived immigrants than is currently the case.
In addition to the distribution criteria that apply today, including labor market and population size, consideration shall also be given to conditions in the housing market and areas where social exclusion is large.
Furthermore, the right to housing shall be time-limited to 36 months and it is the municipality that shall arrange housing during that time. The right to housing may be terminated early, among other things, if the newly arrived immigrant is not assigned to a labor market policy program and lacks acceptable reasons for it.
The new law and related amendments to other laws come into force on 1 January 2027.
Counter-proposals
The counter-proposal wants the distribution of newly arrived immigrants between municipalities to be based on objective criteria, not on municipalities' preferences. (S) — Reservation 1
Motion 2025/26:4077 — med anledning av prop. 2025/26:215 Tidsbegränsat boende för vissa nyanlända invandrare - en ny lag om bosättning av Tony Haddou m.fl. (V)
Motion 2025/26:4079 — med anledning av prop. 2025/26:215 Tidsbegränsat boende för vissa nyanlända invandrare - en ny lag om bosättning av Ardalan Shekarabi m.fl. (S)
Motion 2025/26:4086 — med anledning av prop. 2025/26:215 Tidsbegränsat boende för vissa nyanlända invandrare - en ny lag om bosättning av Leila Ali Elmi m.fl. (MP)
Proposition 2025/26:215 — Tidsbegränsat boende för vissa nyanlända invandrare - en ny lag om bosättning