Due to the consequences of the enduring COVID-19 pandemic, the Swedish government has decided to temporarily ease requirements in order to facilitate a temporary prolongation of residence permits for young asylum seekers. 

The background for the Swedish Parliament's announcement of this "Proposal for temporary relief in the upper secondary school regulations as a result of the spread of COVID-19" goes back to the large number of unaccompanied minors who applied for asylum in Sweden in 2015 and 2016. With a corresponding new, temporary, legislation on residence permits decided in July 2016, asylum seekers under the age of 25 were denied the possibility to obtain a permanent residence permit for work unless they had finished upper secondary school ("gymnasiet"). The legislation on this has been changed a number of times: previously, a temporary residence permit could be extended until the end of the third and final year in secondary school, plus a six-month "grace period" in which to find employment (on the basis of which a permanent residence permit could be granted). With the new decision, this grace period is extended to 12 months. 

The government proposed that those who have completed their upper secondary education should have these twelve instead of six months to allow them to better establish themselves on the labour market, and to therefore strengthen their likelihood of qualifying for a permanent residence permit. The government also proposed that study grants for part-time studies should be taken into account when assessing whether the maintenance requirement for a permanent residence permit is met, and that a certain form of subsidised employment - a so-called 'vocational introduction' - should also be a basis for a permanent residence permit.

These amendments to the law are proposed to enter into force on 20 July 2021, and apply until the end of June 2023.