The Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) is reportedly struggling to prevent people from using family reunification rules to bring close relatives into the country, despite Sweden’s new ban on cousin marriage.
The law, which came into force on July 1, prohibits marriage between cousins and certain other close relatives. It is intended to combat forced marriage and reduce the health risks associated with children being born to closely related parents.
However, migration officials lack an effective way to establish whether couples applying from abroad are biologically related. The agency cannot require applicants to take DNA tests and must instead rely largely on foreign documents and the information provided by the couples themselves.
Critics say this creates a major loophole and risks making the ban largely ineffective in immigration cases. Without DNA testing, officials may be unable to determine whether a marriage recognised abroad would have been prohibited under Swedish law.
The issue has fuelled a wider political debate over whether privacy protections should be relaxed to allow genetic testing in family reunification cases. Until the law changes, the agency must continue processing applications under the existing rules.
