‘Migrants claiming to be minors may be adults’

STOCKHOLM: A Swedish government agency said on Tuesday medical examinations suggest that some asylum seekers in Sweden who claim to be minors could be 18 or older.

Age is a crucial factor for asylum seekers: If they submit their asylum application before they turn 18, they are entitled to schooling and their chances of receiving a residency permit are much higher.

But many of the young migrants are not in possession of documents certifying their date of birth.

In early May, Sweden resumed medical examinations aimed at determining the age of migrants who have sought asylum since February 1, having stopped similar tests in 2015 due to a lack of means.

The medical exam is used in cases where the Swedish Migration Agency has doubts about a person’s age, and it is voluntary. But the application of an asylum seeker who refuses to be examined may be viewed less favourably.

Doctors determine the probable age using dental X-rays and a MRI exam of the knee joints.

Of the 581 first exams carried out by the National Board of Forensic Medicine at the request of the Migration Agency, 76 percent "suggest that the person is 18 years or older".

"The medical opinion does not determine the person’s exact age, but rather provides an estimate of whether the person is over or under the age of 18," the forensic board said.

The far-right Sweden Democrats posted a video of one of its deputies telling parliament in 2011 that "in many cases" migrants "lie about their age".

According to the migration agency, asylum seekers who lie about their age do not represent the majority of applicants.

"If all unaccompanied minors had undergone a medical age evaluation then the results would like have been different," Daniel Salehi, a manager at the agency, told the Swedish news agency TT.

He said the outcome would show an opposite trend -- that most unaccompanied minors are indeed under the age of 18.

Of the more than 45,000 unaccompanied minors who have applied for asylum in Sweden since early 2014, 57 percent are Afghans, 12 percent are Syrians, and eight percent are Somali and Eritrean, respectively. The vast majority are boys.