Sweden’s parliament has passed a law allowing authorities to revoke immigrants’ residency permits based on bad behaviour, ​such as having unpaid debts, doing undeclared work or ‌links to extremist organisations.

The law, which covers pending permits but also retroactively already granted permits, is part of a wider tightening of immigration ​rules by the right-wing government and its support party, ​the nationalist Sweden Democrats, ahead of a parliamentary election ⁠in September.

The law has been criticised by the opposition and ​human rights advocacy groups as arbitrary because decisions would be taken ​on behaviour that has not been deemed criminal.

“The good behaviour law leaves people in uncertainty about what actions or expressions can be used against ​them,” Stockholm-based group Civil Rights Defenders said in a statement.

“It ​undermines the rule of law and the principle of equality before the ‌law.”

The ⁠government, which won the 2022 election on a promise to reduce immigration and crack down on crime, has said that people who misbehave or commit crimes are not welcome.

The law does ​not specify what ​types of behaviours ⁠are deemed unacceptable, but the government has mentioned unpaid debts, not paying taxes, criminality and ​links to extremist organisations.

The Migration Agency is ​tasked with ⁠reviewing the permits, and the decisions can be appealed to a migration court.

“Anyone who doesn’t make the effort to do the ⁠right thing ​shouldn’t be able to count on ​staying,” Minister of Migration Johan Forssell said when he proposed the bill in ​March.