Sweden to tighten immigration laws amid record asylum numbers

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The Swedish government and centre-right opposition reached a deal on Friday to tighten rules on immigration only a day after it expected a record of up to 190,000 refugees this year. The Social Democratic government and opposition parties said on Friday a deal had been reached and that a press conference would be held later in the day, but gave no more details. The deal includes the introduction of three-year temporary residence permits, with exceptions for some groups including families with children, unaccompanied minors, according to a source close to the negotiations. Except for very rare cases, everyone granted asylum in Sweden is given permanent residency, a Migration Agency spokeswoman said. On Thursday, the Migration Agency said it needed an extra 70 billion Swedish crowns ($8.3 billion) over the coming two years and that it expected between 140,000 and 190,000 asylum seekers this year. Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson said across-the-board spending cuts and raised borrowing was needed to cope with the situation but that it would anyway take longer time to get back to balanced public finances. ($1 = 8.4479 Swedish crowns) (Reporting by Johan Sennero and Daniel Dickson, additional reporting by Violette Goarant; Editing by Alistair Scrutton and Niklas Pollard)