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WORK PERMITS

Deported work permit holders may have to wait years before returning to Sweden

If a foreign worker's permanent residence in Sweden is rejected, they could face several years of waiting before they are allowed to return to Sweden on a new work permit, according to new guidelines by the Migration Agency.

Published: 22 May 2019 17:21 CEST
Deported work permit holders may have to wait years before returning to Sweden
The Migration Agency has clarified the rules regarding work permits, but it may not be good news for all. Photo: Marcus Ericsson/TT

That's what the Swedish Migration Agency states in a new legal position paper, outlining when a new work permit can be granted after an employee returns to their home country.

“Normally a new work permit may not be granted until seven years after the first one,” reads a statement referring to the paper, which is a document meant to help guide case officers in their decisions.

“The legislation states that a work permit may be granted for a total of four years. Following that period, the employee may apply for a permanent residence permit,” continues the statement.

“If the permit is not granted, the employee must return to their country of origin. If the employee wishes to reapply for a temporary work permit, they must wait seven years after having received their first one.”

This means that an international employee who has had a Swedish work permit for the past four years, but gets rejected when they apply to renew their permit and is therefore told to leave the country, will have to wait at least three years before being able to reapply for a new work permit in order to return to Sweden.

Sweden's strict legislation around work permits and long processing times have caused difficulties for hundreds of internationals working in Sweden, including employees and entrepreneurs.

Some of The Local's readers who were forced to leave Sweden have been able to return by applying from scratch for a new work permit; others have been told they need to wait longer before applying anew.

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Many have told The Local it is unclear how long they have to wait before they can come back to Sweden, and the Centre for Justice has previously accused the Migration Agency of applying an informal “six-month rule” which it argues is not supported by law or precedent, and putting workers in a “talent quarantine” abroad.

The centre's lawyers are currently appealing the case of Ali Omumi – an Iranian sales engineer who got deported from Sweden and then blocked from returning – to the Migration Court, whose judgment will address the same issues.

Fredrik Bergman, head of the Centre for Justice, did not wish to comment specifically on the Migration Agency's new legal position paper before analyzing it, but told The Local in general: “It is important that the Migration Agency's internal rules do not stop competent workers from coming to Sweden. It is also important that whose who have been wrongly expelled are not prevented from returning to work here.”

READ ALSO: What's the difference between being a resident and a citizen of Sweden?

The Migration Agency said it had issued the new instructions to clarify the rules for case officers.

“It does not say in the legislation or preparatory work if or when it should be possible to obtain a new work permit after having been granted temporary work permits for a maximum of four years and thereafter denied permanent residence permits,” a Migration Agency spokesperson told The Local.

“The legal position paper is the Migration Agency's interpretation of the rules and forms new legal support for how case officers and decision-makers should assess such cases.”

Sweden's strict rules are designed to stop workers from being exploited but have led to thousands of foreigners being forced to leave over minor paperwork errors. Many have also slammed the overly strict interpretation of the rules, and The Local's coverage of the issue has even sparked debate in parliament.

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Sweden's government last year stopped working on a long-awaited new law to prevent talented international workers from being denied permits for minor administrative errors.

It justified this decision by arguing that a ruling from the Swedish Migration Court of Appeal now required the Migration Agency to look at the entirety of an individual's case when making decisions, meaning small administrative errors should not result in deportations. 

But the bureaucratic regulations and long processing times are still causing difficulties for many of internationals working in Sweden, including employees and entrepreneurs. The Local's readers have called on Sweden to streamline the work visa process or introduce fast-track options for skilled workers.

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WORKING IN SWEDEN

‘Reassess your cultural background’: Key tips for foreign job hunters in Sweden

Many foreigners living in Sweden want to stay in the country but struggle to find a job, despite having relevant qualifications. The Local spoke to three experts for their advice.

Published: 7 May 2024 09:00 CEST
'Reassess your cultural background': Key tips for foreign job hunters in Sweden

One international worker who found it hard to land her first job in Sweden is Amanda Herzog, who eventually founded Intertalents in Sweden with the aim of helping other immigrants find work in the country.

Herzog originally came to Sweden to study at Jönköping University and decided to stay after graduating.

“I thought it would take three months, maybe six months to find a job, I was prepared for that,” she told The Local during a live recording of our Sweden in Focus podcast held as part of Talent Talks, an afternoon of discussions at the Stockholm Business Region offices on how to attract and retain foreign workers in Sweden.

“What happened was it took over 13 months and 800 applications to actually get a job in my industry, within marketing.”

During this time, Herzog was getting multiple interviews a month, but was not getting any further in the process, despite showing her CV to Swedish recruiters for feedback.

“They were baffled as well,” she said. “By the time I landed my dream job, I had to go outside of the typical advice and experiment, and figure out how I actually can get hired. By the time I got hired, I realised what actually works isn’t really being taught.”

‘Reassess your cultural background’

Often, those who come to Herzog for help have sent out hundreds of CVs and are unsure what their next steps should be.

“My first piece of advice is to stop for a second,” she said. “Reassess your cultural background and how it fits into Sweden.”

Herzog, for example, discovered she was interviewing in “the American way”.

In the US, when asked to tell an interviewer about yourself, you’d be expected to discuss your career history – how many people have you managed? Did sales improve while you were working there? – while Swedes are more likely to want to know about you as a person and why you want to work in a specific role for their company in particular.

“A lot of people don’t know this, so imagine all of the other cultural things that they’re doing differently that they learned in their country is normal,” Herzog adds.

“Just start with learning, because it could be that you don’t need to change very much, you are qualified, you just need to connect with the Swedish way of doing things.”

 
 
 
 
 
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Networking is important

“Don’t hesitate to reach out for help and guidance,” said Laureline Vallée, an environmental engineer from France who recently found a job in Sweden after moving here nine months ago with her partner, who got a job as a postdoc at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

“You tend to insulate yourself and consider yourself not capable, but you’re not less capable than you were in your home country, you just need to explain it to the employers.”

Another tip is to network as much as you can, Vallée said.

“Networking is really important here in Sweden, so just go for it, connect with people in the same field.”

This could be through networks like Stockholm Akademiska Forum’s Dual Career Network, which helps the accompanying partners or spouses of foreign workers find a job in Sweden, or through other connections, like neighbours, friends, or people you meet through hobbies, for example.

Make a clear profile for yourself

Another common issue is that applicants are not presenting themselves clearly to recruiters, Stockholm Akademiska Forum’s CEO, Maria Fogelström Kylberg, told The Local.

“If you’re sending 600 applications without an answer, something is wrong. We have seen many people looking for jobs working in a supermarket, and the next application is a managing director post,” she said. “You have to decide ‘who am I? What do I want to do?’, you have to profile yourself in a clear way.”

This could be editing down your CV so you’re not rejected for being overqualified, or just thinking more closely about how you present yourself to a prospective employer.

“Which of my skills are transferable? How can I be of use to this company? Not what they can do for me, but what problem can I solve with my competence?”

Job hunters should also not be afraid of applying for a job which lists Swedish as a requirement in the job description, Fogelström Kylberg said.

“Sometimes if I see an ad for a job and I have a perfect candidate in front of me, I call the company and say ‘I have a perfect candidate, but you need them to speak Swedish’, they then say ‘no, that’s not so important’. This is not so unusual at all so don’t be afraid of calling them to say ‘do I really need perfect Swedish?’”

Listen to the full interview with Maria Fogelström Kylberg, Amanda Herzog and Laureline Vallée in The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers.

Interview by Paul O’Mahony, article by Becky Waterton

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