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MIGRATIONSVERKET

Swedish Migration Agency to slash up to 146 jobs

More than 100 people could lose their jobs at the Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) due to a reduced budget.

Swedish Migration Agency to slash up to 146 jobs
A Migration Agency office in Solna, a northern neighbourhood of Stockholm. Photo: Marcus Ericsson/TT

The agency said on Tuesday that 146 employees were at risk of being laid off “because of a shortage of work”, although the exact number who will be affected is not yet confirmed.

“The Migration Agency is continuing to reduce the number of employees to adapt its business to a reduced budget,” the agency wrote in a statement. “The Migration Agency has planned its business for 2020 working from a smaller budget than the previous year.”

Most of the at-risk jobs, 94 in total, are located in Stockholm, with 23 in Skåne and 18 in Östergötland. A further six are located in Västerbotten and five in Västernorrland.

But the agency did say that the number of employees who are laid off will probably be lower than 146.

“It is too early to say who will be made redundant due to a shortage of work. Natural staff replacement, redeployment and also new conditions could affect how many employees ultimately have to leave,” Annette Bäcklund, chairperson of the agency's adaptation committee.

Negotiations are now set to begin, after which it will be clear which jobs are to be cut.

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Over the past two years, around 3,400 people have left the agency, roughly 700 of whom were made redundant. Today there are around 5,900 employees, down from 8,400 which was the size the agency grew to between 2015-2016 in order to cope with an increased workload as a large number of people claimed asylum in Sweden.

But the agency is still working to clear a backlog of cases, with thousands of people currently awaiting decisions on work permits and citizenship applications, among other things. As of Tuesday, the agency's own projected waiting time for a decision on a citizenship case as stated on its website was 36 months.

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