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IMMIGRATION

Swedish court decision set to ease work permit headache for border commuters

A new work permit ruling by Sweden's Migration Court of Appeal could make life easier for border commuters.

Published: 10 September 2020 09:11 CEST
Swedish court decision set to ease work permit headache for border commuters
Thousands of people commute across the bridge between Sweden and Denmark every day. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

A non-EU national who lives outside of Sweden but commutes to the country for work on a daily basis may be granted a temporary residence permit, according to a new ruling by the top migration court in Sweden.

The court ruled on the case of an American citizen who lives in Denmark but works in Sweden.

He was granted a temporary work permit in 2016, but when he applied to extend it in 2018 the Migration Agency rejected his request, arguing that since he did not generally live in Sweden and had no plans to move there any time soon, he could not be seen as staying in Sweden and was therefore not entitled to a residence permit.

There are two Swedish concepts that are important to understand this conflict. One is dygnsvila ('daily rest'), a term that is often used to denote that someone resides at the place they sleep. Because the applicant did not spend his nights in Sweden, the Migration Agency argued he could not be seen as residing in the country.

The second is vistelse ('stay', which to complicate matters has a broad meaning ranging from living somewhere to just being in that place), one of the requirements for being given a Swedish residence permit. The American applicant argued that since he worked in Sweden he spent most of his day in the country and therefore met the vistelse requirement, while the Migration Court, which upheld the rejection, countered that “the term stay in the Swedish language refers to something other than daily commutes to work”.

But the man then took the case to the Migration Court of Appeal, which ruled in his favour. The court's decisions set a legal precedence and will therefore affect other work permit applicants in a similar situation in the future.

It wrote in its judgment that the man's commute did in fact meet the requirements for staying in Sweden to the extent required by the law. It added that there was no legal requirement for the man to spend the nights (his dygnsvila) in order for him to be considered to be staying in Sweden as far as the vistelse condition went.

It based its decision on preparatory work by legislators when the law was created, finding that the intent of the law was to help ensure Sweden's demand for labour was met as well as to facilitate international mobility across borders. That applies even if the applicant does not intend to permanently live in Sweden, wrote the court.

“The traditional notion that migration is to do with moving from one place to another, where the migrant intends to settle permanently, has proved increasingly insufficient to describe the migration patterns of our time,” read the court judgment, paraphrasing one of the original bills where the reasons behind the law were laid out.

“The term circular migration describes human movements between countries that may be temporary or more permanent and that can make a positive contribution to the growth of everyone involved.”

As such, the court dismissed the Migration Agency's grounds for rejection and sent the man's case back to the agency, which will now have to review whether or not he fulfils other requirements for a work permit.

The full court jugdment can be read (in Swedish) here.

Do you have any questions about this or life in Sweden? You are always welcome to contact our editorial team at [email protected]. We are a small team and may not be able to reply to every email, but we read them all and they help guide our editorial coverage.

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READER INSIGHTS

How to find a job in Sweden: Five tips from those who’ve been there, done that

The Swedish job market poses unique challenges for newcomers. The Local's readers share their best tips for cracking the career code.

Published: 10 April 2024 11:32 CEST
Updated: 13 April 2024 15:50 CEST
How to find a job in Sweden: Five tips from those who've been there, done that

Network, network, network!

A statistic that often gets tossed around is that seven out of ten jobs in Sweden are obtained through personal connections, and there’s no doubt that a good network is crucial to your job hunt, making the labour market extra challenging for newcomers to the country.

In fact, networking was the main tip mentioned by The Local’s readers.

“The job market is quite hot in Sweden, and talent is in short supply. People hiring do not have a lot of time to find the right talent, and tips from friends, colleagues and former colleagues are the way to first, find out organisations are hiring, and secondly, get your CV on the short list,” said Kyle, a Canadian reader who works in innovation management in Gothenburg.

“If you are going for a major employer like Volvo, network gets you in the door, as HR does not have much to do with hiring… the hiring managers do all of it and have no time, due to the insane number of consensus meetings. If you are looking for smaller organisations, they have even less time to find people, and networking is their primary way to find talent,” he added.

NETWORKING IN SWEDEN:

Some of the networking tips readers mentioned were going to job fairs, getting an internship to help you establish connections in your preferred field, joining clubs (this could be anything from your local gardening association to meetups for coders, but focus on clubs that may be popular among people working in your chosen field), and drawing on your organic network of friends, neighbours and others.

Don’t neglect the groundwork

The saying “dress for the job you want, not the job you have” is getting worn out (and people may look at you funny if you turn up to interviews in a Batman suit), but there’s truth to the notion of making sure you know what you want – and preparing for it.

In other words, don’t wait for a job ad to appear before you start to customise your CV and figure out what skill set you need. Create your CV now so that you’re ready to tweak it to your dream job – you could even have a general look at job ads in your field to see what requirements are needed. And don’t forget to spruce up your LinkedIn profile so that it fits with your career goals.

“I believe that several factors contribute to successfully landing a desirable job in Sweden. It’s essential to prepare to meet the requirements beyond just having a university degree. Many individuals realise these requirements only after completing their studies when they start searching for a job, which can be too late,” said Adnan Aslam from Pakistan, who works as a food inspector.

“I recommend identifying the job advertisements for positions you aspire to hold in the future and then preparing for those requirements during your studies. For me, acquiring a basic level of proficiency in the Swedish language and obtaining a Swedish driving licence were crucial. I pursued these goals during my studies and was able to secure a desirable job before graduating,” he added.

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Felipe Cabral even has a GPT assistant trained on his own CVs and old cover letters, and said the set-up only takes ten minutes if you already have your documents. “With that in place, you can give instructions like: Read this job description and create a tailored version of my CV and letter for it. (…) Remember to always review and ask it not to create data aside from your documents.”

Be flexible and ready to adapt

Moving to a new place inevitably means having to learn not just the practicalities such as how to write a CV or which websites to use to look for job openings, but also learning how to navigate a new culture with all its unspoken expectations.

Swedish workplaces are generally less hierarchical than many other countries, but that doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want whenever you want without anyone raising an eyebrow. Swedes are usually direct, but be careful of being too abrasive or boastful: raising your voice, even during a spirited argument, or banging your own drum to show off your skills may not go down well.

“Talk, deliberate, complain like a Swede and you’ll come across like you know what the job entails, so your trustworthiness increases,” said an Indian data analyst who preferred to remain anonymous.

“Office politics are just as strong in Sweden as anywhere else. The flat hierarchy is deceiving as social hierarchy is enforced quite a bit in that lack of formal hierarchy. Take your time in learning these dynamics wherever you work before revealing your talent and capabilities. Expect those internal politics to happen, and they won’t hurt so much when they do,” said Kyle, the Canadian reader in Gothenburg.

This article about Swedish office politics may be useful.

Stay true to yourself

Adapting to your surroundings is one thing. Completely changing who you are is another.

For one thing, your happiness is as important as your career progression, and for another, your foreignness need not be an impediment: it’s also a skill that sets you apart from the rest. It means you have unique experience, and also, in the right setting, provides an opportunity to sometimes violate those social rules we mentioned above, because people assume you will, anyway.

“Trust is key. Build trust in your network, work with integrity. It’s OK to violate jantelagen if you are maintaining integrity. Sometimes your outsider and more honest/open opinion will burn bridges, especially those that may feel threatened by talent. But it will build trust with other colleagues who see it as brave and more trustworthy to work with,” said Kyle from Canada.

Hunker down for the long haul

We don’t want to scare you, because there are plenty of examples of people who quickly find their dream job in Sweden and settle into their new workplace, enjoying perks such as long summer holidays, generous parental leave and the famous work-life balance.

But if you do find it tougher than you expected: know that you’re not alone.

Several readers who responded to the survey said they were still trying to find a job in Sweden.

“I found jobs all over Europe but not here. They say they have a lack of experienced senior engineers but the don’t seem to be doing much to solve this,” said a Brazilian in Gothenburg.

A reader from Bangladesh said she was “at a loss” as to how to make a career change from her current AI role in Stockholm, despite many years of experience as an IT project manager.

“Over the past 18 months, I’ve submitted over 600 applications to various organisations. Unfortunately, despite being overqualified for some positions, I’ve faced rejections at every turn, from both large and small companies. The job market here, especially for foreign-born women, feels overwhelmingly challenging,” she said, adding that the struggle had impacted her mental health.

The Local has on several occasions reported on foreign residents’ struggle to get a foot on the Swedish job ladder, with many facing hurdles such as employers’ unfamiliarity with international degrees, discrimination, or a lack of network that can provide paths into a company.

So during the job hunt, don’t forget to care for yourself. Share your concerns with fellow job-seekers, ask for help and join networking groups – this is good not just for creating new contacts, but also in terms of your social well-being and meeting people who are in a similar situation.

And finally, as one British reader in Stockholm advised, keep looking: “Be open-minded with the opportunities that present themselves. It isn’t an easy market to enter and doesn’t feel inclusive.” But he added, “don’t give up”.

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