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SWEDEN AND UKRAINE

‘We just want equality’: Ukrainians in Sweden submit personal number petition

Ukrainians, many of whom have been living in Sweden for over a year under the temporary protection directive, are still unable to get a personal number, limiting their ability to settle in Sweden. A new petition plans to change that.

Published: 14 September 2023 13:43 CEST
'We just want equality': Ukrainians in Sweden submit personal number petition
Queues outside Migration Agency offices in March 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT

They are eligible for the less powerful coordination number or samordningsnummer, but are effectively unable to access Swedish society on the same conditions as immigrants who hold a personal number.

“This severely limits the possibilities for Ukrainians’ development, securing a normal life in Sweden and even normal healthcare,” Khrystyna Hevchuk, the woman behind the petition, wrote.

“Therefore, we want to petition for Ukrainian refugees in Sweden to be given a personal number, meaning that people who leave their homes due to the war can feel stability again.”

“We have lived in Sweden for more than a year without stability, without knowing how things will be tomorrow. Where are we going to live? Can we find a job? Are our children going to be able to adapt to the new society? So many answers, but so few questions.”

In order to qualify for a personal number, immigrants to Sweden need to prove that they will be living in Sweden for at least a year, by providing a work permit, residence permit or study permit of sufficient length, for example.

Refugees in Sweden who have applied for asylum under the usual route are not eligible for a personal number either, but once their asylum request is granted, they are usually granted a three-year residence permit, which enables them to register for a personal number.

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What’s happening with the petition?

Last week, the deadline for collecting signatures passed, with the petition garnering a total of 4,532 signatures and 2,464 comments. According to an update on the petition website, it has now been sent to all MPs, the Ministry of Justice and the migration minister’s secretary, and the organisers of the petition hope to meet with supportive MPs soon.

Social Democrat MP Kadir Kasirga submitted an official question on the matter to Migration Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard, who responded on Wednesday.

“The framework on the rules for people offered temporary protection in Sweden were set over 20 years ago, when the so-called temporary protection directive was implemented into Swedish law,” Stenergard wrote.

“It has for the most part worked well, and has enabled Sweden to receive many people from Ukraine in a short period of time. In some areas, its application has not however been satisfactory, and the government has taken measures to improve the situation for people with temporary protection.”

Some examples of this are, according to Stenergard, enabling Ukrainians to take part in SFI, Swedish and Swedish as a second language courses in Komvux adult education centres.

Last spring, the government asked the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to investigate Ukrainains’ situation in Sweden. This was presented in June, and the government are now assessing relevant measures which could be taken.

“It should however be emphasised that possible changes to a framework which is already in place are complicated and will take time,” she wrote.

What issues are there for Ukrainians who can’t get personal numbers?

Some of the issues outlined in the petition include problems finding housing, studying Swedish, and taking driving tests, which can limit Ukrainians’ job opportunities.

There are also issues with validating diplomas from Ukraine, accessing healthcare, opening a bank account or using BankID, which has the knock-on effect of making it almost impossible to buy items or flight tickets online.

“Every time we hear the words ‘what’s your personal number’ or ‘open BankID’, we feel like we are worth less than others, as we are forced to answer ‘we don’t have that’ and hear the words of rejection again,” Hevchuk wrote.

Ukrainian refugees cannot pay invoices or transfer money either – the cards they are issued from the Migration Agency, which is loaded with 61 kronor per day, only allows them to withdraw money from cashpoints or pay for purchases in physical shops.

“This list could continue for a long time,” the petition reads. “The last thing which should be taken into consideration by Swedish authorities is that Ukrainian children are not required to go to school.”

“Just think what the result will be in 10-15 years, and how these children, who are going to grow up without knowing the language or anything about Swedish society, are going to adapt, get a job and not become criminals.”

“We don’t want much, we just want equality.”

Member comments

  1. Same problem in North America.
    Some people wonder if they should return home after the war to rebuild their nation.

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For members

WORK PERMITS

Business leaders: Work permit threshold ‘has no place in Swedish labour model’

Sweden's main business group has attacked a proposal to exempt some jobs from a new minimum salary for work permits, saying it is "unacceptable" political interference in the labour model and risks seriously affecting national competitiveness.

Published: 25 April 2024 17:37 CEST
Updated: 26 April 2024 06:11 CEST
Business leaders: Work permit threshold 'has no place in Swedish labour model'

The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise said in its response to the government’s consultation, submitted on Thursday afternoon, that it not only opposed the proposal to raise the minimum salary for a work permit to Sweden’s median salary (currently 34,200 kronor a month), but also opposed plans to exempt some professions from the higher threshold. 

“To place barriers in the way of talent recruitment by bringing in a highly political salary threshold in combination with labour market testing is going to worsen the conditions for Swedish enterprise in both the short and the long term, and risks leading to increased fraud and abuse,” the employer’s group said.   

The group, which represents businesses across most of Sweden’s industries, has been critical of the plans to further raise the salary threshold for work permits from the start, with the organisation’s deputy director general, Karin Johansson, telling The Local this week that more than half of those affected by the higher threshold would be skilled graduate recruits Swedish businesses sorely need.   

But the fact that it has not only rejected the higher salary threshold, but also the proposed system of exemptions, will nonetheless come as a blow to Sweden’s government, and particular the Moderate Party led by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, which has long claimed to be the party of business. 

The confederation complained that the model proposed in the conclusions of the government inquiry published in February would give the government and political parties a powerful new role in setting salary conditions, undermining the country’s treasured system of collective bargaining. 

The proposal for the higher salary threshold, was, the confederation argued, “wrong in principle” and did “not belong in the Swedish labour market”. 

“That the state should decide on the minimum salary for certain foreign employees is an unacceptable interference in the Swedish collective bargaining model, where the parties [unions and employers] weigh up various needs and interested in negotiations,” it wrote. 

In addition, the confederation argued that the proposed system where the Sweden Public Employment Service and the Migration Agency draw up a list of exempted jobs, which would then be vetted by the government, signified the return of the old system of labour market testing which was abolished in 2008.

“The government agency-based labour market testing was scrapped because of it ineffectiveness, and because it was unreasonable that government agencies were given influence over company recruitment,” the confederation wrote. 

“The system meant long handling times, arbitrariness, uncertainty for employers and employees, as well as an indirect union veto,” it added. “Nothing suggests it will work better this time.” 

For a start, it said, the Public Employment Service’s list of professions was inexact and outdated, with only 179 professions listed, compared to 430 monitored by Statistics Sweden. This was particularly the case for new skilled roles within industries like battery manufacturing. 

“New professions or smaller professions are not caught up by the classification system, which among other things is going to make it harder to recruit in sectors which are important for the green industrial transition,” the confederation warned. 

Rather than implement the proposals outlined in the inquiry’s conclusions, it concluded, the government should instead begin work on a new national strategy for international recruitment. 

“Sweden instead needs a national strategy aimed at creating better conditions for Swedish businesses to be able to attract, recruit and retain international competence.”

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