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SWEDEN IN FOCUS

New work permit system, Macron’s Sweden visit and who are the Sami?

In this week's episode: tougher rules for Sweden citizenship, French President Emanuel Macron's state visit to Sweden, new work permit system takes effect, and why Sweden needs to do more to promote understanding of indigenous Sami.

Published: 3 February 2024 08:09 CET
Sweden in Focus
Sweden in Focus. A podcast by The Local. Image: The Local

You can listen to the episode here:

Or you can listen on these platforms:

Alternatively, you can search for Sweden in Focus wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Host Paul O’Mahony is joined this week by The Local’s Emma Löfgren and Becky Waterton, and we also have an interview with Charlotta Svonni, who conducts research on indigenous education at Umeå University.

Here are links to some of the stories we discuss:

Citizenship

Politics

Work permits

Sami 

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For members

WORK PERMITS

How long do high-skilled foreigners have to wait for a Swedish work permit?

Three months after the Swedish Migration Agency rolled out a new system for work permits, is the agency meeting its 30-day target for highly qualified professionals?

Published: 3 May 2024 05:58 CEST
How long do high-skilled foreigners have to wait for a Swedish work permit?

More than 7,750 work permit applications have been submitted to Sweden’s Migration Agency since a new system designed to speed up waiting times for skilled workers was implemented.

The new system, rolled out on January 29th, divides workers into four different categories depending on their profession. It was introduced after complaints about long waits for both first-time and renewed work permits and promised to process the top category, “A”, within 30 days.

Category A applications are those already classified as “highly qualified” under the Standard for Swedish Classification of Occupations (SSYK), and include leadership roles, roles requiring higher university education, and roles requiring university education or equivalent.

A Migration Agency spokesperson told The Local that a total of 95 percent of complete work permit applications sent in by highly qualified workers since January 29th were processed within 30 days, with a median handling time of 14 days, according to figures from April 15th.

“Our ambition is to decide cases for highly qualified labour within 30 days – sometimes it happens that the application isn’t complete and that can make the processing time longer,” the spokesperson said.

By mid-April, the Migration Agency had processed 4,461 complete applications, 550 incomplete applications and 423 applications for permanent residency which were complete but had to wait for a decision because the applicant’s previous permit hadn’t yet expired.

Around 77 percent of incomplete applications were processed within 30 days.

A Migration Agency spokesperson told The Local that there may be various reasons why an application is incomplete, but “common mistakes” include passports lacking a signature, incorrect information about accommodation when needed, no or not enough information about the applicant’s insurances, or no statement from the trade union about working conditions.

The spokesperson also said that the four percent of complete applications that didn’t get processed within a month were delayed because of, for example, the applicant failing to visit an embassy to show their passport before the deadline, having a criminal record in Sweden that required further investigation of their application, or the security police blocking their application.

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