On November 1st last year the minimum salary that applicants need to earn in order to be eligible for a Swedish work permit was raised to 80 percent of Sweden’s median salary. At the time the median salary was 34,200 kronor a month, giving a salary threshold of 27,360 kronor.
But in an update on June 18th, the median salary was pushed up to 35,600 kronor.
This means work permit applicants (including both first-time applications and extensions) applying on this date or later will need to earn a total of 28,480 kronor a month in order to qualify for a work permit.
The median salary is announced in Statistics Sweden’s yearly updates, so it changes every year.
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Salaries also need to be in line with industry standards or collective bargaining agreements to qualify for a work permit.
It’s the most recently published median salary at the time of your application (not the time of a decision) that will determine how much you need to earn in order to be eligible for a work permit, so the new figure will not affect work permit applications which are already in process, but it will affect any new applications or renewals submitted on or after June 18th, 2024.
Are there any plans to raise the salary threshold further?
Yes. The government plans to raise the work permit threshold for new permits to 100 percent of the median salary at the time of application, with exemptions for some categories of workers.
This is currently going through the consultation stage (remiss) of the legislative process, which means it is not yet a firm proposal. If it does go ahead, the proposed starting date is June 1st, 2025.
There would be a one-year grace period for work permit renewals: the current rule (80 percent of the median salary) would continue to apply for any applications for extensions submitted to the Migration Agency by June 1st 2026 at the latest.
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The work permit salary threshold has risen from 13,000 kronor in October 2023 to 28,480 kronor today – an increase of almost 120 percent in less than a year. How will the new figure affect you, and how could you be affected if it increases again to 35,600 kronor a month?
When applying for a work permit, are seasonal temporary workers included in salary threshold? Could companies use this to their advantage? As an example a concrete worker being issued a seasonal worker for the summer period or winter period.
No, seasonal temporary workers (working in Sweden for 90 days or less on a seasonal work permit) are still included under the old salary requirement (13,000 kronor a month before tax), although they do also need to offer a salary equal to what would be offered under a collective bargaining agreement or the standard in the industry, which may be higher than this figure.
Companies can also only hire seasonal workers for certain periods where there is a higher than normal amount of work required, like in the tourism industries, agriculture or forestry. A company could hire seasonal workers during these periods, but they wouldn’t be able to hire them in the off-season to plug gaps left by normal workers, if that makes sense.