What’s the background?

In November parliament passed a bill put forward by the former Social Democrat-led government to raise the required salary that non-EU citizens have to earn to qualify for a work permit.

It stated that the new threshold would be introduced by a date to be decided by the government – which as of September 2022 is a new, right-wing government.

The exact figure hasn’t been set, but the government and its far-right Sweden Democrat partners have previously, in the Tidö coalition agreement after the September election, proposed setting it at the median Swedish salary, which is 33,000 kronor a month.

What now?

Not much has been announced since November, and Swedish media have been pressing the government for answers on when it is going to introduce the new salary threshold.

The Local did the same when we recently met Migration Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard for a sit-down interview in Malmö. She said she could not give us an exact date, but that the coalition parties were in the process of working on the final piece of legislation.

“We are really working this through thoroughly in order to have a well functioning system and we will also give organisations and other authorities the possibility to have their say before it goes into legislation,” said Malmer Stenergard.

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Swedish media report that the sticking point at the moment is that the government parties (Moderates, Christian Democrats and Liberals) and the Sweden Democrats can’t agree on whether or not to make exceptions for certain work permit applicants.

Critics of the salary threshold have argued that 33,000 kronor would effectively keep out a lot of highly qualified workers whose skills Sweden needs.

Liberal leader Johan Pehrson told Swedish news agency TT that he had been speaking with business and public sector leaders who were worried that the salary threshold would lead to a skills shortage, for example a shortage of assistant nurses.

“To manage the green transition in northern Sweden, we don’t just need people who make batteries, work in the mines or in the forest,” said Pehrson.

He did not want to say exactly what the exceptions should look like, but said they could potentially apply to “protected professional titles or niche sectors”.

But the Sweden Democrats are understood to be against exceptions.

“SD wants to throttle immigration at any cost,” an unnamed source told business site Dagens Industri, adding that the ongoing negotiations are “very tough”.

The Local’s interview with Maria Malmer Stenergard, discussing topics including salary threshold for work permits, waiting times at the Migration Agency, and exit visas for those waiting for a permit renewal will feature in the next episode of The Local’s podcast, Sweden in Focus, out this Saturday.