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WORK PERMITS

IN NUMBERS: How will foreigners be affected by Sweden’s new work permit threshold?

Sweden's higher work permit threshold came into force on November 1st. Here are the numbers showing the extent to which foreigners will be affected.

Published: 1 November 2023 11:27 CET
Updated: 5 November 2023 07:59 CET
IN NUMBERS: How will foreigners be affected by Sweden's new work permit threshold?
Sweden's restaurant industry is expected to be particularly hard hit by the new work permit rules. Photo: Tomas Oneborg/SvD/TT

63,447

The number of non-EU residents currently in Sweden on work permits.

80 percent

The new salary threshold is 80 percent of Sweden’s median salary according to the most recent figures from Statistics Sweden at the time of application. On June 20th, 2023, Sweden’s median salary was 34,200 kronor a month.

27,360 kronor

The new salary threshold. More than double the old threshold, which was 13,000 kronor.

100 percent 

The government plans to raise the salary threshold to 100 percent of the median salary in the future.

November 1st

The date at which the new work permit salary threshold came into effect for new work permit applications, applications for extensions, and previous applications which have not yet been concluded.

14,991

The number of current work permit holders who don’t meet the new work permit salary threshold.

24,117

The number of work permits issued in Sweden last year. From January to September 2023, the Migration Agency issued 22,847 work permits.

2 years

Work permits in Sweden are issued for a maximum of two years at a time. During the first two years, applicants are tied to a specific job and a specific employer. After two years, they can switch employer, but will need to apply for a new permit if they want to change jobs.

2,200 kronor

The application fee for work permits and work permit extensions. Some occupations pay a lower fee of 2,000 or 1,500 kronor.

Accompanying family members also pay a fee –  1,500 kronor for adults and 750 kronor for children.

Three weeks

The amount of time you have to appeal a rejected work permit application.

One job

It’s not possible to meet the work permit salary requirement by working two (or more) jobs. Your work permit is individual and tied to a specific job, so you will only be offered a work permit if you have a job which fulfills all the requirements by itself.

Between four and 15 months

The time it takes for 75 percent of first-time work permit applicants to receive a response on their application. It varies depending on the industry.

Extension applications have longer waiting times, going up to 18 months for sectors with a 15-month wait for first-time applications, or a slightly lower 15 months for branches with a four month wait for first-time applications.

Member comments

  1. I’m curious about people not meeting the required salary level. Who are they? In which sector are they working?
    Is there any data showing if the local Swedes can compensate for that lost of workforce if those people are forced to leave Sweden?

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For members

WORKING IN SWEDEN

‘Reassess your cultural background’: Key tips for foreign job hunters in Sweden

Many foreigners living in Sweden want to stay in the country but struggle to find a job, despite having relevant qualifications. The Local spoke to three experts for their advice.

Published: 7 May 2024 09:00 CEST
'Reassess your cultural background': Key tips for foreign job hunters in Sweden

One international worker who found it hard to land her first job in Sweden is Amanda Herzog, who eventually founded Intertalents in Sweden with the aim of helping other immigrants find work in the country.

Herzog originally came to Sweden to study at Jönköping University and decided to stay after graduating.

“I thought it would take three months, maybe six months to find a job, I was prepared for that,” she told The Local during a live recording of our Sweden in Focus podcast held as part of Talent Talks, an afternoon of discussions at the Stockholm Business Region offices on how to attract and retain foreign workers in Sweden.

“What happened was it took over 13 months and 800 applications to actually get a job in my industry, within marketing.”

During this time, Herzog was getting multiple interviews a month, but was not getting any further in the process, despite showing her CV to Swedish recruiters for feedback.

“They were baffled as well,” she said. “By the time I landed my dream job, I had to go outside of the typical advice and experiment, and figure out how I actually can get hired. By the time I got hired, I realised what actually works isn’t really being taught.”

‘Reassess your cultural background’

Often, those who come to Herzog for help have sent out hundreds of CVs and are unsure what their next steps should be.

“My first piece of advice is to stop for a second,” she said. “Reassess your cultural background and how it fits into Sweden.”

Herzog, for example, discovered she was interviewing in “the American way”.

In the US, when asked to tell an interviewer about yourself, you’d be expected to discuss your career history – how many people have you managed? Did sales improve while you were working there? – while Swedes are more likely to want to know about you as a person and why you want to work in a specific role for their company in particular.

“A lot of people don’t know this, so imagine all of the other cultural things that they’re doing differently that they learned in their country is normal,” Herzog adds.

“Just start with learning, because it could be that you don’t need to change very much, you are qualified, you just need to connect with the Swedish way of doing things.”

 
 
 
 
 
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Networking is important

“Don’t hesitate to reach out for help and guidance,” said Laureline Vallée, an environmental engineer from France who recently found a job in Sweden after moving here nine months ago with her partner, who got a job as a postdoc at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

“You tend to insulate yourself and consider yourself not capable, but you’re not less capable than you were in your home country, you just need to explain it to the employers.”

Another tip is to network as much as you can, Vallée said.

“Networking is really important here in Sweden, so just go for it, connect with people in the same field.”

This could be through networks like Stockholm Akademiska Forum’s Dual Career Network, which helps the accompanying partners or spouses of foreign workers find a job in Sweden, or through other connections, like neighbours, friends, or people you meet through hobbies, for example.

Make a clear profile for yourself

Another common issue is that applicants are not presenting themselves clearly to recruiters, Stockholm Akademiska Forum’s CEO, Maria Fogelström Kylberg, told The Local.

“If you’re sending 600 applications without an answer, something is wrong. We have seen many people looking for jobs working in a supermarket, and the next application is a managing director post,” she said. “You have to decide ‘who am I? What do I want to do?’, you have to profile yourself in a clear way.”

This could be editing down your CV so you’re not rejected for being overqualified, or just thinking more closely about how you present yourself to a prospective employer.

“Which of my skills are transferable? How can I be of use to this company? Not what they can do for me, but what problem can I solve with my competence?”

Job hunters should also not be afraid of applying for a job which lists Swedish as a requirement in the job description, Fogelström Kylberg said.

“Sometimes if I see an ad for a job and I have a perfect candidate in front of me, I call the company and say ‘I have a perfect candidate, but you need them to speak Swedish’, they then say ‘no, that’s not so important’. This is not so unusual at all so don’t be afraid of calling them to say ‘do I really need perfect Swedish?’”

Listen to the full interview with Maria Fogelström Kylberg, Amanda Herzog and Laureline Vallée in The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers.

Interview by Paul O’Mahony, article by Becky Waterton

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