The most asked questions about immigration laws in Sweden

Fabrizio Vittoria Beijer, the founder and partner of Momentius, a legal firm offering legal advice and assistance on EU and immigration matters, is an expert on the issue. Since immigration laws are the most discussed issue amidst international talents, International House Gothenburg collaborates with Fabrizio Vittoria Beijer to organize events to help visitors with questions.  

We asked Fabrizo Vittoria Beijer the most common questions about Swedish immigration laws.  

How do new rules affect immigrant's situation? 

Regarding these new immigration rules, we can see that in the last few years, we had a lot of changes in Sweden. Not only with the maintenance requirement for workers, but the changes affect many categories of immigrants, in particular in the family reunification matters as well as to obtain a permanent residence permit. 

With the regard to the maintenance requirements threshold, before the change, the basic requirement threshold was 13,000 Swedish kronor. But this amount was raised to 26,360 Swedish kronor on the 1st of November 2023. Now, the threshold that has been raised will significantly affect the possibility of moving to Sweden for work and even extending the work permit. Besides the ones who will apply for a work permit for the first time, the ones who have been working for a while will also be affected by this new rule. 

Does the new rule about the threshold affect employers? 

Employers will be affected a lot. Many industries don't have that high threshold in their collective agreement. For example, the cleaning industry. Many companies don't pay more than a collective agreement. So, especially the sectors with low-profile workforces will be affected more, and hiring people will be tough for these companies. 

Is there a change for the permanent residency permit? 

Yes, there is. The idea of changing the rule came up in 2021 and has been enforced gradually over the last three years. According to this rule, you cannot get the permanent residence permit automatically anymore because your family member who lives in Sweden has a permanent residence permit. Before this rule, you could automatically apply for a permanent residency permit without maintenance requirements. It means when you apply for permanent residency, you must live in Sweden for a certain time and have a stable life. Moreover, you must maintain your life with a long-term work contract. Of course, the immigrant has the right to live in Sweden, although they can't fulfil the requirement to get a permanent residence permit.   

What happens to immigrants' Swedish work permit if they lose their job? 

This is a general rule: if you lose your job while you have a work permit, you have three months to find a new job. If you can't find a new job during this period, Migrationsverket withdraws your permit. The time limit starts from the day you lose your job.  

The closing time of residency permit extension applications may take too long. What is the reason for that? 

There are many reasons for the long waiting time. The first reason was invoked by the Swedish government. During 2015, there was a big asylum crisis in the country, and the capacity of the Migrationsverket was not ready to handle all those applications. Many officers had to work for asylum cases to support their colleagues during this time. But the interesting thing is that the Swedish government is still invoking for the same reason. It has been almost 10 years, and the asylum migration to Sweden has decreased drastically. To this regard, it is interesting to note that there is a pending infringement procedure before the European Commission against Sweden for the long waiting time to be issued residence permits.  

The European Commission stated many times that issues related to the administrative capacity in the Swedish system is not considered reason enough to justify an extension of the processing times deadlines. I'm telling you about this infringement procedure before the European Commission because European directives establish some specific deadlines in many areas of legal migration. For example, the European Directive on family reunification states that you can only wait up to nine months to bring your family members to Sweden. But it takes longer than this in Sweden and this is in breach of EU law.   

During the waiting process, if the immigrant is not allowed to leave Sweden. Is there any exception for emergency situations? 

During the extension process, immigrants are free to leave Sweden. Still, since they have no residency permit, they can only enter the country again once their extension application gets approved. But there are two alternatives for crucial situations. The first one is the D Schengen visa. This is for immigrants waiting for work permit extensions and is valid only for business-related trips. But you are supposed to prove that you have a business meeting in another country. Usually, waiting time for a D Schengen visa is very short. It must be issued within between 15-30 days. Another option is when you have an essential family reason. For this option, the reason for your leaving Sweden must be vital, such as a funeral or critical health issues. In that case, to enter Sweden again, you should apply to the Swedish Embassy in the country you visited with proof that it was an emergency. Since this option is very strict, there's no guarantee of entering the country again. 

Does the type of visa affect the duration of waiting time? 

Since asylum requests mean providing protection to someone, Migrationsverket's priority is always refugees. And many asylum cases are very complex. But it's difficult to say that for the other cases, such as Sambo, work, or study permit.  

There are many different departments at Migrationsverket, and they have other priorities depending on the cases. It depends on how complex the case is. So, even if the type of permit is the same, there might be differences. The waiting time might be shorter if you provide all the documents you are supposed to. But if you don't submit all the required documents, you might wait longer to receive the result. 

What do you recommend to immigrants who are going to apply for citizenship? 

Usually, you can apply for Swedish citizenship after you live in the country for five years. But this time is shorter if you are married to a Swedish citizen. You can apply for citizenship after three years. But you can only apply if you fulfil your time to stay in Sweden. For example, some people must remember to consider their long holidays in their home country. According to the rule, if you stayed outside of Sweden for more than six weeks in a calendar year -for example, eight weeks- the two weeks are counted as missing days of your stay time in Sweden you are supposed to complete. 

If you apply for citizenship without completing these days, your application gets rejected directly. That's a widespread mistake. You should ensure you fulfil all the basic requirements mentioned on the website at the time your application. 

Another important thing is to ensure that your home country allows you double citizenship. Some countries -for example, India- don't let that. In that case, you must resign from the other citizenship before applying.  

Applications for permits in Sweden seem very easy. Because all requirements are clearly written on the website. So, you are ultimately responsible for fulfilling all requirements and the application can be delayed if you need to complete with additional documents later. 

About Fabrizio Vittoria Beijer 

Fabrizio Vittoria Beijer is an EU lawyer with experience from law firms, EU institutions in Brussels and civil society. Fabrizio is an EU law expert and is regularly working as a consultant for the EU commission in internal market affairs. 

Interview by Sule Kaya Hult