Immigration Alert – The Swedish government proposes new stricter rules for labor immigration

Overview

Significant changes proposed to be implemented in the Swedish Aliens Act as of June 1st, 2025, will affect the entire work permit process for both employers and employees.  Some of the proposed changes include a higher salary requirement, new stricter obligations for employers, and specific regulations for foreigners seconded to Sweden from an employer in another country.  

Background

On February 16th, 2023, the Swedish Government appointed a special investigator   to analyze and propose a regulatory framework based on the premise that a work permit should only be granted if the foreign national is offered a certain salary level, but where a lower salary requirement can be formulated for specified professional groups. Additionally, the framework should be designed to accommodate special cases, such as excluding professional groups in certain industries  from the possibility of applying for a work permit or conversely adjusting regulations to promote the hiring of highly skilled workers.  

The special investigator’s report SOU 2024:15 was published on February 15th, 2024 with the recommendation to have the proposed changes enter into force on June 1st, 2025.  For this to happen, the proposed legal amendments must first be circulated for consultation, be presented as a government bill, and finally be adopted by the Swedish parliament. 

Proposed Changes

While not exhaustive, we have included the most relevant proposed changes below. 

A higher salary requirement

• According to current regulations, a work permit may be granted to a third country national whose employment contract enables him or her to achieve “good financial support” (read more about the requirement here). This requirement was introduced November 1st, 2023. The Swedish Government is now proposing that this to be replaced by a higher salary requirement, meaning that the third country national must have a salary that at least corresponds to the median salary in Sweden to be granted a work permit. Currently, the median salary is set at SEK 34 200 monthly  and will be adjusted annually based on statistics from SCB.
• It will not be sufficient for the salary to correspond to the median salary within a certain profession, despite the offered salary being higher than the levels according to collective agreements or what is common in the industry. The salary must be higher than the median salary for all professions as well.
• Since processing times at the Swedish Migration Agency vary, this may result in a new median salary being published, and thus the salary requirement being changed, when the application is to be processed compared with when it was filed. To ensure predictability for both the individual and the employer regarding the minimum acceptable salary, it is proposed that the salary requirement that was in effect at the time of application should be applied during the Migration Agency’s assessment.
• The salary requirement must be met regardless of the percentage of employment,   which means that the same salary requirement applies even for an employee who works less than full-time.
• The salary requirement   must be met during the entire employment period, otherwise  the work permit could be revoked. However, if the minimum acceptable salary level is raised  during the permit period, this fact in itself should not lead to revocation of the permit, according to the proposal.
• The requirement “good financial support” (which currently is 80 percent of the median salary) is proposed to continue to  apply, instead of the new salary requirement, for extension applications submitted to the Swedish Migration Agency no later than June 1st, 2026.
• ICT permit holders are exempted from the salary requirement but must still be offered a monthly salary that is at least equivalent to the minimum salary threshold according to the collective agreement or industry levels. An alternative salary requirement that has been proposed is that the salary must be at least half of the median salary in Sweden at the application time.

Specific occupations/holders of permits that can be exempt from the salary requirement

• To counteract the risk of facing a skills shortage in Sweden, the proposal includes the possibility to provide an exemption from the new salary requirement for occupations that require an expertise that is difficult to find in Sweden. For these occupations, employers must still offer a monthly salary that is at least equivalent to the minimum salary threshold according to the collective agreement or industry levels. An alternative salary requirement that has been proposed is that the salary must be at least half of the median salary in Sweden at the application time.
• It is suggested that the Swedish Migration Agency should be responsible to annually propose a list of exempted professions to the Government, with the help of other authorities. The exemptions can also be regionally based as the expertise needed by each region may vary.
• Another group of individuals proposed to be exempted from the salary requirement are those who hold a residence permit for research, higher education studies, internships related to higher education, or a residence permit to seek employment in Sweden  after finished studies, and who then apply for a work permit. These individuals must still be offered a monthly salary that is at least equivalent to the minimum salary threshold according to the collective agreement or industry levels. 

Workers in risk-areas with systematic abuse should be excluded from the possibility to apply for work permits

• It is suggested that the Swedish Migration Agency should be responsible to annually provide the Government with proposals on professional industries where the abuse of the regulations is so significant that employees within this industry should be excluded from the possibility of being granted a work permit. The provision regarding the exclusion of professions should cover only a few professions.
• The professions that according to the proposal should initially be excluded are personal assistants (subgroup 5343 in SSYK 2012) and berry pickers (subgroup 9210 in SSYK 2012). 

Proposed actions to attract highly skilled workers to Sweden

• The EU Blue Card permit period will be extended from two to four years maximum, and if the employment is shorter than four years, a permit should be granted for the employment period plus three months.
• Newborn children born in Sweden to parents holding an EU Blue Card, ICT-permit or a Researcher residence permit in Sweden will be allowed to apply for and having their application granted from within Sweden, without having to leave the country.
• People with a “job seeking permit” should be allowed to apply for and be granted a permit for further research and higher studies from within Sweden, without having to leave the country. 

Full health insurance

• Currently, there is no requirement for a third country national to have a health insurance in place to be granted a work permit. It is now proposed that for work permit applicants planning to reside in Sweden for less than a year, the third country national must have, or have applied for, comprehensive health insurance that is valid in Sweden before a work permit is granted.
• The term comprehensive health insurance in the proposal should have the same meaning as in existing provisions of the Aliens Act when it comes to healthcare insurances, which means that the insurance is in fact a healthcare insurance that should cover the costs of both emergency and other medical care, hospitalization, dental care, and any necessary medical repatriation. 

Obligations for employers to report if a third country national’s employment is terminated or if an employee never starts the position

• An obligation to formally report if a third country national’s employment is terminated or never starts is proposed to be introduced.
• Introducing this requirement is intended to give the Swedish Migration Agency a greater scope to grant longer permit periods than six months for employments that have a probation period, as there is an obligation for the employer to report if the employment is terminated and does not become a permanent employment.

New regulations for third country nationals seconded to Sweden from an employer in another country

• For an individual that is seconded to Sweden from an employer in another country, it is now proposed that the work permit should be tied to the branch, the group company, or service recipient in Sweden instead of to the foreign employer. It is also proposed that, in addition to an employment contract, the application for a work permit for these individuals should be supplemented with documents that regulate the employee’s work conditions in Sweden.

Deloitte’s comments

With this proposal it is evident that measures are being taken with the aim to strengthen the position of foreign workers, which in return means that the regulation is becoming more complex with higher requirements to obtain a work permit. The coming legislative changes are also contributing to the work permit route to Sweden not being available for everyone, which is in line with the will of the current Government. This is made clear by the new salary requirement, precluding the work permit route for most jobs deemed as less qualified, and certain industries being fully excluded from the possibility to be granted a permit at all. 

The proposal includes several positive aspects. For instance, historically, the EU Blue Card has not been very attractive in Sweden due to the more favorable national work permit route. Prolonging the  EU Blue Card permit's duration from two years to four years we believe will achieve the intended purpose of making this permit type more attractive and therefore indirectly attracting individuals who typically meet the high requirements needed for the permit.

Furthermore, it is positive that researchers and graduates with Swedish degrees are being exempted from the salary requirement, as their starting salaries are normally lower than the median salary, which would otherwise lead to Sweden losing much needed expertise. Extending the categories of candidates being able to apply for work permits from within Sweden will also likely have a positive consequence. 

There are however still many questions to be answered before the proposal becomes a bill, such as how regional exemptions from the salary requirement should work in practice, whether secondment letters would be sufficient to explain terms for secondees working in Sweden, or in what way the proposed change to tie a permit to the Swedish company receiving a secondee differs from what is already in place today, etc. It is important to note that this is currently just a proposal, and the Swedish Government may adjust this based on feedback from stakeholders and the public before extending the final bill. Deloitte will monitor the developments while the proposal goes through the legislative process. 

To be ready for the changes to come, we recommend companies review their non-EU/EEA populations’ salaries, their current compensation policies and specifically their policy when a non-EU/EEA employee leaves the company. The proposed changes will likely lead to an increased administrative burden, as companies will need to dedicate personnel and build processes to ensure strong follow up and compliance is enforced when onboarding and offboarding their non-EU/EEA employees. 

Contact

If you have questions, you are welcome to contact us:

Martina Ogenhammar Conti
Director, Head of Immigration - Global Employer Services
mogenhammar@deloitte.se
+46 70 080 21 60

Kaltrina Abazi
Manager, Immigration - Global Employer Services
kabazi@deloitte.se
+46 70 080 32 62

Hanna Jacobson
Immigration specialist - Global Employer Services
hajacobson@deloitte.se
+46 70 080 35 18

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