Sweden: Report Published on How New International Recruitment Units Will Improve Work Permit Process

November 28, 2023

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Country / Territory

At a Glance

The Swedish government has published a report on its plans to implement new International Recruitment Units to improve the work permit application process. Key topics covered in the report include:

  • a new tiered application category system based on the applicant’s profession and educational background, instead of the current Fast Track scheme;
  • elimination of the Fast Track scheme due to its inefficiency; and
  • Update – November 28, 2023: Companies must have been registered in Sweden for at least 12 months for their employees to be eligible for Category A processing.

The policies are likely to enter into force by the end of 2023 or early 2024.

The situation

As expected, the Swedish government has published a report on its plans to implement new International Recruitment Units to improve the work permit application process, which has seen significant processing delays and backlogs.

Under the new application category system to be used by the new Units, work permit application adjudication will be based on the applicant’s profession and educational background instead of the Fast Track scheme that has existed since 2011. Details on the four categories, as described in the report, are outlined below:

 

Work Permit Category

Details

Category A
  • Applicant type. Qualified professions, which includes management and leadership roles, as well as professions requiring higher education.
  • Processing times. Government processing times will be:
    • 30 days for complete applications; and
    • 120 days for incomplete applications (for instance, if an application misdescribes the role or salary, or omits required documentation or information, among other issues).
  • This category will likely apply to those roles listed on the Swedish Classification of Occupations that start with a 1, 2 or 3.
  • This category will replace the less efficient Fast Track scheme. 
  • Update – November 28, 2023: Companies must have been registered in Sweden for at least 12 months for their employees to be eligible for Category A processing.

Category B 
  • Applicant type. Work permit applicants for specified occupations with unique conditions including seasonal workers, EU intra-corporate transferees, EU Blue Card permits and researchers, among others.
  • Government processing time. Will depend on the application type.
    • EU Blue Card, intra-corporate transferee, and seasonal worker applications should be processed within 90 days.
    • Researcher applications should take up to 60 days.
  • This category will be handled by specially assigned review units.

Category C
  • Applicant type. Professions that are not classified as ‘highly qualified,’ including roles that do not require higher education. This category includes roles that constitute an important social benefit, regardless of not being ‘highly qualified’.
  • Government processing time. 120 days (regardless of whether the application is complete or not).
  • Roles in this category are deemed to not require a high level of government scrutiny during the application process.
  • Applicants who do not qualify under categories A or B may qualify under this category.

Category D 
  • Applicant type. Applications in professions deemed by the Swedish Migration Agency to require the highest level of scrutiny (given a history of systemic abuse of these types of workers), including cleaning, construction, personal assistants within the medical field, and hospitality workers, among others.
  • Government processing time. 120 days (regardless of whether the application is complete). 

The Swedish authorities have also introduced an information page (in Swedish) regarding these changes.

In May 2023, the Swedish Migration Agency was tasked with promoting the entry of highly-skilled immigrants and, in order to meet that mission, the Agency conducted a review of the current certification process and created a new model for handling work permit applications through units for international recruitment.

The new units and category system are expected to create a more transparent work permit adjudication system than the current process, under which approximately 40% of all highly-qualified work permit applications are adjudicated. The current system results in unpredictable and long processing times.

The policies are likely to enter into force by the end of 2023 or early 2024. We will report on related developments.

This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].

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