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

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).