Recent developments in the immigration of skilled workers

5 October 2023 1 min read

At a glance

  • The global trend of allowing for immigration of highly qualified or higher paid individuals is being demonstrated in Sweden through two recent developments.

New unit for highly qualified labour immigration

The Swedish government has announced that the Swedish Migration Agency will introduce a new unit working on international recruitment. The new unit will focus on highly qualified employees and will implement a new model, which will be developed during the year through discussions between the labour partners.

The new unit will provide faster processing times and the new model will be adapted to the needs of companies. One of the intentions behind the new unit is to maintain Sweden's position as an attractive country in the global labour market for highly qualified labour.

Increases to minimum salary requirements for work permits

From 1 November 2023, the minimum salary requirement for work permits in Sweden will be raised to at least SEK 27,360, regardless of whether the employee is in full-time or part-time work. 

This is more than double what the current requirement is which is SEK 13,000. The new requirement has been set as 80% of the latest published median salary in Sweden.