Employment in Sweden for non-EU foreigners

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If you intend on working in Sweden, you should bear in mind that certain procedures have to be followed in advance. In particular and as provided for by the Migration Board website, non-EU foreigners between the ages of 18 to 30 are expected to apply for a visa which is to last for a time period of one year. Despite that general provision, though, it so happens that for some countries the aforementioned visa is valid merely for a period of three months.

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NECESSARY REQUIREMENTS REGARDING THE ISSUANCE OF A WORK PERMIT

• Valid passport as issued by the competent authorities of the country of origin
• Letter of Offer of Employment which has to be provided by the future employer already in Sweden
• Advertorial of the said role as already posted on the EURES portal, for at least three days’ time in advance
• Terms and Conditions of the said role to be complying to the Swedish Collective Agreements relevant legislation
• The job offer should be of a pre-tax monthly salary of 13.000, 00 Swedish Koronas – that is approx. 1.235,00€ – which is as provided for by the Swedish Collective Agreements legislation

Family reunification due to Employment

Once you acquire a work permit and you have arranged all related issues to the employment issue, it could be that both your spouse and your child- ren could follow and get registered alongside with you in Sweden. The necessary precondition in terms of children is that they should not be beyond the age of 21; if they are above 21 years of age, it is not that they are automatically excluded, needless to say though, a different application needs to be submitted either as an extra/ separate application or as an addendum to that, depending on the specifics of the case at hand which have to be communicated and decided upon by the authority therein involved

Procedure to be followed

The relevant application could be submitted either beforehand, i.e. before your arrival in Sweden, or even after you have entered the country, provided, of course, that you are a lawful resident. The procedure reads as follows:

1. Offer of employment already in place. In other words, there has to be a tangible procedure already under way which among others presupposes the preparation of a certain official letter from the Employer’s side confirming such an offer, the terms and conditions of the job vacancy at hand, and of course, the offered remuneration package/ salary. The very same letter including the same information as presented above has to be also forwarded to the relevant trade union which, in return, shall approve or disapprove all the relevant documentation provided thus far. The approved documentation shall be used as supporting documentation to the application regarding the issuance of the work permit
2. Submission of relevant application. After having concluded the aforementioned procedure, provided, of course, that an approval has been provided for, a relevant application is to be submitted either on-line or in person to the competent state authority. At the same time the relevant application regarding the issuance of your family’s residence permit can be launched. The procedure might be a little trickier if you decide to follow the “hard-copy” procedure, however and in any case, just for the sake of clarity, make sure that at all times you keep copies of the originals submitted, given that in case of the on-line application procedure such a danger is extinct. Necessary documents that most probably shall be asked for read as follows, e.g.

• Copies of the application, be it on line or on paper form
• Copies of the passport, practically of all the pages included therein that might come handy
• Copies of the letter prepared by your employer and of all the supporting documents
• In case of family unification process, copies of passport of the entire family, and in general of all dependent members
• Last but not least, and this is not just a figure of speech, remember to have at all times and after having deposited the necessary fee, copy of that certain deposit, or deposits if more than one had to be completed

3. Furthermore, the Migration Board which is the competent authority throughout the process shall review your application and get to inform you about the outcome of the procedure. Please bear in mind that there might be a differentiation in the time period the Migration Board needs in order to process an application and this, fundamentally, relates to whether it has been submitted electronically or in actual paper form at one of the Embassies/ Consulate Authorities of Sweden at your country of origin. In principle electronic applications take much less time to be processed, whereas in the case of the traditional ones, the Authorities shall in effect begin processing your application after a month’s time from the day of receipt. Please, also, bear in mind that the way the competent Swedish authority will get back to you practically relates to the initial way the application as such has been submitted. It would be rather helpful if you could take the time and submit it online even you decide to also submit all documents in person.

4. What needs to be done following the submission of all documentation relating to the issuance of visa and residence permit

As soon as the Migration Board forwards its decision back to you, you should initiate the process in order to get a visa so as to enter Sweden, in case you are a third-country national, whereas if you are an EU citizen of any of the EU member states, such a procedure is not at all needed. The only thing needed with regards to the latter case of an EU citizen is an arranged meeting with the Migration Board in order for the process of fingerprint submission to be concluded. In terms of the former case, on the other hand, the same meeting is necessary to be taking place, however, in this case it is even of more compulsory nature given that after three-months’ time your initial visa shall expire and an extension must definitely be asked for from you side as it shall be provided in the following paragraph.

So, in case the initial work permit of a third-country national gets expired after a three-month time period, an official request for a further extension to be provided must be submitted. The terms and conditions of your employment must be remaining the same, if not any better, but in no case should they be deteriorating in any way. It is also vital to bear in mind that for the following 24 months you have to be remaining with the same employer and the same job vacancy. Please also note this very crucial detail that might affect your work permit and your entire future in Sweden: if you decide to change not just your occupation while remaining with the same employer but, in total, to change both occupation and employer, then a new work permit has to be issued from scratch, which practically means that a new decision has to be sought for and fundamentally produced by the Migration Board.

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