New rules hit international talent hard
The Minister for Migration, Maria Malmer Stenergard, announced today that the Government will instruct the Swedish Migration Agency to make it easier for international talent from visa-free countries to come to Sweden without first having to visit a physical embassy. We welcome the fact that the Minister wants to take action, but also believe that the requirement as such needs to be reviewed in its entirety. For citizens of countries with which Sweden has visa-free agreements, and who have biometric passports, a legally secure ID check is already possible.
On November 1, 2022, the Swedish Migration Agency tightened the requirements for passport control. Nowadays, anyone applying for a residence permit in Sweden must present their passport during a personal visit to an embassy or consulate general. In countries where citizens are required to have a visa to enter Sweden, the new rules do not make much difference as they still have to visit an embassy when applying for a visa.
The new requirement has already had a major impact on thousands of applicants from visa-free countries who apply every year for a residence permit to work or study in Sweden. The consequences of the new rules will also be severe for companies looking to hire, as they will mean even longer application processes for work permits.
Those affected are citizens from visa-free countries who can already travel to Sweden at any time, such as the United States, Canada and Argentina. The new requirements mean more bureaucracy with longer and more costly application processes. This is the result of a new survey conducted by TechSverige on the handling of the new rules at a selection of Swedish embassies, where twelve out of eighteen responded.
The following points emerged from the survey:
- Increased costs and longer time to decision. Several embassies state that the new requirements entail increased costs and longer time to decision for those applying for a residence permit in Sweden. Many Swedish embassies are responsible for several countries and operate in countries with large distances, which means that applicants in some cases need to make long and costly journeys in order to be able to carry out passport control. It may also mean that applicants have to fly from one country to another to present their passport.
- International students are also affected. The new rules have also affected conditions for international students. Many are now looking to other countries in Europe.
- Increased workload at missions abroad. Half of the embassies say that the new requirements have increased their workload. For some embassies, this has meant that other areas have to be de-prioritized.
- Different conditions for carrying out ID checks. The responses from the survey show thatembassies have different conditions for carrying out ID checks. Some have fixed times on a certain day of the week, while others have drop-in sessions. Only one embassy states that it has the capacity to receive more people, for a shorter period, when needed during periods of increased pressure.
Overall, our study shows that the Swedish Migration Agency's new requirements have had major negative consequences for international talent and foreign authorities. This in turn affects the ability of the business sector and higher education institutions to attract international talent. Ultimately, it affects Sweden as a nation of knowledge.
The background to the stricter requirements is the Swedish National Audit Office's criticism (RIR:2009) of the authority's work with identity checks. The Swedish National Audit Office's review, however, concerns connection cases from high-risk countries such as Syria and Afghanistan, where the identity of citizens is particularly difficult to establish due to deficiencies in population registration and other administrative systems.
For citizens of countries with which Sweden and the EU currently have visa-free agreements and who have biometric passports, a legally secure ID check is already possible.TechSverige believes that it is neither justified nor necessary that applicants from visa-free countries, who can already travel to Sweden at any time, should now have to go to a foreign authority to present their passport as part of the application process.
TechSverige believes that these measures are very urgent and should be implemented as soon as possible:
- Enable citizens from visa-free countries to present their passports to the border police (through mandatory border control at the external border) when entering Sweden (instead of visiting an embassy). The residence permit decision becomes legally binding when this check has been carried out. This arrangement presupposes that the Migration Agency has checked that the applicant meets all other requirements for the residence permit.
- During a transitional period, embassies in visa-free countries should be given more resources to handle a higher volume of passport checks through more staff and extended opening hours.
- The government needs to give more foreign authorities the power to check passports. It would be helpful if applicants could present passports at foreign authorities other than embassies and consulates general, such as honorary consulates.
- The Government should give the Swedish Migration Agency the task of investigating technical possibilities for checking the authenticity of passports without applicants having to present the originals. With the help of modern technology and biometrics, there are now many market solutions that can be used to verify identity.
Ana Andric,
Business policy expert , TechSweden