To be eligible to apply for a permanent residence permit, the applicant must have held a residence permit for postgraduate studies or work for at least four years of a seven-year period. However, as of 20 July 2021, applicants for permanent residence permits must also be able to support themselves through income from employment or their own business. The Swedish Migration Agency’s interpretation of fulfilment of this requirement is that you must have indefinite-term or fixed-term employment for at least 18 months from the date that your application is assessed. The same requirement applies to accompanying family members who are at least 18 years of age.
Active lobbying
These new rules make it difficult for doctoral students and researchers to stay in Sweden and continue working in research and teaching. This is in part because a variety of fixed-term positions is common, and in part because it is difficult to obtain a permanent residence permit during doctoral studies because the application can only be made after four years of residence in Sweden.
“This is extremely unfortunate and has consequences for us as a research-intensive university, for our doctoral students and our researchers,” says Vice-Chancellor Anders Hagfeldt. “We must get an amendment through. However, this is an issue that concerns the whole sector and if we are to gain a hearing for a change in these rules, we need to act collectively. We are now doing this by means of active lobbying through the Association of Swedish Higher Education (SUHF),” says Vice-Chancellor Anders Hagfeldt.
SUHF expert group
The new legislation risks weakening Sweden’s appeal to international doctoral students and researchers and thus also being able to attract talent in the long term to Sweden’s higher education institutions. On behalf of the SUHF Executive (presidium), an expert group of representatives from different higher education institutions is therefore drafting a letter to the Ministry of Education. Uppsala University is participating in the work of the expert group and is following the issue in various types of networks.