Pakistanis amongst top recipients of Sweden work permit despite closure of embassy

STOCKHOLM - Pakistanis were amongst Sweden's top recipients of work permits even though the country's embassy in Islamabad has been shut for over a year.

The government of Sweden issued 11,760 work permits between January and May 2024 as per the country’s Migration Agency. The numbers reflect a 30 percent increase compared to the same period in 2023 when 8,180 work permits were issued.

As far as the nationalities that received the most work permits are concerned, the top slots were taken by India, Türkiye, Iran, China, and Pakistan.

For the first five months of the ongoing year, the highest share of work permits was issued for occupations requiring in-depth university competence (4,667) and those requiring university education or equivalent (1,256).

Besides, the authorities also issued work permits for sectors including service, care, sales, construction, and manufacturing, Schengenvisainfo reported.

Furthermore, the latest data highlights that employment was the major basis for issuing residence permits in the initial five months of 2024. 

Sweden, like many other European countries, is also facing a labour crisis and the 2023 EURES report revealed that the country is facing labour shortages in 39 occupations, particularly in education and healthcare.

Sweden’s Labour Minister Johan Pehrson had also endorsed that the country was facing a labour crisis and some regions of the country are “crying out for staff”.

As the country grapples with the challenge of importing labour, the Swedish Migration Agency introduced a new processing system to shorten the waiting period for highly qualified workers; the average processing time for resolved cases has been under 30 days for the cases included in the initiative.

The authorities also aim to reduce the processing time for other work permit applications within four months.

Interestingly, while Pakistan remained on the list of recipients for most work permits granted, the country does not have an operational Swedish embassy. Last year, Sweden indefinitely closed its embassy in Pakistan citing the security situation.