Sweden proposes new measures to attract highly qualified foreign workers

Sweden EU Blue Card, minimum salary, foreign workers, residence permit, immigration

Sweden is preparing to attract and retain highly qualified foreign workers. The Swedish government has presented a bill to the Riksdag, Sweden’s highest decision-making assembly, with measures to improve the country’s ability to attract and retain highly qualified professionals. If ratified by the parliament, the modifications will likely take effect on January 1, 2025.

The proposals are aimed at implementing the new Blue Card Directive, which replaces the 2009 Blue Card Directive. An EU Blue Card is a combined residence and work permit that can be granted to foreign workers who have an employment contract for highly qualified positions in Sweden and who meet other conditions.

In the bill, the Government proposes the legislative amendments needed to implement the new Blue Card Directive. The proposals aim to improve the ability to attract and retain highly qualified workers and facilitate their mobility within the EU, and include the following:

Lowering the salary threshold to be granted an EU Blue Card and lowering the required period of employment to 6 months;

  • Making more categories of workers eligible for an EU Blue Card;
  • Expanding the possibilities of switching from other types of residence permit to an EU Blue Card; and
  • Making it possible to switch to another highly qualified position without applying for a new EU Blue Card.
  • It is proposed that the legislative amendments enter into force on 1 January 2025.

EU Blue Card in Sweden

If you are a citizen of a non-EU country and have received an offer of employment for highly qualified work, you can apply for an EU Blue Card. You must have the equivalent of 180 credits of tertiary education or five years of professional experience and a salary that is at least one and a half times the average gross salary in Sweden.

The new EU Blue Card Directive aims to meet Europe’s future demographic and labour market needs and remove the shortcomings of the present version. The current EU Blue Card Directive, with its restrictive admission conditions and limited intra-EU mobility facilitation, has limited its attractiveness and usage among highly skilled workers across EU Member States.

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