In July 2021 the Swedish parliament passed a new migration legislation as a way to tighten asylum immigration. The Aliens Act contains a new maintenance requirement for those who wish to obtain permanent residency. An applicant must show they have an employment contract lasting for at least 18 months from the day the migration agency issues its decision. The change in the law did not contain any transitional rules. Furthermore, the government has stated that there will be no exceptions for researchers and academia. According to critics, this new maintenance requirement will impact foreign doctoral students and postdocs in negative ways.
Survey among doctoral students and young researchers
This winter the doctoral students committee in SFS, Swedish National Union of Students (SFS-DK), KTH-PhD Chapter, the Swedish Network of Postdoc Associations (SNPA) and the National Junior Faculty (NJF) conducted a survey among doctoral students and young researchers (Early Career Researcher, ECRs) to find out their opinion on these issues.
There are currently 17,100 doctoral students and 7,000 ECRs in Sweden. Around 20 percent of the doctoral students are from outside the EU/EEA. The percentage of international ECRs is even higher with around 75 percent of the postdocs coming from outside Sweden. Around 50 percent of all ECRs are from outside of the EU/EEA .
Short term contracts norm in academia
5 080 persons responded to the survey. The results shows that short term contracts are the norm in academia. In Sweden, doctoral education typically lasts 4-5 years so by the time doctoral students are eligible to apply for permanent residency (>4 years) they will not meet the new maintenance requirement (>18 months)
For ECRs the situation is less homogeneous, as they have many different employments. Of ECR survey respondents who have come to Sweden from outside the EU/EEA and lived here for four years or more, nearly 37 percent are currently on contracts shorter than 18 months and therefore do not meet the maintenance requirement. A further 30 percent of non-EU/EEA ECRs have contracts lasting between 18 and 24 months and therefore would require a timely decision from the Swedish Migration Agency.
Damage to research environments
When respondents were asked if the new migration legislation impact them and their future career in Sweden, 93 percent of non-EU/EEA, 55 percent of EU/EEA, and 27 percent of Swedish citizens expressed that it will have negative consequences. Many Swedish and EU/EEA respondents answered that the effect on their non-EU/EEA colleagues will damage their research environment, or that this will directly impact their partner or family members.
Wish to stay in Sweden
Of the non-EU/EEA respondents, 90 percent do not have permanent residency in Sweden and are thus directly affected by the new legislation. However, 96 percent express that they wish to stay in Sweden if they have the opportunity to. There are 28 percent who explicitly named the maintenance requirements of the new migration legislation as a reason for their wish to leave Sweden. This means, according to the survey, that had it not been for the new migration legislation, a total of 96 percent would have wished to stay in Sweden after their current position indicating their intention to settle in Sweden long-term.
Language requirements
The new changes in the migration legislation also contains requirements that applicants should be able to prove a minimum level of Swedish competence. The international working language of research is English. Hence, there is little professional incentive for international researchers to learn Swedish. According to the survey, researchers are willing to learn Swedish despite finding it challenging, and they perceive that this will have a positive impact on their careers.
Exceptions needed to attract international talents
The report coming out of the survey concludes that if the impact of the new migration legislation turns out to be as doctoral students and ECRs anticipate, it is likely that the coming years will see a decrease in the number of international doctoral graduates remaining in Sweden. This will have wide-reaching negative consequences both within academia and other highly-skilled labour sectors. “Therefore, we believe that an exception for doctoral students and researchers to the maintenance requirement in the migration legislation is necessary and prudent to prevent a decline in Sweden’s international competitiveness in the knowledge economy and to continue Sweden’s ability to attract the very best international talents.”
No SU data yet on effects of the changes
When we last September wrote on the changes in the Aliens Act there were fears within The Stockholm University Young Faculty (SU-YF)* that the changes would become problematic to many young researchers and reduce the attractiveness of Sweden as a country to work in.
Photo: Paul Buckingham
When we in mid April contact Grant Kemp, a researcher at the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics who was involved in conducting and analyzing the survey and is the current chair of NJF and secretary of SU-YF, he says that changes will be long term and take time to come into effect, but the NJF collects survey data from its members every two years and will be looking closely for the fallout in 2023.
SU-YF and NJF will together with SFS-DK, SNPA, Saco and SULF work together to get an exception for doctoral students and researchers from the Aliens Act. More details on the success of this will come in the next month, according to Grant Kemp.
“We will check if we can extract Stockholm University answers for the migration survey, but otherwise it is possible to follow this up by running a short survey targeted at Stockholm University specifically.”
So far SU-YF has not been in contact with the university senior management or Human Resources Office on these issues. The involvement has been via the NJF to try to target the government through the common action of a number of organizations.
Few known cases at the university
The new legislation affects many employees with residence permits at the university, but the Human Resources Office has only become aware of a few specific situations where difficulties have arisen for doctoral students. According to Claes Strandlund, section manager at the Human Resources Office, these problems have not only been linked to the new legislation but also to long processing times at the Swedish Migration Agency. Doctoral students who have completed their studies and previously been able to apply for permanent residence permits have now only had the opportunity to apply for time-limited extensions and have not been notified before the old permit has expired.
Since the new legislation came into force, the Human Resources Office has worked to reach out with information about the new rules, including that there are time-limited extensions of residence permits that can be applied for after completing studies and completed research. Together with KTH Royal Institute of Technology, the Human Resources Office arranged an information meeting about the new rules aimed at personnel within the administration. The possibilities to provide support in individual cases, on the other hand, are very limited as it is up to other authorities to apply the legislation.
Claes Strandlund has not heard of any international researcher who has chosen not to come to Stockholm University due to the changes in the Aliens Act. So far, there are no indications that the number of international applicants for postgraduate studies has decreased.
Dialogue with the government
Stockholm University has, together with other higher education institutions within the framework of The Association of Swedish Higher Education Institutions (SUHF), sent letters to the relevant ministries regarding the amendment to the Aliens Act. SUHF, where SU President Astrid Söderbergh Widding is chairman, also has a dialogue with the Ministry of Education and Research on the issue. The university also cooperates within the European EURAXESS network and the network's migration group has had a dialogue meeting with the Ministry of Education and Research Ministry to inform about concrete problems.
Anna Ekström, Minister for Education, has emphasized that higher education institutions should not be exempt from the new legislation, but that the sector should work to offer longer and more secure employment within the academy. Claes Strandlund has not heard any signals from the government that it will change its mind on the question.
Read more:
“Forced me to think about moving out of Sweden”
Survey Report
International researchers worried about changes in the Aliens Act (September 2021)
Strong criticism of stricter rules for residence permits (September 2021)
SU-YF and NJF
*The Stockholm University Young Faculty (SU-YF) is an organization that represents more than 500 members of postdoctoral fellows, researchers, senior researchers, assistant professors and young faculty members at Stockholm University. The National Junior Faculty (NJF) is an umbrella organisation for local faculty associations supporting researchers 1-15 years post-PhD at nine Swedish universities.
Read more on SU-YF
Read more on NJF Sweden
Summary and recommendations from the survey:
• Individuals affected by the new legislation perceive the impact to be large and, in light of these recent changes, are now less likely to remain in Sweden.
• Moving forward, this may impact the number of international students and researchers wanting to study or work in Sweden in the first place.
• Loss of the most highly educated individuals will also affect other sectors, such as industry as argued by SN
• Doctoral students and ECRs perceive Swedish language skills as important to their future career in Sweden, however, the majority find it challenging to learn Swedish with the time and resources they have available.
Recommendation based on the survey:
• An exception in the maintenance requirement of the new migration legislation be made for doctoral students and researchers.
• The possibilities for doctoral students and ECRs to learn Swedish are strengthened and that the current possibilities for learning Swedish while employed in academia are mapped.