A third of the permits issued in Sweden in September were for work purposes, Data Show
In total, 3,141 work permits were issued by the Swedish migration authorities, which corresponds to a third or 35 percent of all permits issued for September.
According to the Swedish Migration Agency, the second most approved applications for permits after work permits were those for asylum, including applicants under the Temporary Protection Directive, which includes Ukrainian citizens, reports SchengenVisaInfo.com.
A total of 2,554 permits were issued for asylum, followed by family reunification (2,025), EU/EEA (690), studies (450) and enforcement obstacles (80). That equates to a total of 8,940 residence permits issued for this month – 7.6 percent of the total number of permits issued so far this year, which has peaked at 117,607.
The reasons for issuing residence permits in the previous months were slightly different as the majority of them were issued for asylum purposes (2,938), which is also the largest number of permits issued so far in 2021 – a total of 50,285.
In addition, work permits are the second most issued permits for the year as a total of 31,506 of these were issued, followed by family reunification (17,223), studies (12,325), EU/EEA (5,709) and impediments to enforcement (559).
The number of permits issued for study purposes is also quite high in Sweden, as more international students choose the Scandinavian country as a top destination for their academic careers.
In addition, Sweden allows students to work as many hours as they want, as long as they have a valid student visa, but a working student is expected to spend at least 40 hours per week on their studies.
“After graduation, you can apply to extend your residence permit for another 12 months. During this time you can look for a job or start a business. And when you’ve got a job, you can apply for a work permit.” the official website for the University of Gothenburg reads.
Having a part-time job can help students support themselves financially, but another main source of income is recommended, as the average payment for part-time jobs is between 730 and 913 euros, with approximately 180 euros for tax.
It is especially necessary because students in the country currently have a housing shortage. A report from the Swedish Union of Students (SFS) showed that there are only a few zones that have adequate housing options for students.
SFS has divided the zones based on a color-coded system, where red zones are those where students have to wait an entire semester before they can find accommodation; yellow zones include cities that can offer housing for students within a semester, while green zones have housing options that can be taken within a month.
About 61 percent of students live in red zones, while 23.6 percent are in green zones and 14.8 percent in yellow zones.