Sweden set to raise work permit salary threshold this week
Sweden's yearly median wage is set to be released on Tuesday, which means the salary threshold for work permit holders is also expected to rise with immediate effect.
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Sweden's number-crunching agency, Statistics Sweden, is expected to release the new median salary figure when it publishes its annual statistics on the Swedish labour market at 8am on June 17th. The Local will publish it as soon as we have it.
The median salary currently stands at 35,600 kronor (technically that's the median in the year 2023, and the figure to be released on Tuesday is for the year 2024).
In the past five years, it has risen on average 940 kronor every year, with higher increases in recent years, so you can almost certainly expect it to increase on Tuesday as well. Last year the median salary went up by 1,400 kronor.
So why does this matter?
Well, the work permit salary threshold – the minimum a non-EU foreigner has to earn to be eligible for a work permit – is set at 80 percent of the median salary. That means it is currently 28,480 kronor a month before tax, and it will likely rise on Tuesday.
In other words, any work permit applicants (both first-time applications and extensions) applying before June 17th have to earn at least 28,480 kronor a month to qualify.
If you apply on June 17th or later, whatever the new figure is will apply to you.
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Salaries also need to be in line with industry standards or collective bargaining agreements, so the salary threshold is only the minimum for work permits.
It's the most recently published median salary at the time of your application (not the time of a decision) that determines how much you need to earn in order to be eligible for a work permit, so the new figure will not affect applications already in progress.
Are there any plans to raise the salary threshold further?
Yes. The government plans to raise the work permit threshold for new permits to 100 percent of the median salary at the time of application, with exemptions for some categories of workers.
This is still winding its way through the legislative process, which means it is not yet a done deal. The proposed starting date for the widely criticised proposal was originally June 1st, 2025, but that deadline wasn't met.
Sweden's Migration Minister Johan Forssell told The Local in May that 'no formal decision' has been made on where the final salary threshold will actually end up.
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The government in February asked the Migration Agency to present a list of which professions should be exempt from the salary threshold by August 1st, suggesting that the original plan to roll out the new threshold on June 1st will be postponed until at least the autumn.
This isn't the first time that we've seen an indication that the government hasn't fully committed to raising the threshold to 100 percent of the median salary. In January, Employment Minister Mats Persson said that his party, the Liberals, would even be willing to lower the threshold.
There would be a one-year grace period for work permit renewals, so the current rule (80 percent of the median salary) would continue to apply for any applications for extensions submitted to the Migration Agency for twelve months from the date the law is implemented.
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