Response to interpellation 2024/25:418 on abuse of work permits
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
1 M argues that the government is implementing changes to limit abuse of work permits through increased maintenance requirements and strengthened controls 1. 2 M argues that they are tackling problems that the previous government left behind with measures that are larger than previous ones 2. 3 M claims that the government is implementing reforms and a budget commitment to find abuse 3 and emphasizes the importance of balancing a crackdown on fraud with the possibility of recruiting highly qualified individuals 3. 4 M argues that the reforms demanded by S were not made during eight years 4. 5 SD argues that the new wage requirement has succeeded in reducing labor immigration to low-wage jobs where fraud occurs 5. 6 SD argues that the wage requirement has reduced fraud and that the change of track was abolished to stop the exploitation of people 6. 7 S argues that the increase in the wage requirement is a Pyrrhic victory that hits honest employers while criminals can bypass the rules 7. 7 S argues that the government has lost control by letting companies determine labor shortages themselves 7 and has not conducted enough investigations 7. 8 S argues that current measures do not curb the underlying problem and that focus should be on preventing problems before they arise 8. 9 S argues that current measures lead to lower growth and more crime as they hit serious companies 9. 8 S argues that people are grossly exploited by receiving help for their children instead of wages 8.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Johan Forssell (M)
Madam Speaker! Patrik Lundqvist has asked me what I intend to do to limit the possibilities for abuse of work permits and exploitation of people on the Swedish labor market by more or less criminal entrepreneurs.
That people who come to Sweden to work are exploited is, of course, unacceptable. Good conditions shall apply to everyone who works in Sweden.
The government is implementing changes to the Swedish system for labor migration, including by raising the maintenance requirements for work permits. The increase has contributed to fewer residence permits for work within industries where there have been major problems with fraud and abuse. The Swedish Migration Agency also applies higher investigation requirements in areas where the risk of abuse is extra large.
The Government will continue the work to prevent, detect, and address all types of abuse of the migration systems. From the Swedish Migration Agency's regulatory letter for 2025, it appears that the agency shall strengthen its control activities to counter fraud and abuse. The Swedish Migration Agency shall continue to prioritize the work with revocation cases. The possibilities to detect fraud and abuse shall also increase and become more effective.
The Government continues to work on the proposals in SOU 2021:88 on labor exploitation and SOU 2024:15 on new rules for labor immigration. The Government intends to return to the Riksdag with a proposition which, among other things, contains proposals that the Swedish Migration Agency shall be given expanded opportunities to conduct controls of employers in connection with applications for work permits and on new penal provisions linked to the exploitation of foreign labor.
Collaboration between authorities is central to combating crime in the labor market. In September last year, the government strengthened and extended the mandate to the nine authorities that collaborate to counter crime in the labor market until 2026. The authorities shall continue to conduct and develop the work against crime in the labor market and the work at the labor market crime centers. The work shall also be developed to strike harder against the criminal economy, organized crime in corporate environments, human trafficking, human smuggling, and human exploitation in work.
The Government is closely following the developments and is prepared to take further measures if necessary to prevent the migration systems from being abused and to ensure that persons with work permits in Sweden are not exploited.
Patrik Lundqvist (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you to the Minister for being here and for the answer!
It is of course not acceptable at all that people who come here to work are exploited. But, Madam Speaker, it is a bit of a downplaying of the problems when one expresses oneself as the Minister does. The reality is that people are brought here with the starting point that they shall be exploited. They know it. The companies that recruit and handle their application and permit management know it, and all of us who work with these issues know it too. It is therefore not a matter of people seeking to come here to work but that it then ends with them being exploited.
Madam Speaker! I certainly look forward to what will emerge from the two investigations that the Minister mentions – some have already been submitted. That the government has not finished the investigation from last year can be understood; there is a lot to do, and it is, after all, about something quite new. But that there are still matters remaining from the 2021 investigation that the government is working on and which have not become proposals and reality, one must say does not quite align with the words that it is unacceptable for people to be exploited on the Swedish labor market.
It is of course commendable that the government is working to ensure that the Swedish Migration Agency and other authorities work harder with controls, recalls, and other measures. This is obviously needed. But it is distressing that the largest measure actually introduced to curb the problem is an income threshold. This may sound good and obviously has a certain effect, but the problem is that the effect does not hit the mark. Those who recruit people and have honest intentions and actions will naturally reduce the number of employees if they cannot justify the wages required in a certain industry. This, as the minister says, we can also see.
But this is a Pyrrhic victory, Madam Speaker. We all pay the price because a shortage of labor arises in companies and operations where it is truly needed and where the employer is honest, while the criminals easily circumvent the rules by doing exactly what they did before the requirement of 80 percent of the median wage was introduced. It is about what Sara Persson at the Swedish Economic Crime Authority says regarding the wage requirement: ”If a wage is paid, and the employee then has to pay back a certain part of the wage, then any wage can be set.”
There are, of course, also more and more advanced arrangements that make it possible to pay people less money than it appears that one is doing, and there has already previously been a great interest among all these companies in not drawing attention to themselves.
The fundamental problem is that the Alliance government changed the rules so that companies can individually determine that there is a labor shortage. It was a mistake to hand over the labor market assessment to the companies. Blinded by making it easier for companies to recruit and naive about what criminals could use the rules for, they relinquished control over who gets to decide when and where people can come here and work, and now we stand here with the result. Sure, it became easier for the companies, but what does it help when they are then outcompeted by those who exploit the rules to undermine everyone who adheres to the regulations in Sweden?
Of course, the work being done by the government with agency cooperation and more efficient controls must be done, but as long as we let this system remain and do not change what are the fundamental problems, this will continue. We have enough problems with the labor market within the EU, where people are also being exploited.
Nima Gholam Ali Pour (SD)
Madam Speaker! The interpellor raises an important issue. For some strange reason, we have had an arrangement where low-skilled labor has been imported to Sweden while hundreds of thousands of people in Sweden have remained unemployed. Something that has emerged time and again is that it is within the low-skilled occupations that fraud and abuse often occur.
Then one wonders why the Social Democrats, during the eight years they held power, maintained a wage requirement of only 13,000 kronor, which practically encouraged low-skilled labor immigration from countries outside the European Union. Such a low wage requirement has meant a perfect setup for unscrupulous employers and criminals, who have known that they could exploit people without risk.
Now it is new times. During this parliamentary term, the wage requirement has been raised to 80 percent of the median wage, which corresponds to 28,480 kronor. This has resulted in the labor immigration being almost halved. Specifically in those occupations where fraud and abuse have been extensive, the labor immigration has decreased.
There will always be people who in some way want to exploit other people. The Social Democrats should have known this when, for eight years, they allowed the wage requirement for labor migration to remain at 13,000 kronor. Obviously, such rules will lead to certain people bringing here people who are allowed to work in low-wage jobs and exploiting these people.
But now, for the first time in a long time, we have a government that is carrying out work to counter these problems. And the Swedish Migration Agency's evaluation of the new wage requirement shows that the government has succeeded. An increase in the wage requirement has resulted in a decrease in labor immigration to various low-wage jobs where labor exploitation occurs. This government has therefore actually succeeded in what the red-green governments did not succeed with during eight years.
The Tidö parties are not satisfied with this and have agreed on a further increase of the wage requirement, which will mean that labor immigration will be even more targeted towards highly qualified labor and that cheating will decrease even further.
What then is the other alternative? What is it that the Social Democrats offer? The Social Democrats want to govern with three parties that want to deregulate labor immigration. The Green Party, the Left Party, and the Center Party want either to return to the wage requirement of 13,000 kronor or to have no wage requirement at all.
What will it result in? Firstly, we will see a manifold increase in labor migration. It will be mass immigration again. Secondly, labor migration will increase for all these low-wage jobs where labor exploitation and labor-related crime occur.
This is the only thing the Social Democrats actually have to offer. Therefore, I find it strange that the interpellator poses this question to a government that has actually addressed the problems that the Social Democrats neglected for almost a decade.
Statsrådet Johan Forssell (M)
Madam Speaker! I will begin by saying that abuse of the migration system is very serious, just as is stated both in the interpellation response and in many other contexts where we account for our policy. There must be order and clarity in the entire migration policy.
A change that the government has made is that Sweden has moved from being a country with large asylum immigration, as it was under the previous government, to becoming a country where today we rather have immigration of labor but also of students and researchers.
It is important that we always ensure that laws are complied with, that there is no crime in the working life, that people do not come to harm, and that we always take decisive action when we see that there are problems. Because there are problems – that is obvious – and that is the reason why this government, in this area, is implementing measures that are greater than any other government has done previously.
I think the interpellator from the Socialdemokraterna should reflect a bit on their own responsibility in this. We had a Socialdemokratisk government for eight years. What did it actually do in connection with these issues?
In the January agreement, the Social Democrats signed on to that today's regulatory framework shall be protected. It is stated in point 21. So, not much happened at all, but the problems grew. Now a Moderate-led government is coming and taking action on the problems, and that makes a very big difference.
Several changes are underway, for example, a raised maintenance requirement for labor migration. There are several reasons for that, but it contributes to there being fewer residence permits for work in industries where we know there have been – and perhaps still are – problems with fraud and abuse.
The Swedish Migration Agency shall strengthen its control activities to counter both fraud and abuse. But it is not just about that; it must also lead to a concrete action. Therefore, we have tasked the Swedish Migration Agency to prioritize revocation cases so that permits granted on incorrect grounds and where there is fraud and abuse are revoked.
This is not just about the Swedish Migration Agency, but it is a long row of agencies that testify that they sometimes come into contact with this type of problem. We have extended and reinforced the mandate to no fewer than nine different agencies that cooperate to counteract crime in the labor market. We will also return regarding increased controls and new penal provisions, which are also centrally linked to the exploitation of labor.
Madam Speaker! In this government, we do not sweep the problems under the rug, but we tackle them. It is not just a lip service, which has been the principle previously, but now we are implementing major changes.
There must be order and discipline on the Swedish labor market. There must be order and discipline in the migration policy. Those who engage in labor market crime shall be investigated for it, and there shall be severe penalties. We shall ensure that people never come to harm on the Swedish labor market. This naturally does not apply to the majority of all those who work as labor migrants. But there are problems, and every case is one case too many.
Madam Speaker! Now we are implementing major changes, and I have good hopes that it will lead to more order and clarity on the labor market and less fraud and exploitation, which the government inherited from the previous government.
Patrik Lundqvist (S)
Madam Speaker! It can be stated that what we have heard here in the speaker's chair is not correct. It is quite simple. The investigation that the Minister referred to in his first contribution was initiated in 2021, i.e., by the previous government. That nothing was done and they simply referred to the "confession of the lips," as the Minister expressed it, is simply not true.
So, when it comes to the akrimcenter, it is correct as the minister said that many authorities, not just Migrationsverket, are required to curb the problems on the Swedish labor market.
The previous debate dealt, among other things, with economic crime. Gunnar Strömmer was here and spoke about how economic crime has overtaken narcotics as the main source of income for the criminal organizations. At the basis of this crime lies, among other things, the issue of the exploitation of permits.
We know that people are being exploited on the Swedish labor market. For example, people are brought here and employed who have children with various problems, and the "wage" is that their children receive measures from society, for example LSS, and can manage. These people are grossly exploited by ensuring that they receive help for their children instead of a wage. This can be done quite easily by telling them that if they complain, report, or do anything else, both they and their children will be sent away from here and lose the support. This is terrible, Madam Speaker, and something needs to be done about it.
It is very good that the Migration Agency performs extra checks in just such situations, but it does not address the underlying problem. As the minister himself, and Gunnar Strömmer before him, has pointed out, we also have major problems in the European labor market. In that case, it would be smart to address the issues with work permits before they have even arisen, instead of using the resources we have for monitoring the labor market and applying them to that. Then one can focus on other problems.
We also heard here that the problems have decreased since the wage demands arrived, in all industries that have problems, or however it was expressed. The problem is that we have problems with crime in every single industry.
We currently have a recession which most likely contributes to there being fewer opportunities in, for example, the construction industry to get assignments where people can be utilized, which contributes to fewer people coming here. The question is whether the problems decrease in relation to the rest of the industry, where we actually do not see those effects, and whether it really is as the member previously referred to – that there are large effects.
Then one can also ask: Who is it really that is going along with lip service or symbolic politics? The criminals are not affected, but the serious ones are hit quite hard by not being able to bring in labor. We need to do something about that.
Nima Gholam Ali Pour (SD)
Madam Speaker! Labor migration has for a long time been one of the biggest loopholes in the Swedish migration system. It has been exploited by criminal employers, the shadow society, and people who never had any intention of returning to their home country. But now the Tidö Government has addressed this. The wage requirement has been significantly raised, which has reduced the cheating and exploitation.
Last week, the Riksdag decided to abolish the "spårbyte" (track switching). This prevents persons who have been denied their asylum application from remaining by obtaining a job with poor conditions.
Let us be clear about what the track change meant in practice. An asylum seeker could be denied, but instead of leaving Sweden, the person could obtain a residence permit by securing a low-wage job. It created a system where desperate people accepted slave-like working conditions and where shady employers could exploit them.
In 2022, a report from the Swedish National Audit Office showed that track switching increases crime in the workplace, but nevertheless, Vänsterpartiet and Miljöpartiet want to keep the system. They want to reintroduce track switching if they are granted political influence.
The Social Democrats say they want to combat crime in the workplace, but their coalition partners want to abolish the salary requirement and reintroduce asset forfeiture. How does that add up?
It is not this government that the interpellator should direct their question to. The interpellator should ask the Social Democrats' coalition partners, the Green Party and the Left Party, why these parties want to pursue a policy that increases crime in the workplace.
Statsrådet Johan Forssell (M)
Madam Speaker! I must correct myself then – it was not true as I said that the previous Social Democratic government did nothing for eight years. An investigation was commissioned. It was the final result after eight years.
If it is the crackdown on crime that the Social Democrats speak so loudly about in this issue, I will leave that unsaid, Madam Speaker. But one can certainly state that in eight years, they have appointed one investigation in contrast to all the reforms that this government is implementing now as we tackle the problems.
I listed a long series of different reforms in my previous answer, but it is not just about that. We are also making a budget investment of 250 million kronor linked to the cooperation between different agencies so that we can find the problems with abuse that we know exist here.
Just as was mentioned here by Nima Gholam Ali Pour, we only just the other day abolished the system with track switching – also something that the previous Social Democratic government could have done if they had wanted to, if they had had the energy, and if they had taken the problems seriously. They did not do that, but now a Moderate-led government is doing it instead.
There is also a cabinet group with several ministers, including myself, who meet to exchange information about these problems.
It is, in itself, not just about the crime in the labor market and the problems that exist with people living in vulnerability and suffering. Unfortunately, there are also other examples of this linked to other residence permits – parallel societies and people living in great distress and vulnerability. It is, of course, first and foremost very sad for those who suffer, but it also undermines the trust in regulated immigration and the principle of regulated immigration, which this government takes very seriously.
From the government's side, Madam Speaker, we do not limit ourselves to just these reforms. We know, for instance, from Swedish companies that there is also a shortage of labor in many sectors and many groups. It is important to remember that. We are currently undergoing a shift, one could say, from the previous focus on much low-skilled labor immigration to more of finding international top talents and more highly qualified persons. It could be a doctor, a programmer, a nurse, a researcher or a technician. There are today many groups that Swedish business, large and small companies, are searching for with a lantern.
It is clear that when there is such a labor shortage and we cannot recruit from within the country, it affects us all. It affects us in the form of lower growth and poorer growth opportunities, lower tax revenues and so on.
So, it is a matter of finding a balance. We take action against cheating and tighten controls. But we also hear that many small, medium-sized, and large companies are searching for certain skills with a flashlight. There, we rather need to do more so that, for example, more doctors, technicians, and researchers can come to Sweden. It is a balance that this government is implementing right now.
Patrik Lundqvist (S)
Madam Speaker! Yes, it is precisely what the Minister is talking about in the concluding part of his latest contribution that is the core of this, I think. The measures being implemented right now regarding work permits lead to lower growth and more crime. It affects the companies that want to do the right thing, while those who from the very beginning do not want to have an easy time getting through the system – bypassing it, climbing over it, or whatever one wants to call it.
A certain wage level does not stop those who, regardless of what amount one sets, do not have the ambition to do right and pay the wages to those who are employed. That is the core of the criticism I have. On the other hand, it affects those companies that want to do right and have a need to recruit but are unable to do so. It does not matter what wages one sets there.
I can also observe that the tone is very high. It may be because one feels that this might not quite be enough. We appointed, for example, the crime centers, which the minister spoke of as a good measure here, and we took other measures. It was not just about appointing an inquiry. But it can sound that way when one feels that it does not quite be enough.
I have stood here in the speaker's chair several times and discussed with MP Gholam Ali Pour's party colleague Magnus Persson. He actually requests exactly what I am speaking about here rather than what the Sverigedemokraterna and the government are now delivering, namely labor market screening. The question is why he is now criticizing it instead of standing behind his party comrade.
Statsrådet Johan Forssell (M)
Madam Speaker! I understand that Patrik Lundqvist finds it difficult to speak about this because, for eight years, the reforms that are now being requested and considered so important were not carried out. I understand that. It cannot be entirely easy to have, in reality, not done so much at all and now see that a Moderate-led government is coming and taking action on these problems.
We have already implemented much more than the previous government did during eight years, a long series of reforms, and we are not finished. It is a cornerstone for us that right shall be right. There shall be order and clarity on the Swedish labor market. There shall be order and clarity in migration policy overall.
At the same time, we must be careful not to label all people who come to Sweden and work as criminals or say that they do not behave. There are indeed very many highly qualified people in Sweden who work in shortage occupations. Many companies would not manage without, for example, programmers and technicians.
I do not know if Patrik Lundqvist has visited a large Swedish company today. When I do, I hear very many languages and backgrounds in the workplaces. Very many world-leading Swedish companies think it is important that there are good opportunities to recruit from abroad when they cannot find the competence in Sweden.
It is clear that if one were to carry out reforms where one shuts down all of this, we would all become poorer. Then we will have lower growth, and there will be less money for healthcare and elderly care and school. It would naturally be a very bad development for Sweden.
Madam Speaker! I would like to thank Patrik Lundqvist for this debate, where we can observe that greater changes than ever before are now taking place in this area – and it is a Moderate-led government that is implementing these changes for more order and tidiness.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.