sou · GUB387 · 2007-01-01 00:00:00 — The last collective recruitment took place in in 1973. In other respects, the regulations from the 1968 guidelines laid down by the Riksdag are largely still in force. Current regulations specify three main groups of labour immi- grants. Permanent permits may be granted to aliens who have been offered permanent employment, those who have special qualifications, and if the requirement cannot be met by jobseekers inside the country or through recruitment from an EEA country or . Temporary work permits may be granted to workers who are offered employment in an occupation for which there is a temporary labour shortage and to workers partici- pating in international exchange programmes. Current AMS guidelines for assessing applications for permits on labour market grounds state that third country nationals may not be concentrated to workplaces where difficulties recruiting may be connected to pay scales, the work environment, local conditions, or similar factors. Wages, insurance coverage and other terms of employment shall, at minimum, be equal to those required by Swedish collective agreements or the terms and condi- tions prevailing in the occupation or industry. Work hours must be adequate for employees to earn enough to support themselves while in and housing must be arranged before they enter the country. The relevant trade union must be afforded the opportunity to express an opinion. Decisions on permanent permits on labour market grounds and work permits are taken by or another agency authorised by . Labour migration – an international survey There is both immigration to and emigration from all countries to one extent or another. Generally speaking, the migration policy that addresses the management of migration flows between countries has three main tasks: to grant asylum to people who are entitled to protection under international conventions and national law; to create rules that allow people in whose settlement in the country is in the national interest; and to exclude people whose settlement in the country is undesirable for various reasons. With respect to labour migration, the aim is always to benefit the host country in one way or another. A significant share of migration worldwide is temporary, in the sense that most migrants intend to return to their countries of origin after a period abroad. A not insignificant share of migration takes place outside the rules. In certain countries, the number of migrants who are in the country and working in the illicit labour market can be significant. This group of migrants are in a foreign country illegally and are accordingly the most vulnerable and likely to be exploited by unscrupulous employers or criminal organisa- tions. This phenomenon also exists in . Emigration has both positive and negative impact on emigrant countries. It appears that the positive factors outweigh the negative in many emigrant countries. Cooperation within the EU That the national population should have preferential access to vacancies is the prevailing view within the entire EU. In 1994, the Heads of State and Government adopted the principle of prefer- ence for vacancies for people already residing in the EU. The principle of Community preference is not legally binding, although certainly politically so, and does not constitute grounds for legal action. The principle of Community preference was later confirmed in the transitional measures in the Treaties of Accession of . The work of Commission with the on an EU approach to managing economic migration has direct significance to the issue of labour immigration to . The process resulted in an action plan for legal migration with emphasis on economic migration in late . The action plan illustrates that the Commission does not believe the time is ripe to create comprehensive EU regulations on labour migration. The Commission does believe it has support for proceeding with certain framework legislation that would cover migrant rights and with the design of a Community and work permit. Two areas are of special interest to the Committee because the Commission intends to present draft directives. These apply to rules pertaining to highly educated and seasonal workers who are third country nationals. The fundamental premises of these drafts are that Member Countries will retain the power to decide the number of third country nationals allowed to enter and stay in their countries and that the Community preference principle will remain intact. The Committees points of departure The Committees points of departure during the process were: Migration is a quantitatively increasing social phenomenon that contributes to social development. Migration has always existed and will continue to exist, most likely to a higher extent. It is only natural for a society to attempt in various ways to influence migration and steer it in the direction most beneficial to the society. The demographic trend towards an ageing population and the resulting heavier burden of support upon the working popula- tion may lead to negative structural consequences for the labour market and the national economy. These demographic changes are something we have in common with other high income countries. An ageing population may also cause a less dynamic labour market. Increased labour migration may help ameliorate these effects. Labour immigration may help vitalise the Swedish labour market and the economy. Regulations must be relaxed to make this possible to a greater extent. At the same time, decisive action must be taken to prevent increased labour immigration from creating negative effects on the labour market. The needs upon which regulatory changes are based should be assessed not only from the quantitative angle, but also from a qualitative perspective with consideration given to the various types of positive effects that may ensue. Labour immigrants are people who move to to work and have permits to settle in the country. Normally, a person must be registered in the population register to be considered a resident. For immigrants to be entered in the population register, they must intend to stay in for at least twelve months. Immigrants do not have full access to all parts of the Swedish welfare system until they are registered. believes that labour immigration should continue to be regulated; that is, conditions for labour immigration should be established by law and statute and decisions in migration cases should be taken by government agencies. The main rule is that and work permits must be granted prior to entry into . The objective of labour immigration for the employee, the employer and society as a whole is that it should lead to a positive result. It cannot be ignored, however, that there are risks involved. The responsibility must accordingly be shared among those involved: employers, employees and society through the relevant agencies. The employer makes a particular effort and takes certain risks by recruiting outside national borders. For the third country national, the risks of moving to a new country with new cultural and social conditions and a new language are obvious. Societys responsibility becomes to provide security for this individual and his or her family if something unexpected should happen. These three parties must for that reason be included in the decision process. Society has the ultimate responsibility for maintaining regulated immigration and for ensuring the legitimacy of the system. The reasons needs to continue regulating labour immigration are: 1.Regulated labour immigration puts focus on the need for man- power expressed as a labour shortage. Labour immigration shall thus not be able to shut already available in the country out of the labour market. 2.One purpose of regulation is to ensure that wages, insurance coverage and other terms of employment for people who immigrate to work will be equal to the conditions that apply to employees already in the country. In order to guarantee this principle of equal treatment, the relevant trade union must be consulted and the decision on whether a person should be allowed to immigrate to work in our country should rest ultimately with a government agency. 3.Generally speaking, government agencies should facilitate positive impact on the Swedish labour market and economy through regulated labour immigration. 4.Another reason in favour of agency-based examination is that the Swedish welfare system is essentially open to anyone who lives in . Swedish society shoulders the responsibility for providing public service. This service naturally also applies to people who immigrate to work and their families. are in the population register and accepted as immigrants, they essentially have the same rights and obligations in society as everyone else who lives here. finds that regulated immigration will minimise the risks for the most closely concerned parties in the migration process. The individual employee gains employment with an employer that offers terms equal to those that apply to others in the same occupation. The employer is assured that the employee has been granted a and work permit after consideration by a government agency and is welcome to work and settle in . The agencies have performed a conduct and security assessment of the person and have been given reasonable assur- ances that the employee will be given a job with pay and employ- ment terms on par with other employees without shutting other suitable applicants out. finds that such a decision and consultation process surrounding labour immigration has the most favourable conditions for creating public consensus on these issues, which is a prerequisite for a positive outcome to labour immigration for all concerned. The magnitude of future labour immigration will depend on labour market trends. The need at any given time must determine the volume of immigration. If there is a large need for third coun- try , the proposed regulations could allow immigration of in demand and when demand is low, the regulations would result in low immigration. As future labour immigration of third country nationals will depend on Swedish economic and labour market trends, it is impossible to state future immigration of labour immigrants in absolute numbers. People who immigrate to for labour market reasons are in a relatively good situation with regard to integration by reason of the connection to their workplaces. Labour immigrants may be victims of discrimination of a more general nature, but the Committee finds that labour immigration is more likely to have a positive impact on the publics views on immigration and the status of immigrants in our country. The new regulations for labour immigration from countries outside the EEA and that the Committee is proposing and the Committees deliberations fall within three categories: temporary work permits based on labour shortages, international exchange programmes and seasonal work permits; permanent permits on labour market grounds and contract operations. Temporary work permits on labour shortage grounds proposes that it should be possible to grant temporary work permits to third country nationals who are offered employment on the grounds that the requirement cannot be met through recruitment within the EEA or . Wages, insurance coverage and other terms of employment for people who immigrate to work should be on par with those that apply in the occupation or industry for employees already in the country. There should be an additional condition that income from the job must be adequate to support the employee. One of the Committees fundamental premises in the process has been that longer periods of validity for permits benefit the Swedish labour market and that this should be the basis for designing and work permits. This may make more attractive to in-demand because a longer period of validity gives the individual immigrant greater opportunity to plan for the stay in . It should be possible for a temporary permit, or an extension of one, to be converted to a permanent permit. thus proposes extending the period of validity for temporary and work permits to 24 months with possible extension of the permit after reconsideration by a maximum of 24 additional months. After 48 months with a work permit, a permanent permit is normally granted. Reconsideration may also result in a permanent permit on labour market grounds being granted earlier than after 48 months. If the term of employment at initial application is shorter than 24 months, a and work permit would be granted only for that period. In the Committees view, the basic condition for a third country national to be granted a work permit should be that he or she has been offered employment because there is a labour shortage in the occupation to which the employment refers. When employees want to extend their stay in after the initial permit period, the and work permit must be recon- sidered. Consideration of the application will include confirming that the basic conditions for the permit have been met. The applicant will also be checked to ensure there is no criminal record. In cases where the applicant is still working at the first job, an extended work permit is granted. In these cases, no new labour market consideration will be performed to determine whether there is still a shortage of in the occupation. In cases where the employee is no longer at the first job and has received an offer of new employment, however, the customary labour market consideration of the new offer of employment will be performed. If the original employment has been terminated when a permit is reconsidered and there is no other offer of employment, a new or work permit would not be granted and the person would be required to leave the country. When third country nationals have a new offer of employment, they should be allowed to apply for a new work permit while still in if employment is terminated during the term of employment. If a new work permit is not granted within three months, the and work permit should be revoked and the third country national should leave the country. In all cases involving applications for extended permits on the grounds of a labour shortage, it should be possible to apply within . Work permits should be connected to a specific occupation and specific employer during the initial permit period. If the person is still in the same employment when the work permit is reconsidered, the extended permit will be connected only to the occupation. The connection to a specific occupation and employer achieves the purpose of ensuring that the requirement is actually met at the employer that has made the special effort required to recruit from a third country. In cases where the primary issue is a regional shortage within an occupation, the connection to the employer ensures that regional requirements are actually met. In common with the rules that apply to EU citizens, a third country national should be allowed to remain in for three months to seek new employment if the initial employment is terminated. Work permits for employment under international exchange programmes finds there is no valid reason to recommend any significant changes to the current permit regulations within the framework of international exchange programmes. finds that current regulations on seasonal work permits should remain in force. Seasonal should how- ever be regarded as a special category, as it differs materially from labour immigration. Permanent permits on labour market grounds finds that no changes should be made to current regulations on granting permanent permits on labour market grounds. Permanent permits on labour market grounds should – in accordance with applicable law – be granted upon immigration only to people who possess special qualifications and who have been offered permanent employment in an occupation that requires special qualifications. In addition, there must be a shortage of such in and within the EEA and . Conditions for family members finds that family members of persons granted permits on labour market grounds should be granted and work permits to the same extent as presently. A fundamental principle in Swedish migration policy is that the nuclear family should be kept together as far as possible. also finds that a generous policy for accompanying family members entails a competitive advantage for in relation to countries that apply a more restrictive policy. Job-seeker visas for certain groups proposes new grounds for issuing visas. It should be possible to grant a visa to a third country national for a period of no more than three months for the purpose of seeking employ- ment in . Job-seeker visas may facilitate recruitment of third country nationals by making it possible for them to make contact with potential employers looking for while they are visiting . Special conditions, in addition to the general requirements that always apply to uniform Schengen visas, should be attached to these grounds for issuing visas so that they are connected to a labour shortage within an occupation or occupational category. The conditions for job-seeker visas should be specified in the visa guidelines for individual countries established by Directorate. Directorates visa guidelines in this respect should be established in consultation with the . The requirements for job-seeker visas should be connected to the conditions for getting a work permit so that people who have good of gaining employment in apply for and are granted job-seeker visas. This will permit advance consideration of the skills and qualifications of potential job-seekers in relation to confirmed shortages and requirements in our country. To be granted a job-seeker visa, the applicant should have an occupation for which there is explicit need in . should compile a list of such occupations, or industries, in a similar to the current process for general statements. In these cases, the should take decisions in consultation with the social parties to the labour market. People who have been granted a visa for the purpose of seeking employment should be allowed to apply for a and work permit after entering . The same should apply to people who are visa-exempt and who are applying for a work permit in an occupation that has been entered on the special list of occupations or industries that is a requirement for granting job-seeker visas. recommends that regulations on job-seeker visas should be evaluated after a while to assess the consequences on the Swedish labour market of these new grounds for visas. Labour market consideration is fundamental to the current system of permit consideration. Labour immigration is an issue that affects all of society, not only the individual and the employer. Accordingly, agency-based labour market consideration should be retained. Labour market consideration fulfils two purposes: to ensure that there is no available in or the rest of the EEA and suitable for the vacancies, and to ensure that wages, insurance coverage and other terms of employment for labour immigrants are equal to those which apply to employees already in the country. This task should remain the purview of the . Statements from the relevant trade union should be obtained. labour market consideration minimises the risk of over-supply of foreign causing job-seekers to be pushed out of the labour market. This will give credibility and legitimacy to the labour immigration system. Independent consideration by is essentially limited to checking the applicants conduct, including by checking the criminal records registry. must also assess whether the application is based on true information and determine that there has been no attempt to circumvent the Aliens Act for any reason. This consideration is performed in all permit cases. In this respect, the Committee does not believe there is any latitude for proposing changes to the process, either for the indi- vidual or for the agency. The Committees proposal for streamlining processing is that the process should not be allowed to take longer than ten business days from the date the employer registers an offer of employment on the AMS website to the date the employer is notified as to whether a work permit has been granted or denied. The relevant trade union must have submitted its statement within five business days of having received the offer of employment for comment. will no longer confirm that housing has been arranged. That the person has adequate funds to cover housing costs will instead be presumed part of the check of wage conditions. Work permits for visiting students recommends that visiting students who have com- pleted studies equal to 20 college credits or have completed one term as a visiting student in a post-graduate programme should be allowed to apply for and work permits from inside . Visiting students who have basic eligibility for post- graduate programmes should be granted work permits without having to undergo labour market consideration. Permits for self-employed persons Swedish regulations on immigration by self-employed persons are comparatively open and generous. People who can prove that they can support themselves and their families by means other than employment may be granted a permit after a certain probationary period. recommends that this generous system should remain in place, but we propose minor changes to the rules to make it more difficult to abuse the regulations. Asylum-seekers and the labour market Evaluation of the system that exempts certain asylum-seekers from the work permit requirement Asylum-seekers are currently allowed to work while awaiting a decision in their case if processing time is expected to exceed four months. The work permit exemption applies until the decision in the asylum case has taken legal force. was given a special mandate to evaluate this system. If it is judged that a decision on enforced return or deportation cannot be executed involuntarily due to conditions in the recipient country, the exemption applies until the alien leaves the country. estimated the number of people with jobs in the open labour market in at 715. There were 6,005 registered asylum-seekers with exemption at . These figures indicate that slightly more than one-tenth of asylum- seekers with exemption were in work at the end of that year. This a very marginal addition to the Swedish labour market. We emphasise that these figures are very rough estimates. recommends that asylum-seekers should continue to be allowed to work with an exemption from the work permit requirement if the waiting time in the asylum case is expected to exceed four months. Exemption should not be granted to asylum-seekers who do not have identification documents if the person has failed to do that which can reasonably be required to verify identity. Applications for work permits after asylum is denied finds that no change should be made to current regulations by which asylum-seekers who have been working under exemption from work permit and whose applications for asylum have been rejected cannot have their applications for a work permit considered before leaving the country. points out that in certain special cases where strong humanitarian grounds exist, there is an exemption provision that allows an application to be considered after entry into if exceptional grounds otherwise exist. Consequences of the proposals Regulations based mainly on the principle that labour immigration should be allowed when there is a shortage of suitable preclude making any advance determinations of the volume of labour immigration. This naturally complicates analysis of the consequences of the proposed regulations. The main purpose of expanded labour immigration is to relieve labour shortages that may arise in parts of the Swedish labour market.