UoH Nyheter

In Swedish enclosed below
The chair of Fackförbundet ST, Britta Lejon, has commented on the Tidö-agreement, stating that it contains counterproductive symbolic measures, such as the suggestions on criminal policy that risk the rule of law, increases arbitrariness and polarisation in society.

In the area of migration policy, Britta Lejon emphasises that the focus on temporary residence permits (instead of permanent ones) is expensive and requires large investments in state agencies, while also hindering integration.

Fackförbundet ST within the university sector would like to raise a similar issue. We have, since the summer of 2021 been working against the reform of the Aliens Act, that decreased the chances of doctoral students and early career researchers getting a permanent residence permit. We would like to see a return to the regulations in place before the reform, when doctoral students had the opportunity to get permanent residence permit after 4 years of studies. The various types of temporary residence permits are ill suited to the conditions within academia, with a high prevalence of short, fixed-term employment and create a lot of stress and anxiety. This, in turn, makes Sweden less attractive to highly qualified applicants from outside of the EU/EEA.

In the Tidö-agreement there are instructions for a state enquiry into labour migration, which is, mostly geared towards stricter criteria for work permits, but it also includes this paragraph:

”För att stärka Sveriges konkurrenskraft som forskningsnation undersöks och vid behov författningsregleras särskilda bestämmelser för doktorander och forskare gällande möjligheten till uppehållstillstånd efter en viss tids sammanhängande anställning.”

Loosely translated, it is stated that in order to strengthen Sweden’s position as a research nation, there should be an enquiry into (and, if need be, new regulation of) doctoral students’ and researchers’ possibilities of getting a residence permit after a certain time of continuous employment.

We duly note that it does not say “possibility of getting a permanent residence permit”. This omission should not be overlooked and is quite worrying. What, more precisely, this enquiry will amount to is at present very unclear. We will continue to monitor the issue.

At the same time, the fact that this point is a part of the agreement, regardless of its ambiguity, is testament to all the efforts of the broad campaign for a return to the regulations before 2021. We would like to thank all those involved in the efforts to raise the issue of how doctoral students and other early career researchers have been impacted by the changes in the Aliens Act: first and foremost the grassroot movement´s, for example in the Facebook-group Intl. PhD students in Sweden call for change in the permanent residency law, Fackförbundet ST, TCO, Sveriges förenade studentkårer (SFS), Sveriges universitetslärare och forskare (SULF), SACO, NJF, SNPA, Svensk Näringsliv and SUHF.

As for the Tidö-agreement, we want to be very clear, that what is needed is a return to the possibility for doctoral students to get a permanent residence permit after 4 years of studies. If the enquiry instructions are phrased in such a way, and result in a reform of that kind, well, then the Sweden’s position as a research nation would be strengthened!