Immigration has been one the hottest topics in Swedish
social media and news recently. Because Sweden has been taking the most
refugees in Europe after Germany and more than 15% of Swedish population have foreign
background, it is the highest after Switzerland. So every now and then people
talk about it. A friend of mine has sent me some questions for his research work,
therefore I have decided to write this blog post and send this to him as well.
It is based on my own observations and discussions I have been doing with the
people.
There have been different kind of immigrants coming to
Sweden over the years
1-
Labor
force from Europe
2-
Foreign
life partners of Swedish people
3-
Refugees
4-
Students
and skilled workers
Sweden is an industrialized country for over 140 years
now. In past there has been periods with huge economic developments when the
local labor force was not enough. A lot of people from other parts of Europe came
to Sweden to work here. These people got integrated because
1-
They
had jobs when they moved here
2-
They
could build network and socialize with their colleagues
3-
They
shared kind of similar values as the locals did
Now Sweden have 2-3 generations of these migrants and
if you do not ask your Swedish friends if they have foreign roots, it is hard
to judge.
Sweden have a high number of people moving here
because of their relations to Swedish people. Ever year over 40,000 people move
to Sweden for this reason. The major reason is its generous social system and
good social security. These migrants integrate faster because they already have
family here. They hardly face issues related to permanent residence permit or Swedish
citizenship. Normally they become a Swedish citizen in 3 years. The employment
agency have good programs of integration for this group of people that make it
easier for them to get employment.
The third group is refugees. Over the years they have
been coming from different parts of the world. Majority came from Former Yugoslavian
region and Middle East. It has been hard for this group to integrate and that
has created a distance between the former population of Sweden and new incomers.
The reasons are
1-
They
have different values than the local people, and that is a major hurdle in the
integration process
2-
Most
of them are unemployed
3-
Swedes
spend most of their time in smaller social circles, that are not open to
outsiders
4-
The
integration process is slower for many people due to lower level of education
and language skills
5-
It
is easier for them to spend most of their time with the people from similar background.
Therefore they end up in the societies where only foreigners live
6-
Due
to high influx of refugees, the government could not facilitate a good
integration process due to the lack of resources
Another group that rather very small are the students
and skilled immigrants. They are in minority. Most of the foreign students in
Sweden are now from Germany and other European countries. A few of them stay
here after their studies, majority of them move back after completion of their
studies. In past a lot of Non-European students moved to Sweden due to the free
education. When Sweden started charging tuition fees in 2011, this flow of
students stopped. There were no job opportunities for these graduates either. The
students that got the job after studies stayed. Some did odd jobs, that were
not relevant to their professional education and some did jobs relevant to
their professional education. In both cases they got integrated in the society.
These were the people who chose to live in Sweden that made it easier for them.
