Published 24 September 2024 at 19.44
Domestic. SD and the government have agreed to lower the requirements to be counted as a “highly qualified” labor immigrant and receive a so-called blue card that gives the right to settle in Sweden. But according to SD's immigration policy spokesperson Ludvig Aspling, the proposal will not increase immigration.
Share the article
TwittraShare
Blue card
< ul>
In order to be counted as a highly qualified immigrant, SD and the government want an immigrant from now on to only have to show an employment contract for the next six months, where the salary is at least 1.25 times the median salary in Sweden.
According to today's rules, an employment period of at least one year and a salary of at least 1.5 times the median salary in Sweden are required.
But according to Ludvig Aspling, immigration policy spokesperson for SD, it is “non-serious” of Fria Tider to claim that the lowered requirements would lead to increased immigration.
According to Aspling, immigrants who do not meet the requirements for a blue card can instead receive a residence permit according to the Aliens Act's generous rules for ordinary labor immigration, and then only 80 percent of the Swedish median salary is required in income, i.e. SEK 26,560.
According to the Tidö agreement, the level would actually have been raised to SEK 33,200 as early as 2023, but then for some reason the government and SD agreed to set the limit at SEK 26,560 instead.
“People who would otherwise have applied work permit is now looking for a blue card. No one who can get a blue card would be able to get a regular work permit,” writes Aspling in a comment on X.
However, the rules are not identical. Those who apply for a residence permit according to normal rules must, among other things, show that he or she has sufficient funds for his or her subsistence and for his or her return trip out of Sweden, which is not required when applying for a blue card.
On the other hand, the salary requirement is in order to get a blue card in the future so high that those who are granted it can be assumed to be able to afford accommodation and return travel.
Ludvig Aspling also points out that those who are awarded blue cards are very few in Sweden and that they do not always come from the third world. The rules will therefore not have any significant impact on immigration, according to him.