The refusal rate for first-time work permits rose from 26 to 42 percent, a ten-year high.
Between 2024 and 2026 Sweden tightened migration rules harder than anyone else in Northern Europe, with an explicit goal of cutting labour migration. The salary threshold went up to 90% of the median, and work permit applications fell below pre-2016 levels. Much is still generous: a spouse can work at once, the income bar for family reunification is modest, children attend state school free, there are no mandatory integration courses for a permit, and Swedish lessons are free and voluntary.
Delivery is middling. The law gives 4 months for a first decision and complete files usually make it, but renewals take longer and the agency is overloaded. The refusal rate for first permits has risen to 42%. A separate trap: while a renewal is pending you effectively cannot leave Sweden, as you will not be let back in without a visa, and with long waits that means months without travel.
The new rules reached people already living there. The 90% threshold was applied to applications filed before it took effect if the decision came later, and from 2 December 2026 it applies to renewals too. The 8-year citizenship rule and the self-support requirement were applied to the queue with no transition. From 12 July 2026 permanent residence was abolished for people with protection status and long-term resident status; workers were not affected. Courts have softened, but not ended, expulsions over minor employer paperwork errors.
Status survives job loss: you get 3 months to find new work while the permit is valid. If you apply for a new permit before the old one expires, you may start with the new employer without waiting for the decision. But changing employer itself means a full new permit: the new employer must advertise the job in Sweden and the EU, just as when hiring from abroad.
Daily life runs on the personnummer: registering with the Tax Agency unlocks banking, healthcare and contracts and requires a permit of at least a year. Without it banks open accounts reluctantly, and without BankID everyday life is limited. Recognition of degrees for regulated professions takes months.
The index score ignores nationality. This is what changes for citizens of specific countries.
No visa for up to 90 days within 180, as in the rest of the Schengen area. Working requires the same permit with the same salary threshold.
Pay no application fee for a work permit.
EU temporary protection is extended to 4 March 2028. Since 31 July 2026 new applicants must show they left in line with their military obligations; people who already hold the status are not affected.
We found no direct nationality restrictions on work permits in Swedish law. Since November 2025 the EU no longer issues multiple-entry Schengen visas to Russian citizens: this does not apply to residence permits, but it complicates travel and applying from abroad. Ties to Russia can rule out jobs where the employer must run a security check.
We found no direct nationality restrictions: the salary threshold and procedure are the same as for other non-EU citizens.
The place interval 34-53 shows where the country lands when the data is nudged and the index is recalculated. One place of difference in the table means nothing; a difference of a league means something.
The thin mark on each bar is the average across 97 countries
The strongest category here is Family rights: 85 out of 100, against a 97-state average of 72.2. The weakest is Agency processing: 53 against 48.7. Above the world average: 4 out of 7.
All 97 states are calculated for one applicant: 35 years old, income of $2,500 and $3,856 a month before tax, passport not counted, the most accessible route that is actually in use.
Your passport, your income and your family do not change the table. They change which of its lines apply to you. A different income makes entry read differently, a family makes the family category read differently, and your passport makes everything read differently.
By law 4 months for a first decision; 75% of complete applications make it, while incomplete ones take up to 10 months. Certified employers can get a decision in 2-4 weeks, and renewals take longer.
For applications from 16 June 2026, at least SEK 34,470 a month, which is 90% of the median salary. Occupations on the government's exemption list need 75% of the median, SEK 28,725.
Only as self-employed: you need a business plan and capital, and processing is long. There is no digital nomad visa, and the job-seeker permit is only for holders of advanced degrees and does not itself give the right to work.
If you lose your job you have 3 months to find another while the permit is valid; if you do not, the permit is revoked. From 2 December 2026, renewals must meet the new salary threshold.
Permanent residence after 4 years on a work permit within the last 7, if you are self-supporting. Citizenship since 6 June 2026 after 8 years, with language and civics requirements: the civics test starts in August 2026, the language test on 1 October 2027.
The state is cutting labour migration: the salary bar is higher, 42% of first applications are refused, citizenship now takes 8 years. Those who clear the bar get real protections: 3 months to find work, a spouse's right to work, free schooling.
97 states, 26 indicators, seven categories, 2,522 scores. Every score has a source and a source class: primary means the texts of laws and government portals; reliable secondary means reports by international organisations, tax reviews by audit firms and specialist legal publications; weak means community posts and single secondary sources. The classes add up to a confidence level for the country, and a country with low confidence gets neither a score nor a place.
Every indicator is scored against a fixed ruler, not against its neighbours. Adding new countries therefore does not move the old ones, and a change in a score means a change in policy and nothing else.
A high place does not mean a good country. It means one thing: the state machine treats newcomers predictably and by the rules. Living there may be expensive, dull or hot; that is not our question.
Checked 01/10/2026. Facts come from the country's index card and official websites.
We make mistakes and we will go on making them: policy changes faster than any database. Our answer is not a pose of infallibility but a visible trail of corrections. Every correction is published: what it was, what it became, the source and the reason for the error. The corrections log opens with the second issue, together with the first block of changes.