New measures to help speed up integration

Okay..............Another oppurtunity for readers to bater blames to each other.

Round 1......................Calling for Swedish Immigrants on 1 side...................................... and Swedish on the other side.

Who will take the 1st punch?

Ok jewel22. I will take a shot at the title. There are two sides of it. Numero uno. Integration policies in Sweden have failed in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Why? Well, it is simple. There are certain members of the Swedish society that don't want to see foreigners being an integral part of the work force. They would rather marginalize them, deprive them from the opportunity of getting a dignified job and keep them on welfare. Swedes don't like to give jobs to people with names like Fernando, Ali or Wozongo; regardless of their educational and employment qualification. Numero dos, there are immigrants who simple does not want to integrate.

jewel22, why do you want people to take a shot at each other? Isn't that the main problem proper integration is trying to solve?

The simple fact with a declining population is that the government needs to find a way to pay for ever rising social maintenance cost. So immigrants will always come no matter Swedes like it or not. Just imagine no immigrants coming to Sweden in the next 25 years, how can the state afford the cost of welfare?

Back to integration. The government first need to understand various cultural differences before passing another law on integration and learn form France and the Netherlands. Whom of you have a brilliant idea on how to integrate immigrants to the Swedish society?

Not even every immigrants are qualified for a swedish IDcard, how can they be intergrated!!. hopeless government!

@DreEstwd

I have to agree with you 100% there. There are billions of people living in poverty all over the world that would love to come here for a better life. Since Sweden can't take them all, then we should take in the ones that we think would be able to intigrate, respect Swedish society and culture. Alot of Asians are brought up to work hard, study, learn new cultures and adapt to new enviroments. It is much better for both Sweden and for the refugees themselves if they go to countries that have similar societies and cultures. If that happens then both sides will walk off as winners.

Why can't countries like Saud Arabia, Bahrain, Israel etc take in all the refugees that are of middle eastern culture? they are both MUCH richer than Sweden and they share the same mentality and societies and the refugees themselves would be much happier there.

I am pleased to see that the government is trying to do somethign about the problems you run into when you come to Sweden to live. There is plenty of room for improvement.

Secondly, DreWstwd and HPunlimited... please stop with your racist remarks, it just makes you look stupid. Statements that insinuate that all violent crime is caused by people from the middle east is moronic.

I think what you are trying to say is that if you are going to let in ANY immigrant from ANY where in the world then there is probably certain criteria that needs to be checked against before allowing that person to stay in Sweden. For example check the police records, education levels, conduct issues in childhood or school, socio economic status, etc.

But what you can't do is say "ok no more arabs, how bout some asians" that is not how the world works.

@RoyceD

"Statements that insinuate that all violent crime is caused by people from the middle east is moronic."

You are right mate, crime is not caused only by people from middle east they are also, in great part, caused by Africans.

Well said mate...

DreEstwd......

I would not usually reiterate what has already been said, and quite rightly so by RoyceD, however in this case I feel it necessary.

You are obviously racist, and ignorant towards the real problems any country faces with immigration. I suggest you do not let your personal racist opinion towards certain minorities cloud your judgement on what would be best for this country.

I see many of the post here question why there are so many middle eastern people in Sweden and not in other countries. Well the answer lies exactly in the ability of swedish government and people to accept and help foreign immigrants to integrate faster in their society. If they were sent in other more "frigid" countries it would have taken a lot more time for them to integrate.

Please note that I'm referring to political refugees from countries that are currently at war...

You should also know that usually, refugees repartition is decided at a very high level by negotiation and long analysis. Every country has to accept some part of big wave of refugees, Sweden just gets the middle eastern.

It seems Sweden is one of the most "open minded" countries when it comes to accepting immigrants.

RoyceD: Your reply to statement 'the Asian ... do not cause violent crime'. is 'Statements that insinuate that all violent crime is caused by people from the middle east is moronic.'

Some people respond to any reference to cultural, racial or religious by accusations from racism. I don't know about Swedish figures, but now if I say that more than 30% of crimes in Italy is caused by illegal immigrants, is that racist? No matter what label you put on this statement, first of all it is a TRUE statement, and it cannot be ignored.

As for the middle east: they have simply a bad reputation, and it is a work for them to improve it. I agree that Sweden should simply pick those refugees, for who it has a reason to believe that the country will benefit from them. And the middle east area really has enough oil money to care for the refugees from their own region.

Well there are some truth on both sides here, first swedes are very racists so integrating them into jobs is a joke ,it wont work that great no matter how much money you spend on a program , second i do think sweden needs to slow down Immigrant coming into sweden intill they solve that problem. also it has nothing do with what religion there are to me just to let all the other people who think the only reason i written this is because i might have a hatred towards a certain race or religion, its bullcrap

The problem is that there is a loack of consiquences on both sides.

Those who discriminate need to be fined and loose there jobs if done in the workplace.

Those who dont want to integrate, should loose their finacial support .

No more free lunches.

National Socialsm is floored and doomed to fail.

Comment: The EU has stripped all it's member nations of their identity, their people's choices and their freedoms. They have opened their nations up to all sorts of chaos. You do not exist. You are controlled by bankers and corporations, filled with greed and corruption. Your forefathers fought for centuries to keep your nations, unique, protected from invaders and you allowed all that to be destroyed on your watch. There's not a man left in Europe that can hold a candle to your ancestors! You were taught that giving up your nation to immigrants that have no intent to assimilate to your so called laws and customs, ever, is what you must do to be proud of yourselves. So you will not be called names! You are called "racist" if you dare to believe in your own people, whilst the very people calling you these names are "racist", moreso than you. To be "racist" merely means you dare to love and protect your own people. Why is it NOT racist for invaders or immigrants to be called such when t'is they who feel the need to come to your lands when they should be "changing their own lands" for the better? Instead of coming into your homelands to "change" yours to suit them?! You have allowed OTHERS to decide your fate! You have no voice to protect your own nations! If you think that by allowing massive immigration, such as proposed here, will someday cease, you are sadly mistaken! Fore they shall never cease until you are all gone! Your flags mean nothing. Your languages, customs, culture of thousands of years in the making, "all shall be gone. There are those of you who comment on the behalf of the EU, all to trick you into changing your own laws and ways of life to suit them, not you. You should each get out of the European Union! It's harmed you beyond your wildest expectations! You can still save your people, if you leave the EU and force "all" immigrants to leave your nations. They each have their OWN nations, their OWN languages, their OWN faiths, their OWN governments, their OWN flags and MUST either change the places from whence they came, or this shall just simply overwhelm your lands with their OWN termoils! They bring with them their troubles and ways and means and refuse to become "your" people, for we each know that they simply can not truly become your race. As you can not become theirs, in truth. Stop seeing immigration as something you must do! It's destroying you! These people shall only bring you down a path of unrest and destruction, for they shall quickly find their own people amongst you and over populate and cost you lives, monies, lands, and all the rest that history shows us will happen to you for being so generously giving of your own nations. Stop this! Regard your own people as you should, if you wish to survive at all. Study history! Learn how to protect your nations and read about your great peoples and their customs and how they became great! You shall be emboldened by this to seek a better path.

Also for those of you who love quoting figures. Be very carefull about that.

Figures are easily manipulated to justify any argument.

A population of 2 tortoises who live on a vast playing field. The next day a couple of bunnies hop in and you have a 100% immigration increase per/day.

The tortieses would be hopping out of their shells if they new about the sickening depravity and fall down of playing field society if they just new what was going on.

But then there is always a greedy tortoise who is ready to manipulate of the stupidity of other tortoises for their own gain.

Immigration was invented by Europeans. Once upon a time when all men lived in peace in their father land before European invasion. The history of Globalization tells us that But long before 1492, people began to link together disparate locations on the globe into extensive systems of communication, migration, and interconnections. Here is a link to a quick guide: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~dludden/global1.htm

1492 and 1498: Columbus and da Gama travel west and east to the Indies, inaugurating an age of European seaborne empires

1650: the expansion of the slave trade expanded was dramatic during the seventeenth century -- and it sustained the expansion of Atlantic Economy, giving birth to integrated economic/industrial systems across the Ocean -- with profits accumulating in Europe during the hey day of mercantalism and rise of the Englightenment. (estimates of slave trade population)

1885: Treaties of Berlin mark a diplomatic watershed in the age modern imperial expansion by European and American overseas empires, beginning the age of "high imperialism" with the legalization of the Partition of Africa, which also marks a foundation-point for the creation of international law. Cry woe all you can, you started it. GLOBALIZATION IS HERE TO STAY!!! FACE IT OR LOOSE OUT. Sweden must find a way forward.

BaronessKvP

...Ur can somebody fetch a strait jacket please. send everyone back to their original country. What side of the moon are you living on.

So let me get this right.

Your saying every swedish person living and working in the UK or America or where else they happen to live, should bugger off back to Sweden?

And by this you believe that no swede should ever have the right to seek another life in another country.

WAKE UP you imabsile!

Well said DreEstwd. I don't think DreEstwd is saying that all people from the middle east are bad or commit crimes, he just looking at honest generalities.

Say what you want, but the fact is that most middle eastern immigrants don't integrate well into Swedish or western society and from my personal experience in SFI they don't want to. They're getting free housing, healthcare, money, education etc and they know that they'll never be required in Sweden to integrate.

The only middle eastern refugees that I have seen actually trying to learn the language in SFI is the women. I'm assuming that they're more interested because they know they might have a chance at having more rights here and a better life. In contrast to that are the few asian immigrants at my SFI, they're there studying, trying to speak swedish and interacting with all the other students, not just themselves.

I know the muslim religion is supposed to be peaceful but I think it's hard for alot of the world to see that. Everyday there's stories on the news about muslim/middleeastern countries fighting each other, stoning women to death or muslim people living in western countries commiting crimes.

I know most muslims & middle eastern are good but there's an actual higher rate of crime commited by these people. It's the same with black people in america, there is factual evidence of more crimes being commited by black people than non-blacks. If anyone other than a black says this though they're automatically labeled racist.

I do believe the crime rates are higher due to poverty, culture and lack of education. That needs to be changed but it also shouldn't be used as an excuse.

Instead of wasting my time arguing with morons. I will rather recomend a very nice book, which I read a while back.

"A Brief History of Globalization: The Untold Story of our Incredible Shrinking Planet (Paperback) by Alex MacGillivray"

Good Politicians and Economist understands the game. All you do is shout and Cry woe about Sweden/Europe taken over by foreigners. It is a whole new order of the day. People come and go. As much people that migrates to Sweden yearly equals the number that leaves every year to another. You must calculate the economic imbalance. Its not a simple and easy task to deal with on both sides, but it is too simplistic thinking to just say Europe must close her borders. After all my grandfather fought in the British Colonial Army in the liberation of Europe even though he is an african.

Well we r voting for Swedish Democrates to deal with all our immigrants problems.

Sweden has taken in a lot of non integratable immigrants who won't assimilate into the mainstream society and now wishes they weren't there. It's been an example for other countries of how not to run an immigration policy.

Re-Harakhty- Enough of the west bashing as in "they are the greatest slavers the world has ever known." Chattel slavery was universally practiced in the past; by the west, Asians,Aztecs, Arabs etc.(it still is practiced in places such as the Sudan). But it was western thought,and principles of individual human rights, inspired by the enlightenment, which eventually ended its universal acceptance.The west has been to blame for many things in the past. But if you look at the past 250 years, there has been a constant, if sometimes slow progression towards individual rights, which is not true of some other parts of the world.We are not there yet, but are making progress. Your racist description of westerners as "Albinoids" detroys any credibility you might have as a reasonable spokesperson for your positions.

@Re-Horakhty

This is the second time I ask you a question. The first you didn't reply, maybe you'll this time, we'll see...

You speak so much about black supremacy, however, if so, I'd like to know why Sweden having a fraction of Africa's population and land size still holds a GPD 54 times bigger than the whole continent?

How can such superior people live in such misery when the inferiors have so abundance?

I presume you can explain this with real facts and objective logic, otherwise your self-pitying comment is simply more trolling, and I won't bother ask you again.

Re-Horakhty:

Your remarks are really ignorant and racist. They are even too stupid to even remark on, go to school and get some education please. Why does race have to come into the picture?

If Swedes are so colorless and mutant and can't produce babies, then why do you even come to Sweden? And if the Swedish society is so bad, then why is it that Sweden is swelling over with Africans and not the reversed? let me guess..its a "white mans" conspiracy? Now please stop the racist crap and write something intelligent next time!

@DreEstwd

Thank god there are people like you here in Sweden. Sweden needs more people like you and less people that wants to destroy this country.

Peace!

I think the muslim woman's public dress form needs to change because, seriously, it does not 'speak' for integration.

A person who genuinely wishes to become part of an adopted society would not want to dress so extremely opposite to the norm of that society.

Those who insist on wearing islamic dress for religious reasons should, i think, remain in the middle east or in those countries where it is the norm to do so.

Sweden is a secular country where religion keeps a low profile.

Also..yes..at least a 5 year test period before the 'knot is tied'!

@ vladd777

I agree with you mate. Religious dress should be wear in religious places like a mosque or in their home, not in public to rub in everyone's face how different they want to be.

However that's not their point, Islamic dresses in general , the Burqa in particularly, are used as weapons in a cultural jihad, fought against the west.

Muslims just want to sent a clear message to all of us. They just won't adapt, not matter what we do, and how much money we give to them.

Spend a few minutes and watch Pat's new video. It explaining beautifully what this is all about...

http://www.patcondell.net/

I remind that most of people who move in Sweden are actually people who flee from war and grave circumstances and few are immigrant; however no matter to be refuge or immigrant, the purpose of all is to get a better life. To find job is just one of many conditions to make life easier. Unfortunately related to the sociological, cultural, historical, political and economical facts to be immigrant and/or refuge is considered negative in Sweden, even though politically many present the reverse version of it. The capability of Swedes to see immigrants as a part of their society can be compared with what you could find more than half a century ago in middle Europe. Swedes still consider that everybody who comes from a developing country suppose to clean their street and if they don't do that, it's because they want to use welfare.

@antoniolgj..

Excellent n thanks for sharing!

He is sooo absolutely dead on target!

My hat off to pat condell!!

%99 of immigrants come to sweden for a better so called life,they are actualy economic immigrants. so they can not come to sweden with their own passport,because swedish embassies world wide wont give them visa.swedish authority dont see any reason why they should be given visa.so this immigrant choose to call them selves asylum seekers and come to sweden ,so being an asylum seeker is going to be an immigrants visa. these immigrants are after their own goals in life and dont give a monkey about sweden and swedish people.

real asylum seekers in middle eastern countries should seek refuge in neighbouring countries than traveling half of the world and coming to sweden.

this is weakness of swedish government that is allowing these people to lie about being gay,or want to be christian or mullas in iran are after them and another billions lies.....

so i think one in 100/000 asylum seekers are genuine one and the rest are just bunch of liars and must not allowed to live in sweden. you just think about city of uppsala its got easy over 10/000 iranians who came to live during last 15 -20 years and still are coming.are they all in danger of getting killed or tortured?i dont think even 100 of them have told the truth in their cases!

so there is no reason for our government to allow them to live here just like this.

no more asylum seekers for sweden.

antoniolgj, Dont forget how most would starve if it was not for Western Hospitality and food aid. Western dollars and euros fund their governments, their infrastructure, their schools, their water, their food, etc. etc. I like how a fat black guy from America living in Sweden thinks he can speak for people in the 3rd world. Unfortunately his attitude is right in line with the African Americans in the US. Despite having their apartments, cars, food, education, healthcare, spending money, and other expenses being paid for by mostly non-black taxpayers they still think "whitey" owes them. I was hoping Obama getting elected would help this, but it just lead the racism criers like Jessie Jackson to say he wanted to cut off Obama's balls.

Luckily I know that Re-Horakhty does not speak for most Africans. If you really want to help, dont donate, loan money. You can contribute to a micro-loan to a business owner in almost any 3rd world country on Kiva.org. I am not affiliated with this website, but think it is a great idea. If we could improve conditions in these poor parts of the world through stimulating business ownership emigration from these places would slow if not stop.

Beynch...LOL!!

I forgot in my last post. Most medical care, supplies, and technology is donated by inbred albino countries and inbred albino doctors who risk their lives going there. Either way, Re-Horakhty, hopefully you get to see your Utopia. I micro version already exists in Zimbabwe. All the inbred albinos were chased out and the country lost 97% of its production. Now your heaven on earth has to use an inbred albino currency (USD) to contain the 165 quadrillion percent inflation that was present. I know what you are thinking, but I already tried to move there. Unfortunately they do not allow inbred albinos in their African Utopia.

RE-Horakhty- You need to check your facts. Wikopedia lists the population of Europe as 830.4 million. The population of the world is 6705 million. 4% of that would be 268,200,000. far less than the actual population of Europe. Not that it matters that you are wrong about your facts, because your arguments are meaningless anyway. I know that you like to think you are enraging us with your posts here, but really you are just silly and mildly irritating- like an eight year old brat sticking his tongue out and saying "nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah." Get a life.

Comment: Correction, Europe is about 300 million people excluding Russia. If you include Russia then it should be more than 600 million. Geographically Russia is a part of Euorope, but politically, it is not just becos it is not a part of EU. It depends on who is counting. Zlatan Ibrahimovich(sp) is an example of what immigrants has brought to Sweden. His parents were constantly tormented and picked on as refugees. But now the name is one of the 3rd best know Swedish brand. Who can imagine. Sweden is a great country, and one of the best country in Europe, some swedish low level minded idiots cannot see the vision of the great minded Swedes. U need to learn and adapt to the Global thinking to survive in a GLobal village and there is no other way to do that than experience immigration right at home. One thing the financial crises should have thought us is that, no country can be isolated. If Europe is down, brothers in Asia and America and other will feel the pain and vice versa. Leave Immigration polices to politician and let them do their stuffs. Swedish Judicial system is fair and full of brilliant open minded individuals. Unlike the RACIST FINNS, Sweden is a still 200% more open country than RACIST FINLAND!!! Long live Sweden and down down RACIST FINLAND!!!!

Each country takes a wave of refugees. For Australia it was Italians and greeks and eastern europe, the next wave was asians, after that arabs and now the african region. So Sweden is not the only ones dealing with refugee overload but perhaps they should take some pointers from other lands that deal with multiculturalism...!!

I just want to say i am first generation born Australian but i have middle eastern descent. So ofcourse naturally i look arab but act and sound Australian so it throws people off.

Judgement is passed very quickly on people here in Sweden very stereotypical, which is what i really dislike about Sweden and they put you in a category regardless. It is ashame that people have this mentality in this day and age, because i really love Sweden but not when i get judged.. thanks!!! And i have a few aussie friends here and they dont get the same judgement as i do... ???? wonder WHY? perhaps arab looks are not the go in Sweden .. boy did i get a shock when i got here! But hey i think they get over it if you walk their walk and talk their talk... its all social politics deal with it, because i think swedes are quite fair people... and use it to your advantage! The glass is always half full !!

My impression after dealing with Swedish visa and migration officers and hearing others' experiences is that it is easier for someone to migrate to Sweden if they are dumb and helpless. If you are not very smart and you act like you can't really think for yourself or do anything meaningful they shoo you right in. Once they suspect you have a working brain, they will give you a really hard time even with simple issues like giving you a visa to visit your own family for Christmas. Worse than that is if you might want to start a business and you want to do some research during your visit in case it's something viable, they will insist that you cannot go on the trip because you might stay there - yet the rules state very clearly that you would have to go back home to apply to start the business - if you found the business idea to be viable in Sweden - so you just end up starting the business elsewhere and only visiting during Christmas - so much for attracting investment to Sweden. No wonder you have such freakin' high unemployment, y'all are dodos! I don't want to tell Sweden what kind of immigrants to allow, but they should not block people who actually have ideas and are interested in using their ideas to make money. America is great because they encourage people to immigrate for business. If you want to start a business in the US they make everything so easy for you. Sweden does the opposite. Sweden favors the dumb and the helpless over people who can actually contribute. The only explanation I can think of is that Swedes are scared of capitalism and they are also afraid of any new ideas that they have not already thought of themselves. Fear of ideas leads the death of civilizations. Wise up blondies and get with it!

I think somebody should do a research to find out, how many percent of first generation immigrant/ refugee who have lived in here for more than 5 years, have a Swedish friend! May be you will be amazed to figure out there is very, very few number of people under very particular circumstances (like marriage) do have a Swedish friend (a Swede without foreign background), it's even hard to find friendship in second generation of immigrants with Swedes. All of the concentration on integration is helping immigrants to find job, because it's believed that immigrants use welfare and are economical barriers! Many immigrants are paying tax but are still not integrated! Generally Swedes have a very limited understanding of integration.

Tin Tin

Lets face it a large proportion of US Europeans are at least a little bit racist or at least Xenophobic. You see it in little sideways glances or turning away. You see the cogs turning - He is DIFFERENT, I don't want to know.

Perhaps I see it more than most as I have a adopted Pilipino son who's skin is light brown in the winter but becomes darker in the summer. I have lost count of the number of times I have observed hate, disgust whatever in people looking at my son over the past 24 years only for it to change when they realise that he is part of a WHITE family (British/Swedish). He is a Swedish national has done his military service ( he did not try to get out of doing it as so many so called patriotic Swedes do) yet here in Sweden, as he did in England, he still gets the same looks as anybody else of 'colour'. Maybe the fact that I have travelled the world ( some 86 countries in every continent) and have been keen to experience different cultures, that makes me less critical of immigrants. If we Europeans started to look for the best the myriad of cultures that we have in our countries rather than want to lead insular lives, we would not only promote better integration of immigrants into our society but also broaden our own culture. It is no good accusing immigrants of not wanting to integrate when the indigenous population sends out a strong message of go away. How can immigrants integrate if the massage is 'go away'.

When I first came to Sweden to live 30 years ago, It was a very boring place Sweden closed at 6pm, restaurants served boring food and closed by 8pm - and I'm talking a major city not a small town. Today immigration has changed all that, the same city -Linköping is full of life until the wee small hours and every variety of cuisine is there to be tasted.

So all you immigrant bashers, try to enhance your own life by getting to know and understand the immigrant population. Pushing out the immigrants would make Sweden a very dull place to live

RE-Horahkty- I capitulate on the Wikopedia figures, but since you were using the figures for European population in a racial, not political sense, then Russia should be included. And, since you were using European population figures to justify classifying caucasians as a dying race, you really should include North America and Australia in those figures, not just Europe.Also, I am not sure including Ahahahaha after racially insulting remarks is very enlightening. How hypocritical that you keep accusing Caucasions of being racist (yes, many are,)when your posts are some of the most blatantly racist I have seen.If you are against racism, you should always be against racism, not pick and chose.

Gameover? Hardly. What is your point? As if Africa is not suffering with Aids, TB, malaria, tribal/ethnic horrors, starvation etc.. Your one sided, conspiratorial, paranoid, racist and hate filled view of the world is sad.And let me give some unpleasant advice to those who would like to see the west pushed to the wall.You don't want to see the mind set of 1942-45 return, nor do I.In 1938 the idea of fireboming entire cities, or dropping an atomic bomb would have been unthinkable to the allied powers,yet later in the war it became standard procedure. Push the west too far, and you will see those days return.It is only the west's reticence to use its ultimate weapons which stays its hand. Beware of taking away that reticence.

The move may be a good idea depending on how well it works. About discrimination, if I am any colour other than your's I am no fool to believe that you wouldn't discriminate against me. But Swedes in general atleast do a great job in not seeming to notice you are not a Swede.

But talk of Swedish companies they are closed, protected and protectionists. This is a global world and atleast Skanska has road contracts in my country that runs to several billion Krones, Ericsson does bag several billion dollars worth of contracts every so often and Volvo is a class of its own in the transport segment. They are there because they are the best.

As someone who has friends working in China, as someone who has Chinese friends working in Brazil and as someone who has worked with Brazillians. I was quite stumped to hear a representative for Capgemini at a Career fair tell me I need to be fluent in Swedish before I could apply for a job or internship. Most companies in Sweden are no different, they generally expect someone to be 'Swedish enough' to be even considered. Personally I hate to say this but I started hating to idea of having to learn Swedish simply because the fun of learning a language has been replaced but the dread of a military drill.

You forum people can debate Swedish immigration policy all you want, but the reality is that this is a case of first creating a problem and now trying to find a solution. Maybe they shouldn't have created the problem in the first place.

I get a straightforward conclusion in here:

- I don't recommend Sweden for immigration, especially to people from developing countries, who have high ambitions, they will become very disappointed.

- I do recommend Sweden to refugees, because refugees have different calculations and reason for their motivation to move to another country, however I warn with all peace and quite that they find in here, they'll never be consider and be treated as a Swede, even if they prospect in here by luck (chance is very low), and if they plane to move from here to somewhere else, they should try to make it happen in less than 7 years, otherwise it'll be very hard to start a new life somewhere else; after all we all have a limited period to live a life, and you'll loss that chance!

I don't think African from US or England need to refuge to Sweden, however they might immigrate to Sweden and Caucasians depends where they are coming from; a white American has more chance than a white middle eastern, a white east European has more chance than a white Muslim and so on…; I can say Swedes generally prefer white western European and over all white American; however when they are drunk, they prefer nobody else except themselves, and they usually express themselves freely when they are drunk. I believe anybody can come to Sweden, but I am trying to say what they are going to face in here related to my experiences.

Comment: I am not actually an immigrant myself I am what we Americans call a " LOVE REFUGEE". I came here because of being infatuated with a Swede and he wasn't willing to live in my country (still isn't). I kind of wish I could find a Swede who would want to live 50/50 in both countries (USA/Sweden)((Stockholm/CT). When I came to Sweden I could not find a job AT ALL for two years because I had a Spanish last name. I am the typically mixed American. I asked my mom if I could add her maiden name to my name and she said yes. So now I have a more English/Germanic last name that Swedes can relate to more easily When I changed my name I found a job pretty quickly. I don't think all Swedes are rascist. Usually the 40 and under are pretty open minded but the problems I have had have been with the 50 plus generation who can be either secretly or openly hostile to foreigners and immigrants. Some job temp agencies won't even consider me because I am not 100 percent fluent in Swedish. I think it should be illegal for job agencies to discriminate like that! When I get a job I usually make more then the average Swede but I tend to be unemployed for longer periods. I always seem to be the one that is chosen as the first one to go at a company when times and finances are bad. A running joke I have is that the immigrants and foreigners are always the first ones out the door when companies have financial problems. I have not had a permanent job in 7 years. I am a hard worker and I never miss a day. I also work overtime. But do I get anything for that? NO! I have seen Swedes who go home sick just for a cold or go on sick leave and come back with a permanent job where I am working very hard and not getting anything for it and never seem to get a permanent position. And YES SWEDES I am very very ANGRY about the fact that I feel we as foreigners and immigrants do not seem to get the same rights in some areas. I think that Sweden needs to inact the "right to work law" like we have in America that FORCES each employer to hire a percentage of minorities (in the Swedish case it should would be immigrants and foreigners). I don't think anything will really change significantly until this happens. In the 13 years I have been here it has improved but it has been a slow process and I never see Africans or even many people of color in the Swedish workplaces. I want to scream when I go to an interview and Swedish employers tell me that my Swedish isn't good enough for them to hire me! Anyway, Sweden still has awhile to go to truly integrate immigrants and foreigners. I for one want the "American Dream" in Sweden. I want to be able to buy a house or at least a bigger place to live, own a car, afford to go out and live my life and have a PERMANENT job when I work very hard! Every one should have these rights. I didn't come to Sweden because I had to but because I wanted to. Please integrate me and let me live a decent life!

I think that European integration issues are more complictaed than in the U.S. Most European countries also have an ethnic component to their identities, and have had for many centuries. Many people, if not most, people think of a Swede, or a German, or an Italian etc. as having a certain ethnic identity. So it is difficult for a citizen of those counties to be accepted as Swedish, German or Itlaian, if they are not members of those ethnic groups. In the US, any phone book in any city will be filled with names from literally hundreds of different ethnic backgrounds. Though there is certainly racism in the U.S., for most Americans, the definition of being American is not based on race or ethnicity. Those from a Chinese, or Korean, or Philipino or African etc. ethnic backgrounds are considered as American as those from European ones.It makes assimilation in the States a bit easier than in Europe. Not that there aren't problems, but they are more easily worked out.

@Re-Horakhty

Welcome to Sweden, check one block up, the comment of @waspy, it's what I am trying to warn about!

Firstly, lets clear up something in this debate, because I get the feeling that a lot of people automatically "assume" that immigrant means someone from a war-ravaged third world country. Granted there are a lot of refugees who do have the misfortune to fit into this category - but there are also a large number of immigrants from Europe and North America in Sweden. Also, granted that refugees, in many cases, do have special circumstances that require a special approach to integration - however, my experience is that Sweden is failing ALL immigrants on a number of counts:

Firstly, as an EU citizen, the state is VERY quick to issue me with a personnummer in order to pay taxes but I still can't get a #¤%&ing ID card - and my EU passport is not accepted as legal ID. Not only does this contravene EU regulations on identification, it effectively makes me a second class citizen - Valkommen to Sverige - not!

Secondly, I appreciate the effort being made to provide free Swedish lessons courtesy of SFI - but I would like them to focus on the language and not the additional indoctrination about how great social democratic politics are. I am an adult and I can decide for myself whether I think these politics are great or not!

Thirdly, it is incredibly hard to connect with Swedes on a social level - they simply tend to stick to their comfort zone and ignore foreigners (the exceptions being Swedes who have spent a significant amount of time abroad). In many cases, Swedes are not even aware of their tendency to xenophobia - but just watch what happens when a black person sites down in the tunnelbana - no-one will sit next to them even if the carriage is full.

Fourthly, there is such an immense social pressure to blindly conform to the Swedish way of thinking. If you have a different point of view, people will politely nod their heads and listen, and then tell you you are completely wrong - why - because it is just wrong (i.e the state says so, the law says so etc.) There is a resolute lack to even try to understand different points of view. It it always black and white: the Swedish way is right and other ways are wrong!

Lastly, although I am fortunate enough to have missed the palaver of getting a work permit from the ever slow moving morass that is migrationsverket, I have a number of highly skilled colleagues (one a Russian systems analyst, one an Australian lawyer amongst others), who have had endless delays and issues getting their work oermits sorted out - even after they have been offered jobs. Come on guys, this is just lost tax revenue and not exactly helping get even skilled people into the work force quickly and efficiently.

So, whilst my gripes are, no doubt, paltry compared to the experiences of many other immigrants, they still illustrate that Sweden is pretty poor at integrating foreigners full stop - regardless if they are from London, New York, Moscow, Sydney, Baghdad or Timbuctu.

@farnoxo

I don't know how long you have lived in Sweden but you got it very good; however, I disagree with some points, for example I don't think Swedes unaware have tendency to xenophobia. I can tell you they have tendency to be racist and deep in heart mostly are racist, but they are not aware that they are racist. Their moral issues force them to hide it. They are very careful about the world's opinions about Sweden, it's important for business as well.

Forum participants should not be subjected to brutal hate mongoring. If you have not done so, please report the hate speech of re-horakhty.

johnnieBgood - Dont' sweat re-horakhty too much. He believes in any conspiracy theory and ridiculous fake "scientific" theories as long as they support his racist ideology. He likes trying to get a rise out of those of us who want to maintain an intellegent discussion. If we just ignore him, perhaps he will get bored and irritate someone else- he's not worth another thought.

re-horakhty There are always people like you, using pseudo-science to put forward their agenda of supremicism and hate. Your rants are identical to those of the supposedly scientifically based white-supremicist and neo-Nazi groups, only from an opposite perspective. They also claim their racism is based on scientific studies and not hate. You may hide behind your completely discredited "scientific" principles, but your racism is obviously hate-based. I don't know what happened to you to make you the way you are,but it is quite sad.You will convince no reasonable person of the veracity of your arguments- only make them shake their heads in dismay that there are still people out there like you.

Racism is really bad indeed!! Racism is a evil thing, you can see what have become of us. Mankind has no future.... End of days is near, No matter who you are, what counrty, race or creed. We all will eventual die someday and return to dust. So what are we fighting for? for greatness or for country?? Shame on all of you! Shame on the World!! I wish some species from outer space who are more intelligent than you stupid humans come down and destroy all these crazy humans and take over the planet and let me see were you black, white, colored, colorless or whatever terms you use will end. Shame on you people of the Earth! You are al disgusting!!

Re-Horakhty what's a matter did the NY Post finally get rid of you? Anyhow everyone knows that Dinaric people are the most superior in the world. Go Hrvatska!!!!

You could have any number of happy, hard working, respectful people from all around the world (East Asia, Europe, South America) who would be pleased to learn you language, marry your children and embrace your way of life. Instead your leaders in their infinite wisdom pay for Muslims to come into your country refuse to work, demand you accommodate a crazy religion, beat up your sons, disrespect your daughters and recruit each other for terror.

I don't speak Swedish, so can someone please tell me the word for "suckers".