Sweden edition

Father dumps baby in Migration Board protest

Published: 16 Jul 10 09:51 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/27826/20100716/

A father left his four-month-old baby on the reception counter at the Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket), leaving the building in protest over a misunderstanding regarding the child's residence permit.

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The man entered the Växjö office of the Migration Board on June 15th in order to obtain a residence permit stamp so that his wife could travel with the baby on a visit to her sick mother, according to an incident report.

When a board official refused his request the man dumped the baby on the reception counter and left the building in protest, according to the report.

The official called for the help of her colleagues who managed to track down the man in the stairwell. An interpreter was called for and the situation was satisfactorily resolved, with the child provided with the required stamp.

The report states that the whole unfortunate incident was caused by a mix-up as a decision over the child's case had not yet been taken.

The Local (news@thelocal.se/08 656 6518)

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The comments below have not been moderated in advance and are not produced by The Local unless clearly stated. Readers are responsible for the content of their own comments. Comments that breach our terms and conditions will be removed.

11:17 July 16, 2010 by hipersons1

While, yes, he should not have left his baby, Sweden's immigration assistants need to get their act together and start providing proper customer service. A translator should have been called as soon as the man started to get upset. What probably is not reported here is that this man has probably gone to that office more than once, each time he was lacking some new piece of information or paperwork or payment. That's frustrating for everyone, and really its the fault of the Swedish mentality. I don't know why I always have to talk to 3 or more people to get the full picture of requirements or regulations about some rule in Sweden, and why not all of the information is on the internet in a concise and easy to find manner, but that's the way it is currently.

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11:47 July 16, 2010 by concha de tu puta madre

@hipersons1

Regardless of how frustrated he was, he should have not taking it out on the baby. This only proves one thing; "he is incapable of dealing with stress hence the Swedish child welfare agency should look into this and decide whether or not he is fit to look after this child"

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12:37 July 16, 2010 by tuerd1982

I agree with both hipersons1 and some point of concha de tu puta madre. From my experience with many government bureau in Sweden I come to conclusion that any work process depends on the person whom you are dealing with. Many people are so so kind and very helpful, but same of them are not (maybe they are new for their work).

There are examples:

1. couple of month ago my colleague applied visa to his new born baby and he got it in 30 minutes just after hand in his application, but yesterday I was got very different answer like "you need to wait at least three weeks" for my application to my new born baby.

2. when I and my room-mate applied for visa card in SEB, they gave card to my room-mate but they said I shouldn't able to get it with out work. We both are came from same country, doing same program and we both doesn't have any work contract in that time. The only difference is my friend applied one week earlier than me.

3. This time I am quite lucky. When I was applied extension to my visa I got it in 40 minutes but my friend waited two months.

From my comment I am not expressing my complain to the Swedish worker and bureau, because in general they are really really good (50 times better than where I come from), what I am trying to say is when you deal with Swedish institute you need to be patient and act as early as possible.

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12:57 July 16, 2010 by Audrian

Bureaucrats are capable making anybody insane. They make a web of regulations which in the end become counterproductive. As the regulations become needlessly complex, clients would not understand them. When an activity that should take ten minutes takes hours, a congestion of clients is created. This gives rise to demand for bigger building space, rising budget and more regulations along the way. It is not clients alone who get confused; the bureaucrats also stumble along the way. A case in point is the confusion that was created when the man left his child behind on the office counter of an Migeration Board. This is when bureaucrats employ experts to help them, resulting in more forms and additional regulations to prevent the incidence of that sort from repeating.

The solutions to wasteful regulations cannot come from the bureaucrats who have created them in the first place.

As regulations become more complicated, they create job opportunities for young people, who catch up to become like those before them. Bureaucracy is self perpetuating.

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13:10 July 16, 2010 by this_aint_sparta

A wisdom pearl "If you are on a counter in sweden trying to get somthing done and due to any reason its not possible, leave the counter, go out have a smoke or watch blondes for like 40 odd minutes and then try again but make sure you end up in a different counter". You have 90% chance of getting it done this time.

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16:54 July 16, 2010 by Mmamma

A friend applied for citizenship and they gave him in two weeks. Another friend of mine applied and they told him to wait 6 months. this is the eight month and still no answer because of holiday. Migrationsverket should wake up from their slumber

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20:03 July 16, 2010 by avatar

from comments above it seems like all (or most) foreign workers/students are busy making new babies, good work -- keep it up!!!!

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22:24 July 16, 2010 by Aigbe

Different officers in the migrationsverket set different rules even when you are married to a Swedish national . Normally, 2years after living together you are issued a permit . But in some cases some officers act contrary to this creating unwarranted problem for couples and their freedom. They create an abnormal waiting time to open the case file ,when in fact all you need is personal brevis from the tax office to confirm the deposition on the application.

Why should permit be delayed when all requirement are met!

I am sure the case of the family that stage a protest with the child is copiously obvious that there was no need to take a different decision when the parents of the child had permit. All that is needed is a proof of the child ID.

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23:25 July 16, 2010 by villjobba

Excellent analyses Audrian! Avatar, you sound like a migsV spy or agent:-) and I hope that if you are, you will also try to pick up some off the complaints here and convey them to your superiors and collegaues because they are indeed legitimate. For me i had long concluded that Migsv is the most incompetent govt agency in this country staffed with 20% competent humans. They need to do something about standardising their working procedures and getting rid of the 80% stuck up robots they have there in the name of staff.

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#10

23:58 July 16, 2010 by calebian22

Who cares about how much red tape one has to put up with at any of the verkets in Sweden? Socialism is synonymous with red tape. That is not news. The guy left his child at the office in protest. He is a bad parent, plain and simple.

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#11

00:37 July 17, 2010 by hilt_m

next time I have to deal with migrationsverket , remind me to take a baby, seems to work a treat.

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#12

15:31 July 18, 2010 by VicTaulic

Sweden should institute a policy where everyone who applies for visa must demonstrate that they can speak Swedish fluently.

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#13

20:47 July 18, 2010 by asteriks

Residence permit stamp is result of fascist politics, all humans should be equal. Swedish ordered stealing of table from the gate of Auschwitz. Swedish, be ashamed.

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#14

08:46 July 19, 2010 by calebian22

Asteriks,

Every country in the world has it's own citizens and rules for immigrants on how one becomes a resident.

By the way, it was a sign not a table. I think you should upgrade your translation software.

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