‘End to permanent residency will not affect labour migrants’: Migration Minister 

Sweden’s Migration Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard has told Swedish state broadcaster SR that the government’s proposed abolition of permanent residency will only affect asylum-related migration cases and not people in Sweden on work permits, or those who have come to study for PhDs. 

“The government’s idea is that permanent residency will be phased out for those who are related to asylum immigration. That means asylum seekers and their relatives, for instance, but not for workforce migration,” she told SR’s English language wing Radio Sweden. 

She said the coming inquiry into how to convert existing permanent residencies into citizenships would also only focus on asylum-related migration cases, and not on those here on work permits. 

“But I think if you come here and you intend to stay, then there should be an ambition to learn Swedish language, have knowledge about the society, be able to support yourself, and, after maybe eight to 10 years, become a citizen and become a full part of the Swedish society. And that is an important signal to send.” 

Malmer Stenergard said that she wanted to make handling times shorter for those with work permits. 

“We want to focus on the highly skilled workforce coming to Sweden, and improve the rules to make handling times shorter,” she said. “We know that is a great problem for those who apply for work permits and also for those who apply for a prolongation of work permits. We are set on improving the rules so that it will be more attractive to come to Sweden.” 

Swedish vocab: arbetstillstånd – work permit 

Unemployment payments to be delayed after cyber attack 

Unemployment payments under Sweden’s a-kassa insurance system will be delayed this Thursday, due to the suspected cyber attack last week which saw the entire system taken off line. 

This means that payments which were supposed to go out to unemployed people on Thursday are going to be delayed for a few days, but will be paid “as soon as possible”. 

Swedish vocab: snarast möjligt – as soon as possible

Snow and sub-zero temperatures this week in almost all of Sweden

Snow is expected to fall and temperatures to drop below zero in almost every part of Sweden next week, Sweden’s state weather forecaster said in an update over the weekend. 

“We can expect sub-zero temperatures across most of the country,” Therese Fougman at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) said. “It will probably be a few centimetres (of snow). It probably won’t snow everywhere, but large parts of Norrland look set to get some of it, as well as Svealand and Götaland. It may actually snow all the way down towards Skåne and southern Halland.” 

After a period of milder weather, a white winter seems to be on its way. According to the SMHI, residents in most parts of the country can expect both snowfall and freezing temperatures during the next week.

Generally speaking, snowfall is expected during the middle of the week.

Swedish vocab: kylan – chilly weather 

Sweden extradites suspected PKK terror group member to Turkey

Sweden has extradited a convicted member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to Turkey as Ankara presses Stockholm for further steps in return for its membership in NATO, state media reported on Saturday.

Mahmut Tat, who was sentenced to six years and 10 months in jail for PKK membership in Turkey, fled to Sweden in 2015 but his asylum request was rejected.

Tat arrived in Istanbul on Friday night having been detained by Swedish police, the Anadolu news agency reported.

He was taken by Turkish police soon after arriving at Istanbul airport and referred to court on Saturday, the private NTV broadcaster reported.

Turkey has accused Finland and Sweden in particular of providing a safe haven for outlawed Kurdish groups it deems “terrorists”, and held back on ratifying their NATO bids despite an agreement in Madrid in June.

Swedish vocab: utvisades – extradited