Sweden extends travel restrictions for travellers from China

Sweden will extend entry restrictions on travellers arriving from China, which at the time of writing are set to expire on Saturday, said Health Minister Jakob Forssmed.

The restrictions mean that third-country residents over the age of 12 who are travelling from China need to show a negative Covid-19 test to be allowed into Sweden – in other words non-EU, non-Swedish citizens resident outside of the EU/EEA and Switzerland.

The entry restrictions were introduced in early January following an increased spread of infection of Covid in China, as well as a lack of data on which variants were spreading.

The Swedish government is expected to formally make the decision to extend the entry restrictions at a cabinet meeting on Thursday, writes Swedish news agency TT.

According to the Public Health Agency, the test should be no more than 48 hours old, and the certificate should be in Swedish or English. Both antigen and PCR tests are accepted, but they will need to be carried out by a medical professional who can provide a certificate, so at-home tests don’t count.

Swedish vocabulary: entry restrictions – inreserestriktioner

Sweden drops inquiry into first unpaid day of sick leave

The government has dropped an inquiry that was looking into whether or not to change Sweden’s current rules on its unpaid first day of sick leave, reports Altinget. The inquiry was launched by the previous Social Democrat-led government before the election.

During the pandemic, the usual rules were changed so that employees could get paid (albeit not a full day’s worth of salary) for the first day of sick leave too, in order to encourage them to stay home if they had symptoms of Covid. Calls have been made for this to be made a permanent rule.

Swedish vocabulary: the first unpaid day of sick leave – karensavdrag

Are property prices about to rise in Sweden again?

After a downturn of nine months, property prices could again be on the increase – at least according to a new survey by analysis company Valueguard’s index.

Its data suggest that the price of property went up 2 percent in Stockholm in the first two weeks of January, compared to the whole month of December, and 1.4 percent in Gothenburg. The big cities often lead the way on the property market, said Valueguard’s analysts.

In Sweden as a whole, however, property prices instead fell 1.4 percent, or 0.6 percent when adjusted for seasonal effects.

Opinion among economists is divided in regards to what will happen to the property market in 2023 – read The Local’s recent report here.

Swedish vocabulary: property market – bostadsmarknad

How did a far-right extremist derail Sweden’s Nato application?

Turkey this week pulled out of upcoming Nato accession talks with Sweden and Finland following a far-right activist’s Koran-burning stunt at the Turkish embassy.

But who is Rasmus Paludan and why could Sweden not prevent him from burning the Koran? How did it come to this and who benefits from throwing a spanner in the works of Sweden’s Nato membership? The Local explains in this article.

Swedish vocabulary: membership – medlemskap

How many people got Swedish citizenship in 2022?

Last year, the number of new Swedish citizens reached 89,967 – an increase on 2021.

This figure includes secondary applicants – children who were granted citizenship in a joint application with their parent – as well as people whose application was rejected by the Migration Agency but approved by an appeals court.

The Migration Agency received a total of 88,968 applications in 2022 (not including secondary applicants), and 94,292 were processed, including applications received in previous years. Of these, 78,201 were approved, 13,230 were rejected, 572 were listed as “invalid” and 2,289 were in the “other” category.

Read more citizenship stats in The Local’s article.

Swedish vocabulary: citizen – medborgare