Viktor Wärnick, Chair of the Committee on Social Insurance and Migration, told The Local that the government would not submit the proposed law, New Rules for Labour Migration, to the Council of Legislation this year, meaning it is likely instead to reach its final form and go before parliament for a vote in the first few months of 2025.
"The government will present a legislative council referral next year regarding labour migration," Wärnick, an MP for the right-wing Moderate Party, told The Local. "Exactly what the legislative council referral will include in terms of proposals, regarding for example salary requirements and possible exceptions, remains to be announced by the government."
A government inquiry in February proposed setting the salary threshold for work permits at the median wage, currently 35,600 kronor a month. It also proposed that the Swedish Public Employment Service and the Migration Agency would then be responsible for drawing up a list of in-need professions eligible for exemptions.
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The new bill, if it goes ahead, is supposed to come into force in June 2025.
The government stopped taking comments from business groups, unions, government agencies, local and regional governments, and other stakeholders in April, since when it has taken no action on the proposal.
Business groups were critical of the proposal, with the Confederation of Swedish Industry complaining that such a system "has no place in the Swedish labour model", and would deprive companies of much needed foreign expertise, with half of those blocked likely to be graduates.
Sweden's former employment minister, Johan Pehrson, has also called for assistant nurses to be exempted.
The Local has contacted the press secretary of Migration Minister Johan Forsell to ask for more detail on the timing of the measure, and will update this article with any response when it arrives.
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