What has the government done?
Sweden's government on Wednesday said in a press statement that it had ordered the Migration Agency and the Swedish Public Employment Service to produce a list of professions that should be exempted from the planned new work permit salary threshold set at 90 percent of Sweden's median salary (currently 33,390 kronor).
Why not use the list provided last July?
The Migration Agency was first ordered in February 2025 to draw up a list of professions that should be exempted, and in July the agency published a list of 152 different jobs,
In a statement to Swedish public radio broadcaster SR, Forssell explained that this, earlier, list was outdated as at the time, the government was proposing to raise the salary threshold to the full median salary of 37,100 kronor. As the salaries for in-demand professions were more likely to fall below this higher threshold, a new, shorter, list of exempted professions was needed.
The first Migration Agency list also included roles that require Swedish citizenship, such as positions within the armed forces, the police, church deacons, and pastors, which Forssell said would have to be removed.
Although the Migration Agency has also not yet received the new task, Hanna Geurtsen, deputy manager in the agency's work permit division, told The Local that her understanding was that the task was more of an update.
"The order is not for us to decide on new exceptions, but is instead issued on the same basis as the previous order, but adapted to the level of 90 percent of the median salary that the Tidö parties negotiated in September," she said.
Will the new list be stricter?
Sofia Råsmar, a business policy expert for Sweden's hotel and restaurant trade body Visita, told The Local that she had heard that the Migration Agency had also been asked to narrow the focus of the new list so that it mainly covered highly skilled workers, and not relatively low-skilled but still in-demand jobs such as chefs and assistant nurses.
"They have been clear that they would like to focus on what they call the highly qualified workforce, that is, they want to have fewer exceptions," she told The Local.
She said she had also heard that the Migration Agency had also been asked to exclude professions where there has been little or no recent labour migration, something which would be bad for the hospitality industry, which has struggled to get work permits for foreign staff since a previous threshold was brought in at 80 percent of the median salary.
The government has still not published the text of the order on its website, making it difficult to assess whether Visita's concerns are justified.
Will business and employer groups have a say?
Before the first list was drawn up, businesses and other employers were given the opportunity to argue the case for certain jobs to be exempted from the salary threshold, but it is currently unclear whether this will be the case again with the new list.
The Local has contacted the migration minister's press secretary and the Migration Agency requesting a copy of the order and answers to some further questions.
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