The current Swedish government´s plan for labour immigration to Sweden, has become a lucrative business for unscrupulous employers in Sweden. They can charge immigrants with up to 30,000 crowns for a work permit, and then they still don´t guarantee a job. This writes Dagens Nyheter today.
The berry pickers from Thailand or Vietnam who had trouble this summer are far from alone. Many employers in Sweden exploit the situation with desperate people who are willing to do anything to get a work- and residence permit in Sweden. Some demand sexual services and others demand money.
Many employers, often with foreign background themselves, use this situation to sell work permits without even offering a job. This according to daily Dagens Nyheter’s economy section through a man who wants to be anonymous. The man showed a homepage for Russian speakers in Sweden. Here, companies advertise openly that they sell for example eight Swedish work permits.
Many are prepared to pay for the temporary work- and residence permit. It provides possibilities to a Swedish id, a bank account, to drive a car, study Swedish for immigrants and to get a first-hand contract on a flat. With this permit, they have three months to find another legal employer. If they fail, they can stay a work in the black market for two years.
Unreasonable work permits
Some employers issue an unreasonable number of work permits. This is the opinion of both the Migration Board and the unions.
From one street food stand in Stockholm, the union received ten applications in only three months. The employer has only three employees. All of the would-be jobs were about ‘peeling and cutting vegetables’. The person who leases the street food stand says to Dagens Nyheter that he had no idea about this.
Another street food stand in Kista north Stockholm, without any employees at all, sent applications of work permits in August. The same number of applications came from a café in Kista with only three employees.
The legal buro Issa Habil Juristbyrå, which has assisted the three mentioned street food stands with their applications says to Dagens Nyheter that it is not his responsibility to judge whether or not an application is reasonable in relation to the size of the company.
Also a problem in the construction branch
Also in the construction business this is a problem. The number of immigrant workers from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Philippines has increased strongly.
Some companies in the branch, offer wages which are only the half the settled wage according to the collective agreement.
