Sweden immigration curbs worry healthcare sector

Sweden's tighter immigration rules are worrying healthcare workers who say the sector depends on migrant staff, as voters prepare for a general election on September 13.

At the NU Hospital Group in Trollhattan, nurse Johanna Bjorkman said operations would not happen without foreign-born colleagues. Davood Javid, a senior specialist in the hospital's cardiology department, said three out of four of its 20 doctors were born abroad.

Nationally, 37 percent of specialist doctors and 53 percent of nursing assistants were born abroad, according to the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions.

Sweden has tightened asylum and immigration rules since a large influx of asylum seekers in 2015. Doctors and specialist nurses often earn enough to meet higher work-permit income requirements, but nursing assistants, elderly-care workers and adult children of healthcare workers may not.

Javid said his nephew's two daughters were deported after living in Sweden for eight years while studying to become nurses, in a case that drew national attention to what became known as “teenage deportations”. Hospital director Bjorn Jarbur said at least one employee had left after their child was deported, and said staffing shortages were limiting hospital capacity.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's coalition came to power in 2022 through an alliance with the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats. Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson said he was not convinced that labour shortages in healthcare meant migration policy should be relaxed, arguing that immigrants also use welfare, healthcare and social care.

Political scientist Tommy Moller of Stockholm University said attention to deportations had led the government to change its position. In June, the government and the Sweden Democrats raised from 18 to 21 the age at which children of migrants are considered adults.