Hi,
I arrived in Sweden on 01-September-2019 on a work permit (01-July-2019 – 31-Jan-2021). Recently my WP has been extended till 31-Dec-2021. As far as I understand my WP will be attached to my employer for initial 2 years i.e. till 30-June-2021.
I am getting a feeling that my employer will lay-off me by 30-April-2021. As per rule, I can stay for next 3 months i.e. till 31-July-2021 to find a new employer. Can I use existing work permit to join a new employer, provided new job will start after 01-July-2021 ?
Hi dushyant,
Thank you for your question.
During the first 2 years of holding a work permit the permit itself is tied to both your employer and your occupation. After you have been granted an extension beyond the 2 years the permit will only be tied to your occupation. This means that if you obtain new employment within the same occupation you may be able to start working on your existing permit without requiring a new application. In your case, the permit would no longer be tied to your employer after the 1st of July 2021 as you will then have held a work permit for 2 years. If you find a new job with a start date before then a new application would need to be submitted so that you could switch employers.
If you want to use your existing work permit to start a new employment there are a few things we would recommend:
After obtaining the offer of employment form you can check the SSYK code and the description to ensure that the new job you will be starting falls within the SSYK code and job description. You can find the SSYK code to many job titles here (must be searched in Swedish):
https://www.h5.scb.se/yreg/ssyk2012.asp
If the new job does not seem to fall within the existing SSYK code and description in the OOE a new application should be submitted before you start a new position. In this case the new position will need to have been advertised on arbetsförmedlingen/platsbanken for at least 10 days before any documents are signed and submitted to the Migration Agency.
As you mentioned, after becoming unemployed you will have 3 months to find new employment (note that you can only seek employment for 3 months if your permit is valid during these months). The new employment should generally start within these 3 months. The Migration Agency does, however, from our experience have some leniency with this so it has been ok to simply submit a new application within the 3 months if the start date itself will be shortly after the 3 month deadline. The handling of this is something that could change so we would recommend trying to start the new job within these 3 months if possible (keeping in mind that a new application may need to be submitted for this to happen).
Kind regards,
SwedishImmigration.se
Thanks a lot for your detailed response. This helped me a lot. I forgot to add one point in my initial question. I have my employer’s name on my work/resident permit card. Does this means that I can’t use this work permit for any other employer even after 24 months?
Warm Regards,
Dushyant
Hi Dushyant,
The reason why the employer’s name is on your residence permit card is because at the time of approval, you had not held a work permit for 2 years yet. Your permit is therefore limited to your employer and occupation until July 2021 when you have held a permit for 2 years. This should also be confirmed in the most receive decision letter you received for the extension. This will unfortunately only be in Swedish but it is generally included in the section titled “begränsningar”. You can therefore still use the permit that you currently have but you need to wait until you have held a valid permit for at least 2 years before being able to change employers within the same occupation without requiring a new application.
Kind regards,
SwedishImmigration.se