Spørgsmål: Working abroad for a refugee
Hello. I have a friend with a small company in Denmark. He is looking for employees and has found five in Sweden that he would like to hire full time ASAP. All five are refugees from Syria, but they all have permission to stay in Sweden. As I understand the law, they need a work permission before they can sign a contract with the danish company. I have contacted SIRI in Denmark, but they can’t answer me what the procedure is regarding this issue, because the employees ain’t from Europe. I have also contacted the danish immigration department, but they say I need to contact the Swedish authorities. But who should I contact and what is the procedure? How can we apply for work permission: Is it the Swedish employees or is it the danish company? I’m looking forward to your respond.
Svar
Hi,
Thank you for your question!
To hire a citizen from a third country in Sweden, a valid work permit shall be approved by the Swedish Migration Centre. The process of having such work permit approved includes, eg., offering the employment to citizens within EU/EAA, specifying the employment offer to the third country citizen, give trade unions the opportunity to give their opinions, and having the application approved by the Swedish Migration Centre. Once the work permit is approved, it is valid for the specific employment for which it was applied.
If a third country citizen shall work in Denmark, but live in Sweden, a certain work permit from the Danish authorities is required. If such is not in place, both the third country citizen and the employer may be incurred by fines and/or other punishments. The permit shall specifically allow the third country citizen to work in Denmark when living in Sweden. Further information can be found here: https://www.nyidanmark.dk/en-GB.
Firstly, the third country citizens should contact the Swedish Migration Centre to get information on how to proceed. Thereinafter, they will likely have to apply for a new work permit at the Danish migration authorities. The procedure will need supplementary actions made by you as the employer as well in line with the instructions given by the relevant authority.
Please be advised that if you do the process via a certified employer, the processing may be faster.
Good luck!
