Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

On the Margins : Migrants, Status Mobility and Recent Turns in Swedish Migration Politics

Hemmaty, Mona LU (2019) In Lund Dissertations in Sociology
Abstract
Many people believe that changes in Swedish migration politics in the last decade signal a turning point and perhaps the end of the well-reputed Swedish exceptionalism. In 2008, Swedish labour migration policy was transformed into one of the most open in whole OECD, whilst Swedish asylum migration policy, known for its humanitarianism, took a significant turn toward restrictiveness in 2016. For several decades the opposite used to characterise Sweden as an outlier.

This thesis takes interest in a legal status change channel known as spårbyte (“track change” in Swedish) implanted with the reform in 2008, allowing migrants to switch statuses to temporary workers after rejection of asylum claims or previous studies without having to... (More)
Many people believe that changes in Swedish migration politics in the last decade signal a turning point and perhaps the end of the well-reputed Swedish exceptionalism. In 2008, Swedish labour migration policy was transformed into one of the most open in whole OECD, whilst Swedish asylum migration policy, known for its humanitarianism, took a significant turn toward restrictiveness in 2016. For several decades the opposite used to characterise Sweden as an outlier.

This thesis takes interest in a legal status change channel known as spårbyte (“track change” in Swedish) implanted with the reform in 2008, allowing migrants to switch statuses to temporary workers after rejection of asylum claims or previous studies without having to return.

The study sketches status changes in relation to the labour migration policy reform, and explores how migrants work themselves around legal and formal requirements to change of “tracks” in order to stay in Sweden with work permits. It mixes case file research, interviews, statistics and secondary sources and uses theoretical glasses of deservingness on the ways in which staying with work permits is experienced and conditioned by both inclusionary and exclusionary logics of migration control.

The study finds that friendships, family, kinship ties and individual employers, help migrants in ways clearly enabled by the openness of the current Swedish labour migration policy. But earning the right to stay on the basis of work comes with a high price of dependency, elongated temporariness, uncertainty and deportability for migrants. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Populärvetenskaplig sammanfattning

2008 infördes en reform inom svensk politik för arbetskraftsmigration som möjliggjorde för personer utanför EU att komma till Sverige för att arbeta om de erbjudits anställning oavsett utbildningsbakgrund. Reformen har fått mycket uppmärksamhet och ritat om kartan för svensk migrationspolitik. Till ett av de mindre utforskade områdena hör s.k. spårbyten, det vill säga möjligheten att med hjälp av ett arbetstillstånd ändra av grund för uppehållstillstånd utan att behöva återvända för asylsökande som fått avslag.

I denna avhandlingen studeras hur migranter använder och erfar spårbyten, vilka former som de tar samt vilka paralleller som kan dras till övriga tillfälliga arbetstillstånd.... (More)
Populärvetenskaplig sammanfattning

2008 infördes en reform inom svensk politik för arbetskraftsmigration som möjliggjorde för personer utanför EU att komma till Sverige för att arbeta om de erbjudits anställning oavsett utbildningsbakgrund. Reformen har fått mycket uppmärksamhet och ritat om kartan för svensk migrationspolitik. Till ett av de mindre utforskade områdena hör s.k. spårbyten, det vill säga möjligheten att med hjälp av ett arbetstillstånd ändra av grund för uppehållstillstånd utan att behöva återvända för asylsökande som fått avslag.

I denna avhandlingen studeras hur migranter använder och erfar spårbyten, vilka former som de tar samt vilka paralleller som kan dras till övriga tillfälliga arbetstillstånd.
För att studera spårbyten ansökningar om spårbyten analyserats samt migranter, organisationer och intressenter intervjuats både om reformen och spårbyten.

Studien visar att spårbyten kan förstås mot bakgrund av den svenska arbetskraftsmigrationspolitikens utpräglade öppna karaktär, där den arbetsgivarstyrda politiken öppnar upp kanaler för migranter att söka arbetstillstånd med hjälp av vänner, familj, och enskilda arbetsgivare inom sektorer som den tidigare arbetsmarknadsprövningen vidhöll stängda. Men samtidigt involverar spårbyten ett högt pris i form av beroendeställning, exkludering och långvariga perioder av osäkerhet och utvisningshot för migranter innan uppehållstillstånden kan bli permanenta.

Studiens resultat är relevanta för större grupper av migranter med tillfälliga uppehållstillstånd vars rätt att befinna sig i Sverige är bundna till arbete eller försörjning. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
supervisor
organization
alternative title
On the Margins : Migrants, Status Mobility and Recent Turns in Swedish Migration Politics
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Status mobility, spårbyten, labour migration policy reform, Swedish migration politics, deservingness, work permits
in
Lund Dissertations in Sociology
issue
122
pages
223 pages
publisher
Lund University
ISSN
1102-4712
ISBN
978-91-7895-036-2
978-91-7895-037-9
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Date: 2019-04-26 Time: 10:15 Place: Kulturens auditorium, Tegnersplatsen, Lund External reviewer(s) Name: Garcés-Mascareñas, Blanca Title: Associate Professor Affiliation: Universitat Barcelona and Barcelona Center for International Affairs
id
948078d6-5869-4700-b20c-c1b8c06076de
date added to LUP
2019-03-26 20:05:32
date last changed
2020-04-01 13:14:19
@phdthesis{948078d6-5869-4700-b20c-c1b8c06076de,
  abstract     = {{Many people believe that changes in Swedish migration politics in the last decade signal a turning point and perhaps the end of the well-reputed Swedish exceptionalism. In 2008, Swedish labour migration policy was transformed into one of the most open in whole OECD, whilst Swedish asylum migration policy, known for its humanitarianism, took a significant turn toward restrictiveness in 2016. For several decades the opposite used to characterise Sweden as an outlier.<br/><br/>This thesis takes interest in a legal status change channel known as spårbyte (“track change” in Swedish) implanted with the reform in 2008, allowing migrants to switch statuses to temporary workers after rejection of asylum claims or previous studies without having to return.<br/><br/>The study sketches status changes in relation to the labour migration policy reform, and explores how migrants work themselves around legal and formal requirements to change of “tracks” in order to stay in Sweden with work permits. It mixes case file research, interviews, statistics and secondary sources and uses theoretical glasses of deservingness on the ways in which staying with work permits is experienced and conditioned by both inclusionary and exclusionary logics of migration control.<br/><br/>The study finds that friendships, family, kinship ties and individual employers, help migrants in ways clearly enabled by the openness of the current Swedish labour migration policy. But earning the right to stay on the basis of work comes with a high price of dependency, elongated temporariness, uncertainty and deportability for migrants.}},
  author       = {{Hemmaty, Mona}},
  isbn         = {{978-91-7895-036-2}},
  issn         = {{1102-4712}},
  keywords     = {{Status mobility; spårbyten; labour migration policy reform; Swedish migration politics; deservingness; work permits}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  number       = {{122}},
  publisher    = {{Lund University}},
  school       = {{Lund University}},
  series       = {{Lund Dissertations in Sociology}},
  title        = {{On the Margins : Migrants, Status Mobility and Recent Turns in Swedish Migration Politics}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}