Academics demand urgent action on international exodus

Swedish residence permit process takes too long and is too cumbersome, union warns

A Swedish union has called on the government to urgently shorten the processing times for residence permit applications by international researchers.

Sanna Wolk, the head of Sulf, the Swedish Association of University Teachers and Researchers, said the current process to obtain residency in Sweden was taking so long it forced many academics to leave the country. This, she said, is affecting Sweden’s competitiveness and wasting resources spent on recruiting staff from abroad.