More unemployed migrants to be dumped on Sweden?

The Swedish company Northvolt, which produces batteries for electric vehicles (EV), filed for bankruptcy in Stockholm earlier this month. The failure of the company, which presented itself as a “green” venture and works with major European auto manufacturers such as Volkswagen and Volvo, constitutes a major blow against Europe’s efforts to develop its own EV battery industry to compete with those in China and the United States.

Perhaps even more significant in its long-term implications, however, is the fate of Northvolt’s migrant workers.

More than one in three workers at Northvolt’s factory in the small city of Skellefteå, in northern Sweden, comes from a non-European Union country, according to the Swedish news portal SVT.

While migrant workers are legally obligated to leave Sweden if they do not find new employment within three months, in many cases they fail to comply and remain in the country illegally. Often, they also begin receiving unemployment benefits from the Swedish state. The unemployment rate among migrants in Sweden is double that of the population in general.

Northvolt’s Skellefteå factory currently employs nearly 3,000 workers. Of those, Northvolt says that 700 hold work permits, meaning that they come from outside the European Union. Although statistics from the Swedish Migration Board show that 1,650 work permits were granted to migrants where Northvolt was listed as the employer at all of its locations across Sweden.

Last year, Sweden announced a scheme to make a one-time payment to migrants currently living in the country of 350,000 SEK (approx. €30,000) in order to voluntarily return to their homelands. The program is set to begin in 2026.

Northvolt was founded in 2016 with high hopes, but has endlessly struggled with debt and production delays. The fact that its situation had become untenable became clear in May of last year, when BMW cancelled an order with Northvolt worth €2 billion.