The Swedish government is currently submitting a proposal for relief in the law on the so-called upper secondary education, which would give mainly unaccompanied Afghan migrants the opportunity for a permanent residence permit even though they have no grounds for obtaining asylum.
Previously, unaccompanied minors would have to get a job within six months after completing upper secondary education to obtain a residence permit. Due to the difficult situation in the labor market, resulting from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the government wants to extend that period to one year, according to a report from Nyheter Idag.
The government also proposes that study grants for part-time studies should include the requirement for obtaining a residence permit and that subsidized employment in the form of the so-called vocational training should apply as a basis for a residence permit as well.
The bill should enter into force on July 10, 2021, and be valid until the end of June 2023. The proposal has yet to be submitted to Sweden’s Law Council.
It is unclear whether the government’s proposal will pass in the parliament, as the Center Party (Centerpartiet), has previously said no to the relief plan.
In an article published on Nov. 30, 2020, Annie Lööf, the Center Party’s leader, and Jonny Cato, the party’s migration policy spokesperson, stated that the party would vote against the proposal.
“The Center Party’s goal is a long-term migration policy that can unite humanity through an order. It is genuinely better for people on the run if the laws are long-term and predictable,” wrote Lööf and Cato.
The Christian Democrats, Liberals, and Moderates have also said that they will vote against the proposal for relief in the upper secondary school law.
“We cannot adjust immigration legislation to the pandemic or the economy,” said Maria Malmer Stenergard, migration policy spokesperson for the Moderates.
The Sweden Democrats are also against the proposal. It is like “making an irresponsible high school team even more irresponsible,” wrote the party leader Jimmie Åkesson in a post on Twitter.
