For the most part of the past two decades, the stream of people migrating between Sweden and Germany has held a fairly steady pace with an upwards trend in both directions. But today, more and more foreigners based in Sweden appear to be moving to its southern neighbour.
In 2020, a total of 802 foreign-born people – that includes only people registered as born neither in Sweden nor in Germany – left the former country for the latter, according to data The Local has retrieved from national number-crunchers Statistics Sweden’s online public database.
By 2023, that figure had increased to 2,016.
Figures for the whole of 2024 aren’t yet available, but if the trend continues, they could be heading towards another record. Between January and June 2024, according to Statistics Sweden, 1,118 foreign-born people moved from Sweden to Germany. Only 594 moved in the opposite direction.
There are a few things that could affect the accuracy of the numbers:
First, the figure includes only people who were registered in the Swedish population database as having left the country, so there could potentially be hidden numbers if someone moved without informing the authorities.
Secondly, the Swedish Tax Agency late in 2023 started a huge project to tidy up the population register. This means that people registered as having left in 2024, actually left several years prior, which could inflate the figures for 2024 and to a smaller extent 2023.
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But even so, Germany stands out among most other European countries, with the UK being the only country to which Sweden saw a higher negative net migration in 2023.
Thirdly, another thing the available statistics don’t tell us is who the foreigners leaving Sweden for Germany are, or why they left. They could be anyone from EU citizens to work permit holders to rejected asylum seekers now instead trying their luck in Germany.
But relocation expert Lena Rekdal from Nimmersion, based in Sweden, isn’t surprised to see the figures. Germany is, in her and The Local’s experience, often anecdotally mentioned as an option for foreign professionals who feel Sweden isn’t right for them.
“It’s certainly the case that there are reasons why someone would choose to move to Germany. My guess is that there are better opportunities there than in Sweden, higher salaries. Rational decisions are probably behind it,” she tells The Local.
“The Swedish currency has dropped against the Euro, so a Euro salary offer will be more attractive. Many want to work in Europe to further their careers and want to give back to relatives at home who have supported them through their education. A strong currency makes showing gratitude easier,” adds Rekdal.
Ekaterina Bessonova is one of them. She came to Sweden to study at university, and started applying for work during her studies to secure a work permit before graduating.
“I did not get a lot of responses for some reason. I have three years of experience, I have top-rated schools on my CV, but in Sweden I was mostly rejected,” she says.
“We heard that Sweden wanted to [attract talent]. But we had a community of expats in our master’s programme and for us it was a really disappointing and irritating topic, because everywhere we were told that ‘we need high-skilled professionals, that’s why we pay for your education, blah, blah’. And then they reject you,” she adds.
She applied for around 20 jobs in Sweden without getting called to an interview, with managers telling her that they couldn’t hire her because she didn’t speak Swedish.
Then she started applying in Germany.
“I applied for only one job and I got it,” she smiles, adding that although a lot of jobs in Germany also require you to speak German, “Berlin is an extremely international city”.
Ekaterina Bessonova also says that she found the process of acquiring a residence permit or citizenship much easier in Germany, especially for highly-qualified international talent. A clear path to European citizenship is a major draw for her – which is not unusual, says Rekdal.
Sweden is currently in the process of tightening up its citizenship rules, including planning to raise the number of years someone needs to have been resident in Sweden before being eligible for citizenship from five in the standard cases to eight years.
In 2024, Germany went in the opposite direction and reduced its minimum residence time before eligibility from eight years to five. Anyone applying now also, as has been the case in Sweden for a long time, has the option to keep their original citizenship when naturalising as German – provided the other country also allows it.
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Although Sweden’s stated aim is to attract international talent and the government is introducing some measures to that effect – including implementing the EU Blue Card directive and ramping up the drive to retain researchers – it has also tightened its migration rules in other ways, for example by more than doubling the salary threshold for qualifying for a work permit.
In 2024, Sweden issued 16 percent fewer work permits for highly qualified workers than the previous year and 23 percent fewer work permits in total, according to figures from the Swedish Migration Agency.
Germany, by contrast, recently introduced a points-based “opportunity card”, which is expected to attract another 30,000 foreign workers a year, as well as the possibility for newly arrived international talent to bring their parents over on a family permit. According to a government press release from November, Germany was on course to issue 200,000 skilled worker visas in 2024, up 10 percent from the year before.
Sweden only allows the parents of foreigners to join their adult children on a family permit in exceptional circumstances – something many readers of The Local have criticised on several occasions.
It is unclear if this trend will continue, however, especially considering the current frontrunners of Germany's upcoming election – the Christian Democrats – are threatening to reverse the citizenship reform.
READ ALSO: How many skilled workers will immigrate to Germany with the Opportunity Card
Immigration expert Rekdal says that although foreign workers often experience many positives about life in Sweden – such as its flat hierarchies, generous parental leave and positive attitude to the benefits of a work-life balance – the country needs to work harder to retain talent.
“Germany has many more and more flexible permits. That said, the processes aren’t lightning fast there either, at least our industry colleagues complain,” she says.
“Germany welcomes labour migration and really needs people to be able to cope with its demography. The government actively works to get people to move there, they don’t separate out highly-qualified people and shut other people out, like Sweden.”
Article by Emma Löfgren with additional research by Aaron Burnett and Rachel Loxton.
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