It was through the healthcare giant Attendo that roughly 200 people came to Sweden to work as nurses after first studying Swedish in the Philippines.
But at the beginning of May, SVT Nyheter was able to report how about 100 of them risked deportation because the Swedish Migration Agency decides not to extend their work permits.
The Swedish Migration Agency’s justification was that Attendo had broken the rules when they advertised the project.
According to EU law, positions must be advertised so that EU citizens have the opportunity to apply for them before recruitment is made outside the Union.
Something that Attendo did not do in its advertisement, according to the Swedish Migration Agency, which believes that the services were in practice only searchable for people in the Philippines, where the project began with teaching in Swedish.
Have not tried to deceive the authority
Now one of the people who risked deportation has been vindicated in court.
The Migration Court in Malmö has made a decision in a single case where they determined that it was wrong for the Migration Agency not to extend a nurse’s work permit.
According to the Swedish Migration Agency, Attendo had brought the authority behind the scenes through its advertising. But the court ruled that this was not the case, the advertising had been carried out in the right way.
“The Swedish Migration Agency had every opportunity to check the circumstances surrounding the employment when the first work permit was granted in 2018. The Swedish Migration Agency was therefore unable to prove that the nurse and Attendo deliberately misled the authority when the permit was granted,” writes the court.
– It is pleasing news and a small early Christmas present for our employees who have been in a trying and difficult situation for some time now.
Around 100 people have been denied continued work permits by the Swedish Migration Agency.
– The judgment can be a guide for other individuals, there are many nurses who have received the same justification from the authority, says Linda Bengtsson.