Sweden Releases Full List of Occupations Exempt From Its New Salary Requirement

• Sweden's Migration Agency has published a list of occupations that are exempt from the country's new salary requirement for work permits
• The exemptions cover a wide range of roles, from IT technicians and engineers to healthcare workers, welders, and agricultural labourers
• Workers must verify their occupation remains on the list when applying for a permit extension

Sweden's Migration Agency has published an official list of occupations that are excluded from the country's salary requirement for work permits, offering a clearer picture of which workers are unaffected by the rule.

The salary requirement for a work permit is a threshold that most foreign workers must meet to be granted or renew a permit in Sweden. However, a defined set of occupations, drawn from the country's Aliens Ordinance, fall outside this requirement entirely.

Sweden: Which occupations made exempt list

According to the federal government, the following occupational groups are exempt from the salary requirement:

1. Engineers and technicians in chemistry and chemical engineering
2. Laboratory engineers
3. IT operations technicians
4. IT support technicians
5. Systems administrators
6. Network and systems technicians, etc
7. Assistant nurses in home care, home healthcare and elderly care homes
8. Assistant nurses in habilitation services
9. Assistant nurses in healthcare and specialist wards
10. Assistant nurses in outpatient reception services
11. Childcare assistants
12. Ambulance care assistants
13. Care assistants
14. Breeders and caretakers of farm animals
15. Other animal breeders and animal caretakers
16. Crop growers and animal breeders, mixed farming
17. Forestry workers
18. Welders and gas cutters
19. Structural steel erectors and heavy sheet metal workers
20. Maintenance mechanics and machine repairers
21. Electrical distribution technicians
22. Butchers and meat cutters, etc.
23. Machine operators in meat and fish processing industries
24. Other machine operators in the food industry, etc.
25. Other operations technicians and process monitoring operators
26. Drivers of agricultural and forestry machinery
27. Berry pickers and planters, etc. Note: Work permits for the occupation of forest berry picker cannot be granted under Chapter 6, Section 2 of the Aliens Act. The exemption therefore applies only to other occupational roles within that category if invoked.

What workers and employers need to know

The agency emphasised that the exemption is not permanent by default. It applies only for the duration of the current permit. When a worker applies for an extension, they must confirm that their occupation is still on the list at that point in time. If a role has since been removed, the standard salary requirement will apply to the renewal application.

The definitive list used by decision-makers at the Migration Agency is the one contained in the Aliens Ordinance, specifically Chapter 5, Section 6 of utlänningsförordningen (2006:97), which is published on the Swedish parliament's website.

In a similar report, Legit.ng published that Ireland raised the minimum salary thresholds for foreign workers from 2026.

Sweden work permit: Salary requirement for foreigners

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Sweden announced its minimum monthly salary requirement for foreign workers seeking a work permit, which is set at 90 per cent of the country’s median wage.

For Nigerians considering a move to Sweden, a job offer below SEK 34,470 a month may not qualify for a work permit, regardless of their experience or an employer’s willingness to sponsor them.