InfinixMine:


Hello Calm Travels,
Could you kindly assist with url links for job adverts?

CalmTravels:
True. Sweden has one of the highest visa refusal in Europe. But sha if you know the loop holes, it is very easy!

1stGenAmerican:


I’m not in Nigeria nor am I looking to go to Sweden, I’m only reading this thread because it seemed interesting. Nobody is obligated to listen to me but sometimes observations by others are useful.Here are my thoughts—

This thread wasn’t meant to really help any of you guys go to Sweden by any other route except Berry picking. Just pay attention to how the op laid out all the benefits of Sweden and captured people’s interest but remained vague about exact directions—he said he could only help those in IT for now, no one else but would try to work with the Swedes to get approval for others. He also said that non-IT people should keep following in hopes of other opportunities arising later. Direct criteria for the field that he said was the only one he could help you guys with (IT) was never posted but now, he has received ‘approval’ in less than 2 days and is giving step by step details for Seasonal workers/Berry Pickers than the original desirables (IT PRofessionals). Now, he’s telling you that instructions for IT professionals will come later.
From the beginning, this guy aimed to recruit Berry pickers but instead of just being honest about that, he played a long kind game with people he knows are desperate. Some Nigerians can be so dishonest and take advantage of the bad situation in Nigeria and people’s desperation.

OyinboSweden:
Swedish visitor here! I was just browsing the forum casually for the first time and saw my country mentioned here, so I read a handfull of pages and thought I'd give some information about culture and laws that might not be commonly known.
Note that I cannot and will not help you to get to Sweden and I do not know of any company hiring from Nigera.

That being said, here is some information:
Work & Employment
Swedish companies are legally obliged to hire other europeans before hiring people from outside of the EU, and I believe that the law still states that a job vacancy must have been publically filed and remained unfilled for 2 months before outside applicants can be hired. However, once you are physically in Sweden you have the same right to a job as anyone else. Because of this, be very careful of people promising to get you a legit job in Sweden.

It is common for people around the world to come here as seasonal workers legally, this however means that you will be traveling here without much safety and it is not completely unheard of for criminals to bring foreigners here to pick berries and then withholding the salary and escape. Women should especially be careful and make sure the employers are 100% legitimate or run the risk of having their passports taken from them and being forced into prostitution.

The jobs that are available here mostly require a university degree. We need plenty of healthcare workers, engineers and developers. As for simple jobs there is fierce competition for those jobs both from native Swedes and european immigrants already. Illegal work won't pay well and you will often be treated as disposable without concern for your work security, most available jobs like this involve construction work, cleaning or working in a kitchen.

We have stern health regulation rules so you may not hawk food on the street without a permit and a working environment that have been inspected and approved by a government health inspector. That being said, once you have that you can make good money selling puff puff and such at open markets. There is also the posibility of hustling by decorating and catering to other west-africans for events, although that will take some networking and since every business income needs a permit and counts as personal income (which can put you in a higher tax bracket) unless you register the company as a legal entity you might need to do it under the table.
Speaking of networking, Sweden still has a generous policy of granting some monetary support to cultural organisations, meaning that as long as you are in a decent-sized city you should be able to find an cultural organisation for Nigerian expats. As these organisations are non-profit they can be of varying quality depending on who is organising it.

Another mean of hustling is buying and selling used goods, especially electronics or cars. Some even turn it into large scale container-exports back to their homeland, which of course has the potential of greater profit but also carries a greater risk of losing it all.

Also this thing about how every swede speaks english and how you can manage without learning swedish is not true. You may be lucky and still get a job, especially in a STEM field, but you will be severely limited in your options. Another thing to consider is that while you might be working on a project where your entire team can speak english you might have to communicate with people with poor english skills outside the team. I myself have had bosses whose level of english was outright embarassing to listen to and who had to ask for interpretations, and if there is one thing many "bosses" dislike it's to appear foolish by not understanding what people are telling them.
Another side-effect is that just like anywhere else around the world you will have foolish people who thinks that your ability to speak their language is a reflection of your intellect and treat you like an inferior because of it. While this is a fault of their own it can make things more unpleasant for you.

Religion and spirituality
Sweden is a secular nation, meaning that everyone have the right to whatever beliefs they may hold as long as it's practice doesn't infringe on other people's rights. Most people are agnostic and will say that they believe that "there is probably some greater force in the universe" without specifically following any particular religion. Some people will be assholes and belittle others for following a religion, but those are in minority. The catholic church is a minority in Sweden given that we had a war to free us from their rule about 500 years ago. We still have a lot of protestant churches in Sweden, they are just not so well visited. In fact the official stances of the swedish church will often shock many Nigerians as women may hold any profession within the church from priest to archbishops and, while not everyone within the church ministry may agree on it, homosexuals are allowed to marry in church. Pentecostal churches are quite common too and typically more "lively" than the protestant churches. There are especially pentecostal churches with nigerian pastors. There are also plenty of mosques and pro-muslim organisations, almost exclusively arabic. I won't get too much into the subject but suffice to say that among the people who joined ISIS a disproportionate amount of those came from Sweden, so if you are a muslim I hope you will stay to the mosques that are not controlled by Saudi Arabia.

One thing that might be a cultural shock is the concept of "metal bands". "Metal" is a musical genre that is rather popular with the swedish working class and some may carry clothes with satanic imagery. This does however not mean that these people are either "satanic" or evil, rather the sub-culture is typically a way to express contemt of religious oppression and often also "big business" and governments. Those that do classify themselves as "satanists" are actually atheistic and follow a philosophy called "LaVeyan satanism" which is more akin to Greek Stoicism, which can be compressed to "do no harm, take no bullshit". Cults and "societies" are virtually unheard of in Sweden.
You may also meet women who identify themselves as "wiccan" or "witches", the meaning of this is also widely different of the Nigerian associations. A "witch" in Sweden typically identifies herself as an independant woman who does not need any man to tell her what she ought or ought not be allowed to do. Most self-proclaimed witches don't really get into the spiritual side of matters and among those who do most adhere to the school of "white magic" which centers around rituals or protection against evil spirits, much like a christian might pray to "cover me with the blood of jesus". Again, harmless people.

Culture
Can't talk culture without mentioning tribalism/racism can we? Of course there is racism in Sweden, anywhere you move there will be tribalism and racism, but from what I understand we are typically less racist than most countries. In my own life experience we have become a whole lot less racist as a people and as a society. For an example discrimination laws will protect you if you are faced with explicit racism, anyone who verbally abuses you at your workplace runs a real risk of getting fired and students may get expelled. However, this also means that racism here is hidden and you may face unequal treatment and very few who are actually racist will ever admit to doing it due to being racist. My recommendation here is to know your rights and stand your ground, go complain to your boss or your worker's union if you find yourself treated unfairly. I can guarantee that if you work within healthcare as especially elderly-care you will meet racist patients and while I hope my fellow countrymen will stand up for you, it also brings me to another subject: Swedish people hate open conflict.

Because we hate open conflict you may not get the kind of support that you could expect even for those that would actually be on your side. There is a sort of mentality to "mind your own business" and not take sides, especially when at work or at a public gathering. As a Swede I will admit that this is cowardly, but it's such a strong cultural trait among many Swedes that it is still to be expected. We are often seldomly spontaniously social but rather have tight close social circles. Attempting to spontaniously talk to a Swedish person on the bus or subway will often be unsuccessful. But this is also typically a city-folk thing. If you go to the northern parts of Sweden you will find that people are typically more open and social, especially the older generations.

For obvious reasons this can make dating a swedish person difficult. To openly complement a swedish woman anywhere but at a party of some sort might be viewed with suspicion, especially since a lot of people will suspect that your expressed interest is because you want to secure a visa. Likewise a swedish man might be so subtle in his initial attempts to express interest that you as a woman might not even register it as flirting.
Swedish people are typically also bad at communicating so once you are in a relationship you might have to bear the burden of being the one to make sure emotions are voiced. As someone here mentioned "white women can go from 0 - 100 instantly" and that's because both men and women will often suppress our emotions until we explode rather than to let off some steam and then make up. It's very unhealthy in fact, but also one of those cultural phenonemons that just exists for some reason. In contrast to this a lot of swedes overcompensates for this by making asses of themselves by getting too drunk when drinking alcohol as it's an "accepted" way to blow off steam in our culture.
Albeit I believe that we are getting a bit more relaxed, especially the younger generations.

It is also common that when you date someone for the first time both parts pay for whatever they order themselves. This is part because our society is rather equal (both men and women are working and women are not restricted from any positions within society) and also out of caution in a way that if you have not accepted a man's money then he can not expect anything in return.

Getting a citizenship through marriage with a swedish citizen is not easy, it's a process that can take years and since there's so many arranged marriages like that the government will distrust you and interogate the both of you intimately. The migration office in sweden is rather overworked and you should expect long waiting times, several months or years depending on the case, so I recommend that you renew visas in good time and then try to follow up and be on them to make sure they remember working on your case.

There is still a lot of cultural ignorance due to what media feeds us and especially for the older generations. We have for a long time been fed the idea that africa is a disease-ridden cesspool of war and famine. When I grew up children who didn't want to eat their vegetables were often told "think about the starving children in africa!" as a way to shame us for wasting food, and there have been lots of commercials about how we have to donate money to save african kids for medical conditions and starvation. While this is done with good intent it also creates the mental image of us as the "white savior" and africans as the needy victim. If you showed swedish people an image of a commercial district in Lagos almost all of them would probably say it's an image of an american city.
Most swedish people could also not distinguish between different african nationalities, and since we have a proportionally large immigration from Somalia (often asylum seekers) some people will assume that you are an uneducated parasite here to live on social welfare and demand shariah law (which is how a lot of people see somalians). We have also had an explosion of organised crime from muslim countries (mostly arabs and somalians) since the early 2000's which makes a lot of swedes mistrustful of african and middle eastern immigrants.

If you plan to raise your family in Sweden there are some important things to know. First of all, healthcare is pretty much free for everyone. This doesn't mean that you will neccisarily get the best treatment though, whether you are a swedish national or not, since it also means that our healthcare is under pressure and waiting times can be long depending on which clinic you go to and that doctors will be reluctant to give you anything but paracetamol unless there are strong indications that you are suffering from anything severe. With that being said, children are prioritized and you will find that great effort will be taken to make sure your children are well, which should be considered invaluable to any parent.

If you intend to raise children in sweden there are some things to be mindful of. One of them is that it is strictly illegal to beat your child in Sweden no matter the reason, and children are taught that at a very early age. The idea is that this is to protect them from abuse and that we believe in dialogue with our children (which is definitely not always easy). Beating your child is likely to lead to the social services (a government agency responsible for the wellbeing of vulnerable citizens, including children) taking your children away for some days to care for them and interview them. If the interview suggests that the child has been a victim of systematic abuse (such as daily beatings, excessive force) then the children may be placed into a foster home and you will have to go through a government program to teach you to control your aggressions and once they deem that you have learned to use your words instead of your fists you will have your child back. If the government decide that it was a one-time misdemeanor then you will have your child back with a warning not to repeat it.
There is a muslim conspiracy being spread that the swedish government is stealing muslim children, this is completely untrue and those people simply have to stop being violent to their children, the cost in resources for the government to care for a child in this manner is quite large.
Because it is known that it may be difficult to raise children in this manner there are government funded programs where you can, for free, go to learn ways to discipline and care for your children without violence or verbal abuse.

It is also a good idea to learn enough swedish to be able to speak to government representatives with poor english skills. Or, god forbid, if your child ever have a medical emergency or complication and you need help.

Schools in sweden are notoriously undisciplined due to the laws that protects children from abuse. Because the laws are so strict many teachers are unwilling to even touch a student, meaning that if a class have an especially disturbing child they are more or less unable to do anything if the child doesn't feel like behaving or leaving the classroom out of their own free will. It is unfortunately very typical that bullies can get away with a lot in sweden. Racism between students is frowned upon and in severe cases it can get a student dismissed, but most likely not. From my personal experience as having black/african children most kids gets along in school, my kids have friends from all kind of backgrounds, but once you have a problem it can be tough for your child and you should not count on any real support from the school.

Children are also excempt from being charged with crimes until the age of 18. Due to this it has become common for criminal gangs to use little children for anything from smuggling drugs to outright assassinations. Because of this, especially depending on which neighborhood you live in, people will most likely suspect your children of being gang members if they dress in dark hoodies or designer clothes. Especially since these gangs are mostly middle eastern or somalian. Depending on where you live, your child might also be approached by gang members and asked to run seemingly innocent errands for them in exchange for money, so it's very important to make sure your children knows to be careful around strangers and politely say no and walk away without getting them into trouble.

Most neighborhoods are completely safe though and this mostly affects the larger cities, but it is worth noting that you might want to research a bit or ask around about the neighborhood you intend to move in to if it seems "affordable". This should only really be a concern if you move here with your family, as a bachelor I've lived in some "problematic" neighborhoods and never been a victim of crime myself. If you want to be on the safe side just don't try to discipline any unruly teenagers you see.

While swedish summer is generally rather pleasant and just warm enough that it doesn't make it unbearable it is also short and we typically have 3 - 4 months of warmth where you can go outside without a jacket or pullover. Sweden also has a "winter season" for about half a year, during this time it is cold, dark and quiet. Because of this a person without friends or family around them can easily become depressed, and having dark skin you are especially at risk because your skin blocks the natural vitamin D supply that we absorb from the sun, so it's strongly recommended that you buy vitamin D supplements and eat plenty of food with natural vitamin D sources until your mind and body have had time to adjust. In the winter expect the sun to go down before the work day ends and in the summer you have to keep track of time since it can be bright outside close to midnight. The "eternal day" phenonema you might have heard of only happens in the far north though.

There are plenty of interest groups and associations in sweden so whatever hobby or sport you are interested in you are sure to find open groups to try new hobbies, most of them can be found online either with their own sites or through facebook or reddit. Sportbars are also rather common.

No "sirs" and "mams". We normally don't deal with formal titles in Sweden because it's seen as way to suppress people based on class or race. I can't speak for everyone but personally I feel uncomfortable whenever someone calls me sir and if someone would insist on being titulated sir I'd think that he's a self-entitled asshole.

This turned out rather long but if anyone is interested in more information from a native I'll do my best to answer your questions.

OyinboSweden:


Swedish companies are legally obliged to hire other europeans before hiring people from outside of the EU, and I believe that the law still states that a job vacancy must have been publically filed and remained unfilled for 2 months before outside applicants can be hired. However, once you are physically in Sweden you have the same right to a job as anyone else. Because of this, be very careful of people promising to get you a legit job in Sweden.

The jobs that are available here mostly require a university degree. We need plenty of healthcare workers, engineers and developers. As for simple jobs there is fierce competition for those jobs both from native Swedes and european immigrants already. Illegal work won't pay well and you will often be treated as disposable without concern for your work security, most available jobs like this involve construction work, cleaning or working in a kitchen.

Speaking of networking, Sweden still has a generous policy of granting some monetary support to cultural organisations, meaning that as long as you are in a decent-sized city you should be able to find an cultural organisation for Nigerian expats. As these organisations are non-profit they can be of varying quality depending on who is organising it.

Another mean of hustling is buying and selling used goods, especially electronics or cars. Some even turn it into large scale container-exports back to their homeland, which of course has the potential of greater profit but also carries a greater risk of losing it all.