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Things I Found Out About Sweden! - Travel (18) - Nairaland

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Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by CalmTravels: 7:25pm On Dec 10, 2023
How do you get a job offer in Nigeria? I am done talking with you. Have a good one!

Love800:
How can i get the job offer?
Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by Love800(m): 7:39pm On Dec 10, 2023
I dont know which avenue or process i will use for applying.

Thankz for having my time.
CalmTravels:
How do you get a job offer in Nigeria? I am done talking with you. Have a good one!

Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by hammed71(m): 6:04am On Dec 11, 2023
CalmTravels:
Let me drop this INFORMATION FREE OF CHARGE. Forgive me if i am spoiling some people show.... grin grin grin but its best i say it here.
Anyone who tells you to begin a application without a job offer have you in the place they need you.

For a work visa, be it a nurse, teacher, factory workers, berry pickers, doctors, engineers etc, YOU NEED A JOB OFFER. I do not know for UK, Canada etc, but for Sweden, IT'S A MOST. The application is started by the employer who offered the job. Once the employer plays their part, yours is just formality. In other words, you simply do nothing but make your self available for passport checking, biometrics at an embassy closest to you.

If you care to visit the country websites, you will quickly realize this and work with a company that is prepared to follow the right and proper way of doing things. That way, you will not have to look behind your back.
calm travels what do you think about the proposed Eu talent pool visa

1 Like

Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by CalmTravels: 5:58pm On Dec 11, 2023
Not bad.... Anything European Union is involve usually stand the test of time due to their high regards for human rights and other perks citizens enjoy.

hammed71:
calm travels what do you think about the proposed Eu talent pool visa
Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by OyinboSweden: 12:54pm On Dec 12, 2023
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.

12 Likes

Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by Moyinoluwa35(f): 4:02pm On Dec 12, 2023
Nice quote sir.. my question is university in sweden offering full time schoolarsip secondly what does it take to join the military in sweden as a foreigner
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.


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.
Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by OyinboSweden: 6:10pm On Dec 12, 2023
Moyinoluwa35:
Nice quote sir.. my question is university in sweden offering full time schoolarsip secondly what does it take to join the military in sweden as a foreigner
I've only heard of scholarships for master-level students who are exceptional in their field and 1 year exchange programs between schools in different countries that already have an exchange program. You can't join the military unless you are a swedish citizen.
Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by Swissheart(f): 8:16pm On Dec 21, 2023
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.
this is quite a long write/read. It is detailed and very true. One can’t do “anything “ here until you can speak and understand the language. It is difficult 🥹.

1 Like

Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by CalmTravels: 8:31am On Jan 02
Congratulations 🥳🥳🥳🥳 to everyone that started 2024....

The year has begun!
Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by sylve11: 1:16pm On Jan 02
CalmTravels:
Congratulations 🥳🥳🥳🥳 to everyone that started 2024....

The year has begun!

Good afternoon and happy new year to you.

None of your numbers below is on whatsapp.

Anyway, you have a mail. cool
Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by CalmTravels: 2:57pm On Jan 02
This one +46762944097 is on WhatsApp.
Alternatively, you can shoot us a mail. Someone will attend to your needs.

sylve11:


Good afternoon and happy new year to you.

None of your numbers below is on whatsapp.

Anyway, you have a mail. cool
Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by sylve11: 3:43pm On Jan 03
CalmTravels:
This one +46762944097 is on WhatsApp.
Alternatively, you can shoot us a mail. Someone will attend to your needs.


Okay.

You've got a mail. cool

1 Like

Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by CalmTravels: 7:02am On Jan 04
Yes, received.

sylve11:


Okay.

You a mail. cool
Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by CalmTravels: 7:16am On Jan 05
The year has begun...

For those seeking migration from Africa to Western, Central or Northern Europe, planning is everything. If for instance you want to travel by July, the best time to Begin should be November Last year, the second best time is now!

These are the best route to avoid stories that touch, or having to start seeking asylum:

1. The school route, the easiest but most expensive. But after schooling you still face the task of having to get employment that would file papers for you. If you have money and don't need stress, take that route.

2. Work route. The best, but the hardest because lots of people from Africa and Middle east create bad memories. You must have an employment offer. Your employer must be the one to start the process. However, getting an offer of employment is where the trouble lies. We can try oour best to help as much as possible get menial seasonal jobs. However, I must warn you, it's illegal to buy jobs.

The reason for tightening immigration laws in Europe can be tied up to what two subgroup of people do:
1. People from Middle east, terrorism and gangsterism. Using underage to run hits on fellow gang members. Sometimes innocent bystander are hit too.

2. Africans. These ones try to cheat the system by hording or not remitting money for tax, because they want to send back home to build mansions, or too lazy to continue the hustle, they become disillusioned and stay depending on the goodness of excellent Europe social welfare.

Let share some experiences. I witnessed an assassination attempt on a prison supritendent, a young Swede born by migrant parents from Somalia. A close friend. He was once a gang member, but schooled and got a job with govt as a prison boss. So young to hold such position. It was a blessing as well as a curse. When two rival gang are fighting, they usually target him. The govt is not aware he was a gangster when he was 13. Imagine having to make your former gang members immates keep to rules of prison!
We hide him and called the police. He escaped but because the police was now involved, few days later they caught him and gave him broken bones and limps. Last I heard of him was he moved up North.

This is why Sweden the most immigration friendly country on earth is now tightening loopholes for mostly undocumented immigrants or thereabouts.

When you come here, make sure you work and pay taxes. Don't get involved with freebies. People work their ass off making the freebies available. You too should contribute to the social welfare system!

Tack!

3 Likes

Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by hammed71(m): 7:37am On Jan 06
CalmTravels:
The year has begun...

For those seeking migration from Africa to Western, Central or Northern Europe, planning is everything. If for instance you want to travel by July, the best time to Begin should be November Last year, the second best time is now!

These are the best route to avoid stories that touch, or having to start seeking asylum:

1. The school route, the easiest but most expensive. But after schooling you still face the task of having to get employment that would file papers for you. If you have money and don't need stress, take that route.

2. Work route. The best, but the hardest because lots of people from Africa and Middle east create bad memories. You must have an employment offer. Your employer must be the one to start the process. However, getting an offer of employment is where the trouble lies. We can try oour best to help as much as possible get menial seasonal jobs. However, I must warn you, it's illegal to buy jobs.

The reason for tightening immigration laws in Europe can be tied up to what two subgroup of people do:
1. People from Middle east, terrorism and gangsterism. Using underage to run hits on fellow gang members. Sometimes innocent bystander are hit too.

2. Africans. These ones try to cheat the system by hording or not remitting money for tax, because they want to send back home to build mansions, or too lazy to continue the hustle, they become disillusioned and stay depending on the goodness of excellent Europe social welfare.

Let share some experiences. I witnessed an assassination attempt on a prison supritendent, a young Swede born by migrant parents from Somalia. A close friend. He was once a gang member, but schooled and got a job with govt as a prison boss. So young to hold such position. It was a blessing as well as a curse. When two rival gang are fighting, they usually target him. The govt is not aware he was a gangster when he was 13. Imagine having to make your former gang members immates keep to rules of prison!
We hide him and called the police. He escaped but because the police was now involved, few days later they caught him and gave him broken bones and limps. Last I heard of him was he moved up North.

This is why Sweden the most immigration friendly country on earth is now tightening loopholes for mostly undocumented immigrants or thereabouts.

When you come here, make sure you work and pay taxes. Don't get involved with freebies. People work their ass off making the freebies available. You too should contribute to the social welfare system!

Tack!
true France which was once an immigration friendly country is now tightening it. Would you advise someone go to Portugal?

1 Like

Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by CalmTravels: 3:38am On Jan 07
So long its Schengen member country, its far better than middle east, most Asia or African countries in terms of goodies that makes life worth living.


hammed71:
true France which was once an immigration friendly country is now tightening it. Would you advise someone go to Portugal?
Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by cocolacec(m): 1:41pm On Jan 07
CalmTravels:
Asylum is the wrongest way to live in Europe. The moment you start living on freebies, then you will become lazy and will not amount to any useful thing in the future. Those with asylum documentation never get job opportunities and even grants that occasionally fret to individuals.
European social system is built on a welfare-contributory structure aka tax. The moment you live there and do not pay tax, forget it. Just a matter of time before the system swallows you up!

Somalis, Kenyans, Ethiopians, Iraqis, etc are victims of asylum mistake.


The reason why most of these asylum seekers fail to make a headway is because the asylum process is rigged in favour of less educated individuals.

As an asylum seeker, if you are highly educated,Migrationsverket will reject your case compared to less educated fellow
when it comes to humanitarian grounds/weak cases.

A succesful asylum application is a way to make a fast headway in Europe.From the day you set foot in Migrationsverket,you get housing and little allowance till the application is granted.

After grant of permit,you get the same treatment like the citizens such as housing,education,allowances,Papa/Mama ledig,internship,citizenship after 4 years and 3 years for stateless persons.Only lazy persons or less educated fellows cant grab such opportunity.

There are some iraqi doctors,IT experts who got into the job market very early than other categories of visas.

When i was in Sweden,I met some asylum seekers with children who continued to live in migrationsverket housing for 10-20 years awaiting deportation.Some were later granted Residence and some deported like criminals.
Syrians,Eritreans,Ukrainians are the greatest beneficiary of the Asylum system in Sweden.

I learnt from the Arabs that Asylum is not a complicated process,if you seek a legal advice first before going to Migrationsverket to table your case.

1 Like

Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by CalmTravels: 12:48pm On Jan 08
Asylum in Swedwn and Europe at large, without prior extenuating circumstances is not somwthing i will adice anyone even though the freebies is tempting. But what do i know?


cocolacec:


The reason why most of these asylum seekers fail to make a headway is because the asylum process is rigged in favour of less educated individuals.

As an asylum seeker, if you are highly educated,Migrationsverket will reject your case compared to less educated fellow
when it comes to humanitarian grounds/weak cases.

A succesful asylum application is a way to make a fast headway in Europe.From the day you set foot in Migrationsverket,you get housing and little allowance till the application is granted.

After grant of permit,you get the same treatment like the citizens like housing,education,allowances,Papa/Mama kedig,internship,citizenship after 4 years and 3 years for stateless persons.Only lazy persons or less educated fellows cant grab such opportunity.

There are some iraqi doctors,IT experts who got into the job market very early than other categories of visas.
When i was in Sweden,I met some asylum seekers with children who continued to live in migrationsverket housing for 10-20 years awaiting deportation.Some were later granted Residence and some deported like criminals.
Syrians,Eritreans,Ukrainians are the greatest beneficiary of the Asylum system in Sweden.

I learnt from the Arabs that Asylum is not a complicated process,if you seek a legal advice first before going to Migrationsverket to table your case.
Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by vastolord4(m): 2:53pm On Jan 12
Calm Travels, I emailed you and I got an invoice for jsa and sga respectively, which is ok by me but my issue is will my options be only limited to sweden? And you haven't replied the latest email
Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by CalmTravels: 4:43pm On Jan 13
Hello. Sorry for the delay in replying your mail. We receive a minimum of 100 mails per day. Our Travel Consultancy is not limited to Sweden only, but rather to other Schengen areas as well. I will communicate a reminder for your mail to be attended to. Do you have a Case Number yet?!

vastolord4:
Calm Travels, I emailed you and I got an invoice for jsa and sga respectively, which is ok by me but my issue is will my options be only limited to sweden? And you haven't replied the latest email
Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by vastolord4(m): 4:51pm On Jan 13
CalmTravels:
Hello. Sorry for the delay in replying your mail. We receive a minimum of 100 mails per day. Our Travel Consultancy is not limited to Sweden only, but rather to other Schengen areas as well. I will communicate a reminder for your mail to be attended to. Do you have a Case Number yet?!


No.. I just want to confirm what information I'll get from your company when I subscribe!

1 Like

Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by CalmTravels: 5:07pm On Jan 13
Ok. I think you should get a response within the next 24 hrs.

vastolord4:

No.. I just want to confirm what information I'll get from your company when I subscribe!
Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by CalmTravels: 9:07am On Jan 14
POLICY UPDATE.

Calm Travels has a refund policy where by you get refunds for any of the services we failed to deliver within the agreed timeline or after the embassy or consulate has made a positive or negative decision on any case, or after an appeal to migration court. This is aside, the usual statutory payments we make. We do not buy nor sell visas. Granting of visas is the sole perogative of the Embassy. What we do is explore hidden processes & strategies to convience the embassy to grant the application, legally. We do not bribe, coerce or armtwist embassy officials to favor or grant the application of our clients, even though that one follow. This is the reason why we are better, more transaprent and progressive than other Travel Agencies. Also, we do not accept 100% down payment. The most we accept is 60% down deposit and an unwritten guarantee to make the balance available prior to travelling. Consultancy fees are NON REFUNDABLE.

We understand that getting a migration visa is not same as walking into the Mall and buying apples. It involves processes,and we, as a responsible Travel Company has pledged to abide on this. The paper work we submit on behalf of cliets is top notch, genuiene and meets Embassy standards, and we expect client to tender, genuiene documents to us too to pursue their application.

Thanks.
Calm TravelsMigration Advisory Team.

1 Like

Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by CalmTravels: 12:16pm On Jan 15
Thousands of illegal migrants earmarked for Rwanda flights have gone awol....... grin grin grin grin grin grin grin grin ;DThey don japa from Japa!

Official documents show that only 700 of original 5,000 people earmarked for deportation are in ‘regular contact’ with Home Office.

The vast majority of illegal migrants originally identified for removal on asylum flights to Rwanda have gone awol, it has emerged.

Official documents show that only 700 of the original 5,000 people earmarked for deportation are still in “regular contact” with the Home Office.

Home Office officials suggest that only 100 to 150 of these could be detained for the first flights, depending on absconding rates. They admitted the department has “limited capability” to locate migrants once they have left Home Office accommodation.

The risk of migrants absconding, and fresh challenges by their lawyers, have been identified by officials as the biggest threats to getting them onto planes to Rwanda. It could mean officials are left with few or no people for the first flight, according to the documents.

Rishi Sunak has set a target to get the first flights off to Rwanda by the spring if he can get his Bill paving the way for deportations through Parliament.

The Bill blocks systemic legal challenges to the Rwanda policy, disapplies parts of the Human Rights Act and gives ministers powers to ignore injunctions by European judges.

However, he is facing a revolt this week by more than 50 Tory MPs who believe the legislation does not go far enough and have backed amendments to toughen it.


The documents suggest officials are operating a twin-track approach, which would aim to deport both migrants from the 5,000-strong group originally identified before last year’s Illegal Migration Act got Royal assent and those detained on arrival in the UK once the Act has been operationalised.

Some insiders believe officials should prioritise the new arrivals because it would have the biggest deterrent effect if migrants knew they were going to be detained for deportation to Rwanda as soon as they landed in the UK .

However, the documents set out a detailed risk register that the Government will face in its attempts to get the first flight off. Flights have been grounded since June 2022, when the European Court of Human Rights issued an 11th hour Rule 39 injunction to block the first.

The register says the first risk is that Home Office officials do not locate or detain enough migrants and face legal challenges, meaning they have “few/none” for a flight to Rwanda.

The second identifies the tricky logistics of transferring migrants from immigration removal centres to the airfield, which could be disrupted by protests, bad weather conditions or commercial contractors responsible for the flight or escorting the asylum seekers refusing to do the job.

It has been reported that the Home Office is seeking to use Ministry of Defence planes as a contingency, although the military is said to be resisting the move.

The third risk is of Rwanda not being ready for arrivals, including a lack of legal representation and support for deported migrants or an inadequate service.

The document suggests this could result in migrants being returned to the UK although the new treaty with Rwanda, signed last month, aims to plug those gaps by bolstering the Rwandan legal system with additional expert judges and training.

“High risk” threats to flights are listed as an increased numbers of migrants absconding before they are placed in detention for deportation, meaning the first flight could be delayed if there are insufficient numbers.

The second is Rule 39 injunctions imposed by the European Court of Human Rights, which could see migrants bailed and insufficient numbers left in detention for flights.

Yvette Cooper, shadow Home Secretary, said: “This is more evidence of Tory chaos on asylum and immigration. Their extortionate and failing Rwanda plan is already costing the taxpayer up to £400 million without a single person being sent, and now we learn that thousands who were due to go have ‘gone missing’.

‘‘This is presumably on top of the 17,000 people the Home Office’s Permanent Secretary acknowledged had disappeared from backlog. It’s time the Prime Minister and Home Secretary got a grip on the mess they have created,’’ Ms Cooper said.

“Instead of wasting even more time and money on the Rwanda scheme that no one believes will work, the Conservatives should adopt Labour’s plan of going after the criminal smuggling gangs making millions from small-boat crossings and speeding up removals by recruiting 1,000 additional staff to form a new fast-track returns unit,” she said.
Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by victory148(m): 5:59pm On Jan 16
What do you think of a job that has 50000SEK Gross salary per month for a family with one child say in Vasteras, upsala or stockholm? Is it worth it?
CC:@CalmTravels
Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by theamazonguru(m): 2:13pm On Jan 17
lexy2014:


$3000 a month will make u live like a king anywhere in d world not just in Sweden. That's about 2.3m in Nigeria. That can make a huge difference in anyone's life. The question is how accessible are such income opportunities?

What I can say is, if a land opens itself to you, it will be like you do ritual. That's the truth.
One of my guys who is there does cleaning job.
He told me that December's salary was $3500 (35000 SEK) .This was paid in January.
This was because the agency he works with got more jobs that period, so he got my ore shifts in turn.

Note:
That's how payment is done in Sweden.
If you work in January, you get paid in February.

Now, he said, his income for January won't be more than $1500 to $2000, because he has less duty time.

This same guys has made Like 60,000 SEK /$6000 in a single month when he was doing FOODORA (Food delivery with his car).
He stopped this when he got into trouble with his license. Guyman went to Poland to do dagbo polish Delivers license which was accepted in Sweden. That was because his Nigerian license was about to expire.

He didn't know it was dagbo actually. But they run street on him.
So he got caught and fined.
He is still serving his ban term.

What I am saying is, even if a cleaning job, person dey make equivalent of $3500 job, how much more a skilled job.
Just prepare yourself skill wise and spiritually. So the land can open itself to you.

Ire oh.
Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by CalmTravels: 7:24pm On Jan 17
That's a tidy sum for three persons; two adults and a kid to live upon in Sweden's most expensive city; Stockholm. I'd say it really worth if the person is not a spendrift


victory148:
What do you think of a job that has 50000SEK Gross salary per month for a family with one child say in Vasteras, upsala or stockholm? Is it worth it?
CC:@CalmTravels
Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by Sputnik12345(m): 9:41am On Jan 24
CalmTravels:
That's a tidy sum for three persons; two adults and a kid to live upon in Sweden's most expensive city; Stockholm. I'd say it really worth if the person is not a spendrift



I love your posts. Keep it up!
I'm an aspiring data analyst. Can I get an entry level job in sweden?

1 Like

Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by CalmTravels: 3:29am On Jan 25
Thanks for the compliment. The world is a place of all possibilities!


Sputnik12345:


I love your posts. Keep it up!
I'm an aspiring data analyst. Can I get an entry level job in sweden?
Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by CalmTravels: 6:29pm On Jan 29
The Swedish Migration Agency recently revamped its work permit processing model, prioritizing the swift processing of applications from highly skilled international professionals.

This was made effective as at January the 29th.

The updated system aims to address Minister Malmer Stenergard’s concerns regarding prolonged processing times impeding Sweden’s talent attraction and retention efforts. The previous “certified process” for large companies, initially involving 20 companies but expanding to 640, was found inadequate, leading to inefficiencies and delays.

Furthermore, it also seeks to address concerns regarding prolonged processing times that have affected Sweden’s ability to attract and retain talented individuals, thus maintaining its competitiveness.

According to the former Migration Agency director-general Mikael Ribbenvik who had advocated for this reform, it emphasizes the need to focus on attracting highly skilled workers

According to him, this targeted approach will empower Sweden to compete effectively in the global talent arena.

Faster processing time through categorization
To achieve faster processing, the Agency will introduce a revised application sorting system.

Applications for work permits will be categorized into four groups (A-D), with Category A getting priority. By also sorting based on occupation and industry, applications can be ready for decision-making, thus speeding up the overall process

Applications falling under Category A will be processed by specialized international recruitment units, ensuring a maximum processing time of 30 days.

Better support for employees
In addition to expediting processing, the Agency will provide specialized assistance for employers seeking highly skilled personnel, offering:

Tailored customer service: Available via phone, email, and potentially in-person consultations.

Project-specific aid: Extra support for significant ventures with substantial recruitment demands, such as battery manufacturers and newly established steel plants in Norrland.

Industry involvement: Ongoing partnerships with industry and employer associations to meet their informational requirements and enhance application accuracy.

Driving Sweden’s competitiveness
The Swedish Migration Agency’s new work permit processing model marks a significant stride towards attracting and retaining international talent. By prioritizing highly qualified individuals, streamlining application procedures, and bolstering support for employers, the Agency endeavors to uphold Sweden’s competitiveness as a preferred destination for skilled professionals.

1 Like

Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by CalmTravels: 8:05am On Feb 10
Summer is fast approaching and its pertinent we double up our pace to make it! Keep the inquires coming!!!!
Re: Things I Found Out About Sweden! by InfinixMine: 7:40am On Feb 12
CalmTravels:
The Swedish Migration Agency recently revamped its work permit processing model, prioritizing the swift processing of applications from highly skilled international professionals.

This was made effective as at January the 29th.

The updated system aims to address Minister Malmer Stenergard’s concerns regarding prolonged processing times impeding Sweden’s talent attraction and retention efforts. The previous “certified process” for large companies, initially involving 20 companies but expanding to 640, was found inadequate, leading to inefficiencies and delays.

Furthermore, it also seeks to address concerns regarding prolonged processing times that have affected Sweden’s ability to attract and retain talented individuals, thus maintaining its competitiveness.

According to the former Migration Agency director-general Mikael Ribbenvik who had advocated for this reform, it emphasizes the need to focus on attracting highly skilled workers

According to him, this targeted approach will empower Sweden to compete effectively in the global talent arena.

Faster processing time through categorization
To achieve faster processing, the Agency will introduce a revised application sorting system.

Applications for work permits will be categorized into four groups (A-D), with Category A getting priority. By also sorting based on occupation and industry, applications can be ready for decision-making, thus speeding up the overall process

Applications falling under Category A will be processed by specialized international recruitment units, ensuring a maximum processing time of 30 days.

Better support for employees
In addition to expediting processing, the Agency will provide specialized assistance for employers seeking highly skilled personnel, offering:

Tailored customer service: Available via phone, email, and potentially in-person consultations.

Project-specific aid: Extra support for significant ventures with substantial recruitment demands, such as battery manufacturers and newly established steel plants in Norrland.

Industry involvement: Ongoing partnerships with industry and employer associations to meet their informational requirements and enhance application accuracy.

Driving Sweden’s competitiveness
The Swedish Migration Agency’s new work permit processing model marks a significant stride towards attracting and retaining international talent. By prioritizing highly qualified individuals, streamlining application procedures, and bolstering support for employers, the Agency endeavors to uphold Sweden’s competitiveness as a preferred destination for skilled professionals.

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

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