Sweden has a pretty easy immigration path, is fairly friendly to immigrants, most natives speak English, and has a large tech community with not enough local talent.
Do they? The Scandinavian countries have almost no skilled immigration, and had very little unskilled immigration until recently. Sweden still seems like a pretty great place to live.
I used to live in Sweden (I'm American). Sweden is supposedly one of the most immigrant-friendly nations in Europe and even they are getting worn down by the non-integrated immigrant population (1 million out of 9 million total population). Swedes speak English exceptionally well which is the only foreign language most foreigners know (no one comes in knowing Swedish). The extra layer of language barrier is an issue (for Swedes and immigrants).
For a highly trained (grad school+) immigrant, being limited to one small nation was a big limitation (this was before the common EU passport).
As far as preparation for world business, I can't see why any Chinese student would want to learn anything but English.
No idea how immigration status changes post-graduation. Universities were free (or if you prefer, included in everyone's taxes).
Post-2015 Sweden is quite difficult to immigrate to if you aren't doing it via a skilled employment visa. The requirements, along with the amount of time it takes to get simple things working properly (like a social security number and a bank account) once you do get here are cumbersome. Plus housing is an issue, you will find that it is quite a struggle to get a permanent rental contract in the major cities like Stockholm and Malmö. The language is also quite difficult for us English speakers to learn because everyone loves to practice their English with you so even when you attempt to speak Swedish they recognise you are an English speaker and change languages.
Interesting undercurrent that the article presents: a Sweden with high immigration has a lot of the same problems as the United States. Maybe living in a utopia is only possible if you first ship away those pesky poor folks. /s
The Nordic countries aren't all the same and most people are not driven by a desire to maximize their salary. I have had lots and lots of colleagues who were immigrants so attracting foreign talent is not the issue. Not everyone want to live in Sweden because it is cold and people can be unfriendly. Low salaries is very low on peoples' list of complaints.
Compared to the US almost every country has lax immigration policies. Specifically for Sweden, I would say that it doesn't have significantly more strict immigration policies (language, job skills that are required) than any other EU country that someone would actually want to emigrate to.
Better wages sums up most of what I've heard from people living in Sweden. They must be staying in Sweden rather than moving to Norway for a good reason though.
Native Swede here, I agree. Sweden is quite easy to get into if you are on the shortage occupation list, which you are.
Once in Sweden you will either fall in love with the on the surface reserved people, or if you don't, work 5 years, apply for citizenship, then be a Swedish citizen (best passport in the world for traveling along with U.K. passport) and automatically a E.U. citizen, which means you can work anywhere in the E.U. without any limits at all. As a E.U. citizen and especially Swedish citizen it can be easier to get into the U.S. and Canada, I hear anecdotally. There are also sizable communities of almost all war affected ethnicities in Sweden you can socialize with. Stockholm is the most international city, you can live there a life time on English alone and not feel left out too much. Everywhere also you can still live on English alone, but the social life with locals will suffer if you don't learn Swedish, IMHO. All Swedes know English, but you will miss out on little chats etc. Also minorities often communicate more in Swedish than their native tongue, especially children of immigrants, so paradoxically to connect with your own kin, you also need to learn Swedish. Integration issues varies from place to place, there are some problems with racism especially towards people of color, but far from as much as in Germany. Also the racism is kind of specific and weird, if you are black but from the U.S. you are still almost celebrated by the Swedish locals.
TL/DR: Sweden is awesome. Easy to come in, if you love it, you will love it a lot. If you don't, become citizen then move on to the rest of the E.U.
Would intelligent people from HN do good in looking in Sweden for the sun, female partner, or an apartment for rent (in regions where there are professional opportunities)?
For a very long time the majority of immigration to Sweden was from nearby Scandinavian countries. There is a lot of people moving between the borders simply because they got family on both sides, or get a job opportunity that happens to be on one side of a line on a map and well within driving distance.
People in Sweden however don't generally think of those people as immigrants, and their social economic status is average or maybe even a bit higher than average. Sweden also has about equal amount of swedes doing the same so the end result on the haves and the have-nots is basically static for that form of immigration.
Naturally, when people discuss immigration and immigration politics, immigration and emigration between Scandinavian countries are not part of the discussion and are generally exempted through specific treaties between the countries.
Great for them, but these Swedes now have to give up a few things that make Sweden "such a great place to live", such as long period of maternity leave, affordable healthcare, low crime, etc.
America isn't for everybody, but it is for people who are hungry (metaphorically). Sweden isn't for everybody, but it is for people who want stability.
Does this mean Europe needs to "adapt" to be more like the US? In my opinion, no. Many people are very happy with their lifestyles in Europe. Especially Swedes, no doubt, who rank very high in the so called "Quality of Life" Index. [1]
p.s. Very cool app idea. finding someone who knows travel is much better than trying to sell travel advice. I know this from experience.
Something worth pointing out here: apart from the EU, there isn't even open immigration among rich countries. A Swede, (or Briton or Canadian) can't just decide to pack his things up and come to work in the US (though the visa waiver program for tourists is pretty sweet). There are still visa hoops to jump through, paperwork to be done. It's easier, if you're a rich-country-citizen, to move to another rich country, but by no means a done deal.
It's hard to make a logical argument that immigration controls exist purely for economic reasons; social services and weather apart, Sweden (or the UK or Canada) and the US have comparable standards of living and levels of English proficiency. None of the arguments against allowing unchecked immigration from poor countries to rich (education, overwhelming public services, falling wages etc) apply in this scenario and yet (again, apart from the EU), open immigration between roughly equally developed countries doesn't exist.
Let me be frank: It seems to be like that already for Sweden, which is a welfare state with the most open borders in EU.
That said, most immigrants to Sweden do seem interested in working -- there just seems to be a strange glut of uneducated people, compared to the available jobs.
(Remember, it is a welfare state -- high minimum wages.)
Educated people that can choose country prefer places with lower taxes -- which are high in Sweden to pay for the welfare state.
Edit: The real problem is that Sweden might be on the way to ghettos, US-style in a few decades. :-( A sociologist might mutter something about a perfect storm to generate a criminal underclass, also US-style. :-(
Edit 2: Worst case, I could go to Canada... Would love to relearn my French, anyway. :-)
Perhaps high skilled ones would prefer a country with better climate ... :-)
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