As academics, we know that a career in research always comes at a cost. For many of us in the early stages of our career with temporary positions, there is no certainty that we will find our next position at the same university. Researchers are generally expected to be internationally mobile to bring in new collaborations and increase research output. Such mobility is a core aspect of building and distributing knowledge. Nonetheless, the international mobility to Swedish higher education institutions is undermined by an unreliable migration policy.
Sweden is not the only country where I have experience of being an academic migrant. It was significantly easier moving to the UK, where simple things like opening a bank account were not turned into a tedious process. We were also given transitional time before and after moving to or leaving the country. In Sweden, permits issued to PhD students are usually valid only from the first to the last day of employment. Moreover, due to delays at the migration agency, permits are always issued later than the start of contract. This means that PhD students are already behind in training in addition to the practical issues of not having a bank account or access to salaries for the first three to five months. When I raised the issues of starting a bank account at an internationalisation meeting at Gothenburg University and proposed setting up an office to help international researchers, I was told that these issues are beyond the scope of the university. As a consequence, the costs of pursuing a career in Swedish academia is decidedly higher for international researchers.
When I first moved to Sweden in 2021, I did not think too much about these costs. I was happy that I could finally commence my doctoral research, especially in a country where doctoral students are employed by the university for at least four years on full-time. In retrospect, the biggest issue is the delays in processing at the migration agency. For example, the first time I applied to renew my permit, I had to wait six months before I received a decision. In the meantime, I was forced to cancel planned international research visits for data collection and postpone all other travel plans. In late 2024, the conditions for PhD permits had changed, making it possible for PhD students to hold a permit for all four years instead of only two years at a time. Since my passport was expiring, I had to renew my permit anyway and faced another period of waiting. I postponed vacations, hoping to finally be able to visit my family once I received my permit. In late October 2025, after four years of doctoral employment of which one and a half year without freedom of movement, my permit extension was rejected. There was at least ten months left on my PhD employment and yet I was asked to deport myself. The reason that the migration agency gave for the rejection was that I had taken a temporary leave of absence of 20%. Such a leave is well within the terms of my contract, the Swedish Higher Education Ordinance (1993:100), and the immigration rules for research (2005:716). My department even checked this with the agency before approving my leave, and were told that it was allowed. I was not allowed to speak to my case officer to clarify the matter. I have now appealed this decision with the help of the Center for Justice, since the university’s legal team do not handle migration-related issues. It has been five months and I am still waiting for a decision from the court. In response to journalists, the agency has simply stated that I am not studying full-time, nor do I intend to do so, despite the fact that there has been no gap in my full-time studies as a PhD student.
In the meantime, I wonder about the costs of moving: why would highly-skilled workers stay in Sweden when we are subjected to restricted access to international collaboration opportunities, threatened with deportation and held to a higher standard than our European peers? Is a career in Swedish academia worth being treated like second-class researchers? I do not know just yet, but I think it is up to the government to step up and make it easier for foreign PhD students and researchers rather than just promising to do so.
When migration-related issues are discussed, the discourse tends to highlight how immigrants burden the state without considering the burden that the state places on immigrants. Integration would be much easier if we were not treated like second-class workers every step of the way. There have been many migration issues like mine in the past and not all received timely help to fight unjust decisions. The Swedish government has recently approved a bill (Prop. 2025/26:146) that claims to improve conditions while “countering abuse of residence permits granted to studies”. I am not sure how it is going to be applied in practice or why there is a need to make certain conditions stricter to avoid abuse; a report by the National Audit Office (RiR 2024:21) showed no support for such widespread abuse. At this point, it is not clear how helpful the proposal is going to be in countering unequal working conditions for doctoral students. As employers, universities should take responsibility for establishing equal working conditions for all PhD students and researchers, regardless of the passports we hold.
Fahima Ayub Khan är doktorand vid avdelningen för lingvistik och vetenskapsteori på Göteborgs universitet
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Adam Hjorthén