Welcome to the Banana Republic of Sweden
This week we received a letter from the Swedish Migration Board. They have decided to deport Tayyab, one of our superstar developers, along with his wife. Tayyab now has four weeks to leave the country. He’s even at risk of not being able to enter the Schengen area - ever again. WTF!
Tayyab has spent more than three years in Sweden. He has taken his Masters Degree in Computer Science and worked his way up as a software developer. Today, despite his young age, he's one of our most valued talents. He lives in central Stockholm together with his wife, pays his taxes and contributes to the friendly, inclusive international culture we all enjoy at the office.
So, what has Tayyab done to deserve this harsh, abrupt decision? Did he commit a crime? Lie about his background? Involve himself in murky activities? No, in fact he didn’t do anything at all: His former employer may have made a small, formal error. In short, Tayyab’s pension benefits may have been two percentage points below the industry average (but not below those of his colleagues and bosses at the time). This has since been corrected in arrears by his former employer.
So, a microscopic detail for you and me. For the Swedish Migration Agency, apparently grounds for deporting Tayyab.
DYNAMO employs only the best mobile software developers. Since there isn’t enough homegrown talent, we need to look for people all over the world. Among the 56 developers at our HQ in central Stockholm you’ll find people from 25 different countries. We need Tayyab, and we also need more skilled top talents like Tayyab in our country.
In short, Tayyab is an asset. He’s an asset to us, and he’s an asset to this country. So how can the Swedish Migration Board treat him like he’s a liability, a burden that needs to be kicked out immediately?
Over the past 20 years I have started six companies and employed more than 250 people. I've paid company taxes, salary taxes and value added taxes - always with a smile on my face. Yesterday that changed.
I understand that there are and must be laws and regulations. But this insane reaction to a minor formal error that wasn’t even committed by Tayyab himself must be a ridiculously harsh interpretation of those laws. If not, then our problems as a country are bigger than I’d imagined.
You are not only taking away our very best talents from us - you are also taking away the drive and the capability to run companies, pay taxes, employ people and increase the tax base. Not to mention what you’re doing to a young man and his wife just trying to make a living.
© Mathias Plank, Founder & CEO, DYNAMO Digital Ventures
Link to petition on Change.org
Post on the Swedish news site
As I have first hand experience of almost getting expulsed from another Scandinavian country, I may express my solidarity with your colleague and his wife. Awful feeling, I know.
However, social performance and qualifications often do unfortunately not count in immigration issues in countries like Sweden or - for that sake - Germany.
Paradoxically, a fair share of the negative effects of neglecting the persons economic and social performance in a society can be attributed to
mainstream/leftwing politics. Whilst leftwingers fiercely refused any attempts to control immigration by means of a scoring system, neither do expulsion strategies relate to this aspect.
In other words, if I do get you right, Swedish expulsion law does not distinguish between a criminal and a fully integrated high profile IT-specialist?
We have a similar problem in Germany and the political path of least resistance pursued both in its left and right wing variations end up with the same desastrous effect: no focus on performance and demand in immigration means more focus on formal criteria, as authorities are under increasing political pressure from the right plus a lot of the bureaucrats have been told to shut up about immigration abuse far too long. Now, they start firing with what they have to raise expulsion numbers - and get the wrong ones. Raging madness.
Sweden is not a banana republic, Mathias. They simply stick to laws that do not care a thing about the respective person's contribution to society.
I think the situation is actually worse than in a banana republic. Corrupt regimes bear no hope, no political vision or beyond-personal values. No smiles when paying outrageous taxes.
Sweden, however, seems o be a humanist vision currently going to pieces.
So, your specialist and his wife need a job in Germany or Denmark in another company nearby. Fast. Home office from somewhere else. And then return from there to your company after the lawyers have settled things.
Got some friends in companies to hire him for you to have him outsourced to somewhere else in the Schengen area?
I hope that there will be changes, and he is allowed to stay.
I hope so, too.