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Comment by sumedh | Hacker News Reader

> But I have met 100s of expats whose dreams have been crushed by the Swedish system

I am assuming that the expats had job offers first and then they moved to Sweden or do they just show up and start looking for jobs.

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Some came on temporary contracts, and wanted to stay longer.

Some came for Swedish boyfriend/girlfriend.

Some came because they had a hopelessly naive idea about Sweden.

Some were PhD graduates from Swedish universities.

All had their dreams crushed.

Sweden: The Crusher of Dreams.

I don't know about Sweden specifically, but usually in Europe if you're under 30, you can just get a working visa, show up and look for work. If you're 30 or over, you need to have an offer of work before you can get a working visa.

Yes, you can show up, but you won't get a job unless you speak fluent Swedish. Maybe if you are a specialised engineer/IT. Even then, the Swedish applicant will be picked first.

Back when I was 31, I considered the antipodean tradition of getting a working visa somewhere in Western Europe and doing odd jobs ('bar work' is the traditional one, but I would have gone for other unskilled labour). A sort of working holiday. Then I found out about the 30-year-old cut-off...

In my experience this is not at all true. I would say that Swedes are known for their fluency in English and not knowing any Swedish, but speaking English, is not a problem in Sweden at all. I have people at my job that have lived here for 7-8 years and have still not learned to speak Swedish but manage to stay employed regardless.If you speak English and is good at what you do, you will find a job.

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