Swedish migration policy liberalization and new immigrant entrepreneurs
| Published date | 01 April 2023 |
| Author | Aliaksei Kazlou,Susanne Urban |
| Date | 01 April 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12989 |
International Migration. 2023;61:87–106.
|
87
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig
INTRODUCTION
Sweden liberal ized labour migration po licy in 2008 (Proposi tion, 2007/08:147) to allow third- country nat ionals to
enter Sweden for entrepreneurship, not only for work. A unique element— a residence permit for entrepreneurship—
was introduced by c hanges in the migr ation law. The liber alization of labo ur migration po licy was motivat ed by
Received: 10 Febr uary 2021
|
Revised: 21 Novembe r 2021
|
Accepted: 5 Febru ary 2022
DOI: 10 .1111/imig .12989
SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE
Swedish migration policy liberalization and new
immigrant entrepreneurs
Aliaksei Kazlou1,2 | Susanne Urban3
This is an open ac cess article und er the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial License, which permits
use, distri bution and reprod uction in any medium , provided the orig inal work is properl y cited and is not used fo r commercial
purposes.
© 2022 The Auth ors. International Migration published by John W iley & Sons Ltd on behalf o f International Or ganization for
Migration.
1Division of Business Administration,
Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
2Division of Migr ation, Ethnicit y and Society
(REMESO), Linköping University, Linköping,
Sweden
3Institute for Housing and Urban Research
(IBF), Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Correspondence
Aliaksei Kazlou, Division of Business
Administration,Linköping University, 58183
Linköping, Sweden.
Email: Aliaksei.kazlou@liu.se
Funding information
Aliaksei Ka zlou is grateful for f inancial
support fr om FORMAS, gran d 2018- 02226.
Authors are g rateful for financ ial support
by the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg
Foundation and Handelsbanken Research
Foundations.
Abstract
Sweden has allowed immigr ants from any countr y to ob-
tain residence permits for entrepreneurship since 2008 .
The aim of this study was t o explore the outcome of t his
policy. The study adds time perspective and superdiversity
and operationalizes the mixed embeddedness framework
to facilitate a quantit ative study on thr ee levels of analy-
sis. Detailed regis ter data for two coho rts of immigrant s—
those who arrived fo ur years before and those who arr ived
four years after th e reform— are used. The results confirm
the usefulness of the m ixed embeddedne ss model, that is
the institutiona l regulative context , economic and social
context, and indi vidual resources, i n the analysis of im-
migrant entrepren eurship. However, the study show s that
the propensity to e ngage in entreprene urship is more af-
fected for refugee s and students t han for migrants wit h a
residence permit fo r work and entreprene urship. This in-
dicates a need for fur ther facilitating the process to imm i-
grate for entrepreneurial reasons.
88
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KA ZLOU And URBAn
an ambition to overco me the labour for ce shortage i n some sectors a nd to attrac t immigrant entr epreneurs to
Sweden (Berg & Spe har, 2013; Boräng & Cerna, 2015). T he new regulation also in cluded the possibilit y to prolong
the residence permit, independent of the original type of permit, by becoming self- sufficient as an entrepreneur
and to transfor m a temporary residence p ermit for entrepreneur ship into a permanent permit af ter two years of
self- employment (compared with four years for employees) (Bonfanti, 2013).
Even though the cha nges in migration l aw related to reside nce permits fo r immigrant entr epreneurs ap pear
very attra ctive, few immigrant entrepr eneurs used this opportu nity to apply for a residence pe rmit to start and
run a business in Swe den (from 216 to 610 applications annually), w hich is puzzling since Sweden is an at tractive
business destination (Migrationsverket, 2019, Utredningen om Arbetskraft sinvandring 2021). The number of re -
jected appli cations was high; only bet ween 81 and 332 applications wer e approved per year. Instead, mos t immi-
grant entrepr eneurs attained re sidence permits in Swed en for other reasons— work, stud y or family unificatio n or
as refugees— but used the o pportunity to prolo ng the residence permit a s an entrepreneur.
While a few studie s have analysed the po litical motivati on of the reform (Berg & S pehar, 2013; Boräng & Cer na,
2019; Cer na, 2009) and effe cts in terms of la bour market relat ions (Emilsson, 2 014, 2016; Frödin & Kjell berg,
2018), less atte ntion has been given to the outc omes in terms of entreprene urship (Sim, 2015; Ugland, 2 014).
Previous research argues that immigrants encounter “blocked opportunities” for entrepreneurship and that their
rate of involvement in t he growing sectors is f ar behind that of natives ( Hagelund, 2020; Ram, Edwa rds, et al., 2017 ).
New migration regu lations, such as the 2008 refor m in Sweden, may change opportun ity structures and at tract en-
trepreneurial immigrants (Aldrich & Waldinger, 1990; Bar th & Zalkat, 2020; Mahuteau et al., 2014; Wong , 2004). It
could support immigrant entrepreneurship in high- threshold entries that might represent a “break- through” strategy
for immigrant s to enter new and more profita ble markets (Baycan et al., 2012; R am & Smallbone, 2002; Ram et al. ,
2012; Sepulveda et a l., 2011). Studies in Sweden show t hat the number of immigrant entre preneurs in expanding
sectors, su ch as in the informat ion communication and technol ogy sector (ICT), incre ased more than t wofold be-
tween 2007 an d 2012, even if the absolute numb ers were not large (Kazlou & K linthall, 2019).
The Swedish case of m igration policy liberaliz ation is theoret ically salient in that it diffe rs from other liberal
policies with m ore selective immigr ation rules for entre preneurs, such as in C anada (Mahuteau et al., 2 014; Wong,
2004), the USA or Aus tralia (Cobb- C lark, 2003). Furthermore, t he Swedish case provides insight s into migration
policy change in t he institutional context of a c oordinated rather than a libe ral market economy (Hall & Soskice ,
2001).
This study aim ed to contribute to theoret ical knowledge and pr actice by answering thr ee main research ques-
tions: 1. “What o utcomes did the migrat ion policy reform have i n terms of attract ing immigrant entrep reneurs?”; 2.
“How did the char acteristics of the new im migrant entrepreneur s differ from those of the p revious cohort?”; and
3. “In what sect ors did the new cohort of mig rants start busin esses compared to previou s cohort?”.
The mixed embeddedness framework is well developed to explain immigrant drivers of entrepreneurship and
why immigrant entrepreneurs turn to different sectors (Kloosterman, 2010). It use s explanator y factors at t he
macro- , meso- and micro- levels: institutional and regulative context, metropolitan context, access to social re-
sources and indi vidual resources. Th e framework is operat ionalized and furthe r developed in this stud y to explain
the effect s of migration policy cha nges in the context of superdi versity (Ram et al., 2012).
This paper also co ntributes policy recomm endations based on an empir ical investigation of the ef fects of mi-
gration polic y change on migrants’ prob ability of becoming entr epreneurs in differe nt sectors.
THE MIXED EMBEDDEDNESS PERSPECTIVE
In this sectio n, we operation alize the mixed emb eddedness th eoretical fr amework (Klo osterman, 20 10;
Kloosterma n et al., 1999, 2016) on three levels and add a time d imension of migration po licy change in the contex t
of superdiversi ty (Sepulveda et al., 2 011; Vertovec, 2 007).
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