Becky Waterton

Malmo

Deputy Editor @TheLocalSweden | regular @SwedeninFocus | Immigrant | @nordicedinburgh @koebenhavns_uni & @cbscph grad | 🗣: 🇩🇰🇸🇪🇩🇪🇬🇧 (🇳🇴🇪🇸)

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Articles

How to prepare for a water shortage in Sweden this summer

1 day ago | thelocal.se | Becky Waterton

What has happened? Sweden has seen an unusually small amount of precipitation over the past few months, which means groundwater levels are a lot lower in many areas than they usually are at this time of year. This has led to SGU issuing a water shortage warning for a number of regions in the south of the country.
Average wait time for Stockholm first-hand rentals over 28 years long

2 days ago | thelocal.se | Becky Waterton

The report, which is based on a questionnaire sent to 200 housing companies in Sweden, revealed that people looking to rent an apartment in Stockholm first hand have to wait an average of 337 months, or 28 years, before receiving an offer. Sweden has two types of rentals when it comes to apartments, first-hand and second-hand rentals. In a first-hand rental, you're renting directly from the landlord.
INTERVIEW: 'You don't want me in Sweden? Yeah, sure, I don't care'

2 days ago | thelocal.se | Becky Waterton

Walli grew up in Damascus, where he was nearing the end of a degree in journalism when war broke out in 2013. "I had two courses left, and then I had to leave for Egypt, not knowing what to do," he tells The Local. "It was very spontaneous, I just wanted to run away." He applied for scholarships in a number of different countries, eventually receiving a few offers, including one in Uppsala.
Where is it easiest to get a first-hand rental apartment in Sweden?

2 days ago | thelocal.se | Becky Waterton

The report, from Public Housing Sweden, an interest organisation for public housing companies, says there are “two sides” to the housing situation in Sweden. Some parts of the country have “an acute lack of housing”, it says, while others have a growing number of empty apartments.
Sweden’s university union slams 'exploitative' migration policy

3 days ago | thelocal.se | Becky Waterton

The report, carried out by the association’s Doctoral Candidates Association (SULF-DCA) between 2023 and 2025, looked into the challenges faced by international PhD candidates and early career researchers in Sweden, specifically with regard to Swedish migration policy. SULF calls for migration policy reform when it comes to international researchers, criticising in particular what it calls Sweden's "exploitative 'revolving door' migration policy".
Sweden issues travel warning for parts of India and Pakistan

1 week ago | thelocal.se | Becky Waterton

Sweden has advised against all types of travel to the Indian Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, as well as any parts of India within ten kilometres of the India-Pakistan border. Swedish citizens currently in India have not been advised to leave the country. In Pakistan, Sweden has issued a travel warning for all types of travel in the parts of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan or any areas within ten kilometres of the border with India.
'Completely bizarre': Stockholm hits back at US embassy's anti-DEI contract

1 week ago | thelocal.se | Becky Waterton

According to Dagens Nyheter (DN), who reported the story, the embassy has given the city planning office ten working days to sign and return the contract. "We have no plans to do that," city planning councillor Jan Valeskog told the newspaper, describing it as "completely bizarre". "It goes against everything we stand for." "If the US stops working with the city planning office then the embassy would find it very difficult to get planning permission if they want to renovate.
'Enormous potential': How Sweden's migration minister wants to attract international talent

1 week ago | thelocal.se | Becky Waterton

Forssell has been on what you could describe as a migration tour over the past few weeks. In April, he visited Finland to discuss how to attract highly-skilled workers (he visited Canada for the same reason last year), Switzerland to study their citizenship system and Gothenburg, where he visited the International House and took part in a round-table discussion with local business on how to attract foreign talent.
Swedish word of the day: gå bort

1 week ago | thelocal.se | Becky Waterton

Gå bort is a phrase made up of the word gå (to go or walk) and bort, away. It has a number of meanings, including the literal one: to walk away. As a euphemism, it’s similar to the English phrase "to pass away", a less direct way of saying that someone has died. You might read in a Swedish newspaper that a celebrity har gått bort (has passed away), often followed by their age or perhaps what they died of, if it was unexpected.
Swedish Migration Minister: 'No formal decision' made on new work permit salary threshold

1 week ago | thelocal.se | Becky Waterton

In November 2023, Sweden more than doubled its work permit salary threshold from 13,000 kronor to 80 percent of the median salary, with the government also proposing plans to raise it even further, to 100 percent of the median, or 35,600 kronor at the time of writing.