The Swedish Sambo Visa in 2015/2016 Part 14: The New "Waiting Times Calculator", the April 2016 Prognosis Report, and a quick update on Maintenance Requirements

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been a bit overwhelmed by life lately.  Settling into a new home that we are in the throes of remodeling by hand, trying to go through all the steps to get my PN and register for SFI, rushing off to pre-natal doctors appointments, trying to keep the spreadsheet in order... it's been insane.

But also, things were rather quiet on the Migrationsverket front; the waiting times were getting *slight longer* (decisions were coming through at around 13.5-14 months, instead of 13-14 months) and interview emails were following the same organized pace, so there wasn't much beyond the Sambo Summary to really publish.

BUT.  Things have now changed.  So, here it goes:

The Swedish Sambo Visa in 2016 Part 13: After the Decision ("Now what!?")

It has been an extremely long time since I last wrote!

I knew that moving would be a busy time, but I could not possibly have foreseen how insane my life would become. Quitting my job, rushing to doctor's appointments, packing/selling/throwing everything away, weighing suitcases to make sure I stay under the weight limit, trying to decide what is worth shipping and what should be donated.... saying goodbye to friends and family.... all while trying to train coworkers to replace me and taking care of the fetus growing inside of me!

I have never felt so desperate in all my life than the day I moved.  Life has never demanded so much of me over the past 14 months, and never have I had to cross over my "breaking point" so many times with no option for crawling into a hole and dying.  There were only 2 alternatives: 1) Keep pushing, or 2) Keep pushing.  I did a mixture of both. ;)

The Swedish Sambo Visa in 2015/2016 Part 12: The Sambo Summary Publications

UPDATE (16 July2016): As I settle into my new life here in Sweden and enter the final months of my pregnancy, my ability to create the Sambo Summary will continue to decrease.  We have so much going on over here, and it's hard to find time to dedicate to producing these pieces.  Also, I have decreased how involved I am in the support groups (also because of time constraints) and, as such, I will eventually get to the point of not being up to date with all the latest news.  The Maintenance Requirements law will soon go into place (latest update on that is that it will take effect on 21 July 2016) and it will be difficult for me to closely monitor how that will affect overall waiting times in the long term.

Nonetheless, I will continue to do my best to produce these reportssporadically.  So far, we don't see much change in the trends other than that interview emails have started to go out at a normalized pace (about every 4-6 months), and average decision waiting times have actually crept down slightly (by about half a month, give or take).  Everything else is seeming to hold steady.

These reports are PDFs uploaded to Google Drive, and can be downloaded and used as necessary. They are based off of the data we collect and track on  the spreadsheet.

Happy Viewing!

The Swedish Sambo Visa in 2015/2016 Part 11: Can I visit while my permit is processing?

YES.

I am going to share with you now the "real deal" about visiting Sweden while your permit is processing.

It is not "new news" that Migrationsverket can be quite inconsistent with their answers to our questions.  Furthermore, they often times give incorrect information. That has been the single most frustrating part of this experience; it has even been worse than how long the waiting time is.  The constant stress, fear, paranoia, confusion, lack of trust, and inhumanity felt by conflicting and wrong information has made what is already a trying time, unbearably impossible to deal with.

If there is one thing that we can do to help ease the searing pain of separation, it is to be able to visit our loved one. So, let's go through the stages of grief as you research whether you can visit your love while you wait.

The Swedish Sambo Visa in 2015/2016 Part 10: The Sambo Manual (FAQs and Resources)

Warning: This is an "Information Overload" post!!

It's been some time since I last posted, because I've spent the past month in Sweden with my love for the holidays.  And we just passed a major milestone: 1 year since we applied for my UT!! WOO-HOO!!

For the past 2 months I have been planning my 1-year anniversary post.  I was going to make it all about our memories, things I had learned about myself and the world, sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns. :D But let's be real: we all need information right now, so I have put together the following masterpiece: The Sambo Manual.

I have already provided some extensive guides for the beginning part of the Sambo Visa process. You can find the topics at the following links: 

Part 1:  What is the Swedish "Sambo" Visa?

Part 2: The Application Process and Processing Times

Part 4:  The Interview 

Part 7b:  Current Application Timelines Statistics

Part 8: Understanding the New Immigration Laws (including Maintenance Requirements)

Those parts give a very detailed (in most cases) run down of each topic.  Now I would like to summarize some key points, questions, and offer resources for those trying to investigate this process for themselves.  The topics are organized in the following sections, color-coded for ease of identification if you want to scroll to a particular section:

Table of Contents

A.  Key Definitions and Acronyms 

B.  Application Process (including Quick Links)

C.  Overview of Processing Times (and your legal rights)

        1.  Processing Times

        2.  Your legal rights to a timely decision

D.  Technicalities, Loopholes, Options, and Applying for "Priority"

E.  Maintenance Requirements

F.  The Queue System

        1.  How it (is supposed to) work

        2.  "E3" and Technical Failures

G.  The Lifetime of a Residence Permit (from UT to Citizenship and the Appeals Process) 

H.  Supplying "additional information" to MV

I.  Other Resources 

J.  FAQs

The Swedish Sambo Visa Process in 2015 Part 9: Anomalies & Conspiracy Theories

Well, fuck.

^^If it weren't for the fact that I've learned my blog is useful to some people, I would have probably just ended my post there.  ;) 

Since I use my blog as a diary of sorts, here are the two main updates for me.  Maybe one day I'll reminisce over these sketchy times with a bottle of overly-priced Systemet wine as I re-read these old memories :)

(Important Update on 12 February 2016): The Swedish Sambo Visa in 2015 Part 8: Explaining the "New Immigration Rules"

NOTE (12  February 2016): For information on the pending "Maintenance Requirement" rules, please kindly navigate to my Swedish Sambo Visa Part 10: The Sambo Manual post , and scroll to Part E. Maintenance Requirements. In that post, you will find all the latest information I could gather on the impending Maintenance Requirements, as well as links to the official governmental proposal and press release which seem to indicate that all sambo applications submitted BEFORE 31 May 2016 will be EXEMPT from the new rules.

Please bear in mind that as of the date of this update, this is still a proposal.  It needs to be discussed, decided upon, and then implemented.  Anything could change.  So, please check back for more information, and still consider to weigh your options just in case the law turns out to affect some cases retroactively.

************************

On 24 November 2015, the Swedish parliament ("Riksdag") convened for a press conference. Therein, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven [Social Democrats / Socialdemokraterna ("S")] and Green Party [Miljöpartiet / ("MP")] co-leader Åsa Romson announced notable updates to the asylum seeking procedures in Sweden.  It was an "historic" day in terms of the controls and limitations they have realized are the only way to save the country from collapse.

The rules do not just affect asylum seekers, but also all relationship applications (like us sambo applicants) as well. Sweden's government homepage (http://www.regeringen.se) has an outline article generalizing the measures. The English version can be found here; the Swedish version (including video of the press conference) can be found here.

In addition, a very brief press release about these measures has been published on MV's website here.  Pay particular attention to the last 2 paragraphs of that article.

The Swedish Sambo Visa in 2015 Part 7b: Application Date Statistics (updated about once every 3 months) - Last update: 30 January 2017

IMPORTANT UPDATE (15 September 2016):  In order for this spreadsheet to remain a relevant resource, I have de-linked the "bigger spreadsheet" where we used to track over 1,000 cases from various sources.  I still have that data if anyone ever wants it for their own research purposes, but due to time constraints I have been unable to continue updating it.

Instead, I have linked up to a new spreadsheet maintained by the I Väntan På Familjen facebook admins.  While that groups is somewhat small, it is very diverse and a good microcosm of the queue as a whole.  It is the spreadsheet that I now use for my sporadic updates of The Sambo Summary (see below for more info)

The Swedish Sambo Visa in 2015 Part 7a: "Swedish Migration: A Brief History, and What is Happening Now"

As a prelude to my Part 7b: Application Date Statistics, I wanted to take a moment to discuss a very important and hotly contested topic that is affecting all of us applicants: Immigration.

A lot of very disturbing things have been occurring in Sweden recently.  The country is experiencing an unprecedented, record-breaking immigration crisis (and all the social disasters that come with it), and now is as good a time as ever to discuss the history of Sweden's migration to get the "bigger picture" of what is going on. These things should be understood for their full gravity in terms of implications to the country, as well as how it will all affect us.  But before we can understand current events, we must reflect on the past.

The Swedish Sambo Visa in 2015 Part 6c: A Response from Migrationsverket

In my blog post about the discontinuation of priority status, I had mentioned that I was going through some difficulties recently and, in a bit of a venting session, Johan said (threatened?) that he was going to file a priority request for us. He of course did not submit the request (we both knew there was no chance on this green earth we'd get it anyway), but it was also at this time that we learned he couldn't have filed even if he had wanted to.

And then, the 8-14+ month processing time update came.  I think that wrecked all of us a little bit. Johan and I both had our meltdowns.  And in Sweden, Johan's mom could do nothing but watch on and see what it was doing to her kids.  So she did as any mother does when she see's her child hurting; she hand wrote and mailed a letter to the director of Migrationsverket.

We were not made aware of the letter until the day she mailed it, and only Johan got to read a copy of it (he said it was very gentle and only expressed concern over the situation we all are in - especially the conflicting information we all receive). In less than a week, MV responded with a very thorough and direct email. I debated posting it here because it never feels right to publish emails. None of what was written was in any way bad or secret; it just is the principal of the matter, I guess.

However, I feel the letter was a well-written, data-supported and sincere response.  It was written by a sort of spokesperson for MV as I understand, and I appreciate how they did not sugar coat anything; their compassion and understanding of the situation sounded genuine, and the transparency via numbers makes one feel like MV is not trying to ignore that it is dealing with some severe logistical problems, and they are trying to address them -- it just is going to take time (which we all already knew, but there is a lot of damage control that can be done when someone comes out and just "tells it like it is", instead of giving people the run around and telling them to just be patient while it seems like the sky is falling every other week.)

And by sharing it, it may provide others seeking answers, something to digest.

I have anonymized the letter, redacted one sentence, and did my best to translate it (I improvised a bit; sorry!)   While it does not fix or change anything, or give me any increased cause for hope, it does no less give the cold hard truth, and a fair assessment of the current state of affairs.

(EDITED) The Swedish Sambo Visa in 2015 Part 6b: The Ending of "Priority Requests"

EDIT (5 Nov 2015):  For those of you just reading this, it has been explained to us by Migrationsverket that the reason for disabling priority requests was so that they can focus all of their man power on clearing out all of the oldest cases with no decision yet. Since all of us have our cases viewed in the order they are received, this will shorten the wait times for all of us. MV has said that since the wait times have gotten so long, EVERYONE has been requesting priority, which has caused a huge administrative mess -- MV was spending too much time investigating if people qualified for priority, which took a lot of time away from them processing applications in the queue.  As a quick reference, they will not consider pregnancy for priority - we have seen several cases of pregnancies being refused priority already.

As a means of keeping this blog as current as possible (given how many of us are waiting in the wings of a situation that seems to grow more dire by the day), I thought this update was important to share because there is not much press about it.

"It's OK to not be OK."

True story:  I have been terribly sick for a couple weeks now, and between that, exhaustion, and stress, I had a total meltdown on the phone with Johan last Friday. He and I both are dealing with some extremely difficult things in our work and family lives, and I just couldn't find the strength to keep myself together in the moment. In a fit of worry over me, Johan quasi-threatened that he was going to email Migrationsverket the following Monday and request priority because of these certain ongoing stresses in my life.  Of course, we both knew that we wouldn't actually get the priority, so I had surmised that he was just venting his frustration for being separated from me.

Except, that he wasn't just venting.

On Wednesday of this week, Johan and I spoke and I could tell he was extremely upset. I came to learn that he was indeed on MV's website researching how to request prioritization, when he happened upon the fresh new announcement that priority was no longer an available option.

The Swedish Sambo Visa in 2015 Part 6a: The Monthly Update of Processing Times On Migrationsverket

EDIT (25 October 2015):  Please note that any screen shots or references to wait times are as of the date this post was written (6 October 2015).  Wait times have since been updated several times.  In order to have the most recent time frames in mind, please reference Migrationsverket's website HERE for the most recent processing times.

Not much to update really on our case.  We learned our case is being handled in the Umeå office, for whatever that's worth - no discernible news online whether that's a good or bad thing.  The silence can be maddening at times, but at other times it becomes easy to melt into day-to-day life.

Johan has been here with me for the past week and a half.  We've done a few days in LA, a 7-day road trip through central California to Monterey and back, and now we are going to head to San Diego.  I just need him to wake up ;)

But while we were in San Luis Obispo I had logged onto a thread on The Local where a poster had indicated that Migrationsverket had updated the permit processing wait times ("Handläggningstider") on their website.  It struck me as odd because, previously, MV only updated these wait times every 3-4 months.  And just one month ago, they had updated the wait times with a 1-month increase in processing time (a screen shot of that can be seen at the bottom of my Sambo Visa Part 2 blog post).

At the time of the update one month ago, many of us felt it was promising news that the wait times had only increased by 1 month given the refugee circus that is ongoing.

So, to hear that wait times had been updated only one month later, was disconcerting.  I hopped over to the Handläggningstider site of Migrationsverket to see what all the fuss was about:

The Swedish Sambo Visa in 2015 Part 5: The Science of Waiting (6 Things I Learned in the First 6 Months)

After 6 months of waiting, I did a lot of reflecting on my 3 hour drive to San Diego to do my interview in July, and I wrote some notes about everything I had learned about myself and my relationship with Johan during the first leg of The Great Wait.  In no particular order, they are as follows:

The Swedish Sambo Visa in 2015 Part 4: The Interview

EDIT: Another reminder that the following information is for NON-EU CITIZEN APPLICANTS.  EU citizens have a whole different process (including not needing to do an interview).  Read more about it on MV's website here. 

Johan and I commenced the second leg of The Great Wait the day after I arrived back in Los Angeles after visiting him in Sweden in June.  Fresh off the plane and full of both sadness and anticipation, I tried to enjoy the nervous feelings of this moment we had waited so long for.  I believe they call it, "living in the moment".... which was hard, knowing we had so long to go before being able to be together again.

I studied my application to make sure I remembered all the dates and details we were required to give in our original application. I brought a binder full of photos, call logs, original flight stubs, my original Single Status paperwork, and made sure I had my passport in hand.  Johan and I also had a couple friends and family write personal statements confirming our relationship, as we had read everywhere that you should bring absolutely everything you possibly can to your interview in case they had specific questions - better to be safe than sorry!

The Swedish Sambo Visa in 2015 Part 3: The Great Wait

EDIT: Another reminder that the following information is for NON-EU CITIZEN APPLICANTS.  EU citizens have a whole different process.  Read more about it on MV's website here. 

As an American researching the Swedish sambo visa for the first time, you likely first encountered a plethora of dated blogs online (The "Olivia Blog", the "Skinny of the Sambo Visa" blog, or the late "An American in Stockholm" blog which was recently taken down and deleted). These blogs are helpful indeed, but the problem is that they are all written by applicants who applied and moved in 2013 or prior -- a time before the European Immigration Crisis and the events that led up to it (which are described in more detail in Part 7), which caused asylum applications to boom.  This severely log-jammed Migrationsverket, and their ability to process applications speedily*. Prior to this time, uppehållstillstånd (or, a residence permit) was much quicker to procure; four months, in and out.  This has led several of us to false hopes in the beginning of our own applications, thinking we could expect a speedy turn around too.
* For added proof, please review the second-to-last paragraph of page 9 of this 2013 EMN Policy Report re: the beginning of increased times due to asylum seekers.  And again, in the middle of page 11 of this 2014 EMN Policy Report re: increased processing times.

It is, as you might imagine, quite a different story for applicants today.

While I cannot speak for everybody, this is our story.

(EDITED) The Swedish Sambo Visa in 2015 Part 2: The Process (updated 9 Nov 2015)

EDIT (9 November 2015):  I wrote the following blog post less than 2 months ago, and already the wait times have elongated substantially.  I have also learned a lot more.  So, the following contains several changes to the original post (published 7 September, and updated once previously on 25 October). 

This is just a quick run-down of the process for applying for a UT ("Uppehållestillstånd, or residence permit) on the basis of a relationship. And just another reminder: this is the process for NON-EU CITIZEN APPLICANTS.  EU citizens have a whole different process.  Read more about it on MV's website here.

I've edited this piece several times as I learn new information. What you're about to read is not pretty, and it is not going to feel good.  So, prepare yourself for it.  However, it is the truth and the reality of the situation we (or, more appropriately, Sweden) has found itself in due to the refugee bonanza.  One thing you need to do is take a slow, deep, calming breath, and when you're ready, say firmly to yourself:  "I AM GOING TO SURVIVE THIS." Because, you will.  It will hurt like hell, but you WILL MAKE IT THROUGH.

With that said.....

The Swedish Sambo Visa in 2015 Part 1: What is it?

This topic will require several installments, as well as full disclosure that I am still figuring it out, piece by piece. Given that I am only little more than half way through the process (8 months and counting), I can't speak with full authority on how this will all shake out.  But I have 8 months under my belt, and have spoken to Migrationsverket ("MV") enough times to ensure they hate me, so I might as well share what I have learned about the Swedish Sambo Visa.

EDIT: A reminder that this is the overview for NON-EU CITIZEN APPLICANTS.  EU citizens have a whole different process.  Read more about it on MV's website here.