You are asking on HN, so you are bound to be the kind of person who can go to Sweden, find work or continue to work remotely for your present employer or whatever, and settle into things and be welcomed.
The office language is often English, everyone speaks excellent English and everyone is happy to speak it. I know many immigrants in the IT sector who have picked up only the most basic Swedish despite years of living there; you can get by by just talking to absolutely everyone in English.
At least half of the programmers at offices I’ve seen are immigrants. They have a variety of reasons for going to Sweden, which usually seem to start with uni eg from the classic “met my wife-to-be when she was an exchange student” to “studied here, never went home” etc.
Now there’s an entirely different experience for the unskilled and refugees, but although there is an veiled racist vocal right wing, the real people, even those who live near flyktingboende, seem compassionate.
There's a difference between tolerance and acceptance. People are very nice and tolerant of foreigners, but they will always be the "other" in society.
This is btw the case for immigrants in most places in the world, especially Asia. But because Sweden especially gets such a high reputation for being welcoming, I feel the need to contextualize.
Right so second hand. Also please note your friends have motivation to smooth over the rough patches of their new lives the same way you have when discussing Swedish immigration in general.
I used to live in Umeå, so I can tell you from first-hand experience (as an American). It wasn't easy. Everything people say about America's immigration policy being "racist" are also true about Sweden - with exemptions only for those seeking asylum. The Nordic countries in general actually aren't that easy to immigrate to. In my case, I basically had to prove a level of wealth that for 99% of the population of the world wouldn't be possible. (It was actually recommended to me to BUY a house before I was allowed to permanently move!)
By comparison, moving to Germany was a breeze and I still have a valid German green card to this day. In retrospect, this is almost obviously true when you compare the demographics of both countries. Sweden is more homogenous than Germany by far despite offering social benefits that are substantially more valuable.
This applies to anyone, whether you're syrian or american; learn the language and find a job. Those are key to getting citizenship.
A friend moved here from the states for a job, so he had the job ready before he came. He learned enough swedish to speak it daily within 2 years. No problem getting citizenship.
Post-2015 Sweden is quite difficult to immigrate to if you aren't doing it via a skilled employment visa. The requirements, along with the amount of time it takes to get simple things working properly (like a social security number and a bank account) once you do get here are cumbersome. Plus housing is an issue, you will find that it is quite a struggle to get a permanent rental contract in the major cities like Stockholm and Malmö. The language is also quite difficult for us English speakers to learn because everyone loves to practice their English with you so even when you attempt to speak Swedish they recognise you are an English speaker and change languages.
Very welcoming if you are an analphabet from the 3rd world or IS fighter.
If you are coming on a work visa expect some difficulties. And if you do anything minor like not taking out all your vacation days you will lose your visa.
