Features · Making It · Published 7 August 2026

Passing SFI is linked to work, but hiring barriers remain

DailySweden
Updated 11:43 · 2 min read

**Four adults use desktop computers during an SFI workshop in Värnamo, Sweden..** Image: Ainali / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

More than nine in ten people who arrived in Sweden as refugees or refugee family members between 2014 and 2018 participated in Swedish for Immigrants, SFI. Most completed a course with a passing grade, and six years after immigration employment or study was more common among those who had passed.

Statistics Sweden describes an association, not proof that the SFI grade caused the later outcome. The analysis did not randomly assign who passed, so

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Passing SFI is linked to work, but hiring barriers remain

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