Annual Report 2025
Verification of identity and the right to work in the Swedish labor market.
About the report
This report summarizes developments in identity checks and verification of the right to work in Sweden in the Swedish labor market. The content is based on Sistec's observations during 2025 and our accumulated experience since the start in 2018.
The purpose is to provide employers and clients with a clear picture of current trends and changes affecting recruitment and enrollment procedures in 2026.
About Sistec
Sistec was founded in 2018 with the goal of providing reliable identity checks for employers in the Swedish labor market. With 20 service centers and a team of 30 specialists, we are today the leader in identity validation and verification of the right to work. Since the start, we have checked over 400,000 workers and supported more than 8,000 companies from multiple industries and sectors.
Our service Right to Work is a digital platform that ensures identity and labor rights through structured processes for compliance, verification, and follow-up.
The debate on background checks
Sweden has an unusual and weakly regulated model where population registration data is sold by private companies that have built extensive databases about citizens - a direct consequence of the digitalization and commercialization of the phone directory.
This means that criminal networks and foreign powers can quickly map police officers, military officers, and private individuals. Organized crime uses the data for bombings, kidnappings, and fraud.
The police estimate that approximately 14,000 people are active in criminal networks in Sweden and that an additional 48,000 have connections. Far from all have been convicted of crimes. There are likely thousands of potential, unconvicted enablers with direct links to network crime.
The concept of background checks therefore needs to be broadened. Good and current personal knowledge, recurring in-depth employee interviews, and a clear function for personnel security are today at least as important tools as traditional checks.
Exemptions from work permits on Swedish construction sites
During our checks, Sistec has for several years encountered individuals from Baltic recruitment companies that lease personnel to Swedish construction sites. These actors have built an infrastructure where the Baltic countries are used as transit hubs to establish third-country labor in Scandinavia.
Third-country nationals with residence permits in another EU country, who have the right to stay and work there, are exempt from Swedish work permits in connection with temporary contract work. This exemption is systematically used by Baltic recruitment companies.
Authorities' assessment 2025
During 2025, the Border Police has extensively focused on individuals claiming exemptions. Observations from 21 deportation decisions:
- The individual is employed by a company based in another EU country
- The individual has a residence permit in the EU country where the company is based
- During questioning about actual residence, the answers have often indicated that the actual residence is in the individual's home country, not in the EU country where the permit was issued
- Countries involved: Poland, Lithuania, and Spain
When the police's conclusion about actual residence did not match the information, decisions were made to deport from Sweden with a re-entry ban.
The cleaning industry as an unwitting money mule
Our checks show that approximately seven percent of the individuals we reviewed in the cleaning industry during 2025 show indicators of schemes linked to money laundering. In practice, the employee is then no longer working for the cleaning company but for a criminal organization using the person as a money mule - without the actual employer's knowledge.
The schemes typically work so that individuals are recruited by criminal networks and receive help opening a bank account, obtaining employment, and managing salary flows. The salary deposited by the employer is forwarded to the criminal organization, while the individual is compensated in cash. In several cases, fake ID documents or work permits have been provided.
Reputable cleaning companies, and by extension their clients, therefore risk becoming part of the money laundering chain without knowing it.
Identity fraud, trends, and methods
Trends in identity fraud during Sistec's checks in 2025 largely mirror 2024. The majority of forgeries consisted of fake EU documents in the form of passports, national ID cards, and residence permits.
Lookalike
Sharp increase in cases where a genuine passport is used by the wrong person. Detected through facial recognition in the Right to Work platform.
Driver's licenses in commercial traffic
Every week, fake driver's licenses are reported at police checkpoints. SVT identified 63 cases of fake driver's licenses in service in Skane alone.
Fake Ukrainian passports
Trend break during 2024-2025 with fake Ukrainian passports to obtain residence permits under the mass displacement directive.
eID remotely
eID does not show nationality and cannot ensure that the right person is identifying themselves. Common for person X to lend their eID to person Y.
Digital ID cards
Major actors like Systembolaget do not accept digital ID cards - a combination of well-made forgeries and inadequate security features.
AI-generated ID documents
AI technology enables exact copies of genuine documents for a large number of nationalities. The purpose is to display on web meetings or send digitally.
When verifying the right to work
Track change abolished
In 2025, the possibility of track change (switching from asylum application to work permit) was abolished. Temporary work permits granted on this basis become invalid upon expiry. Employers with employees who received permits via track change need to be aware that these individuals are no longer allowed to work while awaiting a decision.
Support requirement
The introduction of the support requirement has increased awareness of verifying the right to work, especially in labor-intensive industries. This has led to a general increase in identity checks in the labor market.
Residence permits for studies
Specialized organizations abroad send people to Sweden for work in service professions, often via residence permits for studies. The organizations handle administration, pay fees, and deposit subsistence funds. Once in Sweden, studies are discontinued and the person works full-time supported by the study permit.
Stricter renewal procedures
Authorities now require a physical visit to a government service center with valid ID and biometrics when renewing permits. If new information emerges, previous permits may be reconsidered and revoked.
Labor market trends
Shift from legal to illegal labor
The abolition of track change, stricter support requirements, and more rejections have led to a large group of previously legally active individuals no longer being employable. This has created a recruitment base for unscrupulous actors who exploit vulnerable individuals.
Municipal in-house trend
Several municipalities have claimed that certain services should be handled internally for increased control. However, the municipal sector is the part of the labor market that conducts checks to the least extent. Instead of internalizing the problems, industries, contracting parties, and authorities need to collaborate.
Nationality and citizenship
The changed security situation has led to increased awareness of citizenship. Since driver's licenses and the Swedish Tax Agency's ID cards do not contain nationality, many organizations need to update their processes for identity checks.
In 2026
License tourism stopped
The government prohibits exchange from third-country driver's licenses via EEA to Swedish driver's license. Effective May 1, 2026.
Permanent residence permits can be revoked
Proposal to revoke permanent residence permits. May affect 98,000-180,000 people. Proposed January 1, 2027.
CER Directive
The Resilience Act requires verified identity for everyone with access to critical environments - employees, consultants, and suppliers.
Summary and recommendations
During 2025, the labor market's focus has continued on identity checks of foreign workers. The labor law checks have become more complex - it is no longer sufficient to only review permits and identity documents.
In 2026, there are clear indications that the focus on verified identity will broaden to include employees and external personnel from EU/EEA countries and Sweden, driven by the changed security situation and upcoming requirements in the CER Directive.
Recommendations for employers
Physical meeting - Conduct the check at a physical meeting. All ID documents and permits should be reviewed in original.
Verify nationality - Ensure that the ID document contains information about nationality. Driver's licenses and the Swedish Tax Agency's ID cards are not sufficient.
Do not accept remote eID - Digital identification remotely cannot ensure that the right person is identifying themselves.
Do not accept images - Images can easily be manipulated and should not be used for identification.
Closing reflection
The labor market is currently undergoing its biggest transformation in over a decade regarding identity security. During 2025, we have seen how regulations have tightened, how demands on employers have increased, and how criminal actors have adapted their methods - often faster than both legislation and supervision.
2026 will be the year when identity security goes from "nice to have" to a prerequisite for safe and legal staffing. Employers who prepare now will not only reduce risks - they will also be able to compete with quality, transparency, and trust.
Sistec will continue to closely follow developments, support employers in understanding the regulations, and contribute the practical expertise needed to make the labor market safer and more resilient.