Masood is, after two years, still waiting to hear from the Migration Agency
It was in April we met Masood Ali Khakhrani, his wife and his polyglot daughter who were waiting to hear both about jobs and about a work visa. So what has happened since then?
– Since April, I am still looking for jobs. And the main hurdle I have been facing is the language.
Masood has been constantly applying for jobs and has had several interviews, in the end though it has always come down to not speaking fluent Swedish. On one occasion he was at the final interview stage and was told that he would be contacted the next day.
– I waited for a whole week before I called myself and then they said ‘sorry, we moved on with the Swedish-speaking person’ so this was the main disappointment I had because I was very much hopeful for that one.
Masood has also had interviews over videocall where the recruiter just cut the call as soon as they heard he was speaking English. When Masood phoned back up again they told him they only want people who speak Swedish.
– It's natural that preference will be given to a local person rather than an expat. I accept this and it's not a thing which I can complain of. But one thing is that if they think we are on the right track, we are learning and we are practicing, they should give us a chance.
Masood feels like employers, in companies where Swedish is not a necessity, should try a six months’ probation period while the employee can improve their Swedish and then assess after.
Two years after having applied for a work permit Masood has still not heard from the Migration Agency.
– I'm a bit stuck because of this. I cannot go to my home country to visit and I cannot go to another country. I think they need to handle all the cases within six months. I'm not saying that they should say yes to all applicants but the maximum time for handling the case should be six months so people can know what they are doing or how much time they have, Masood says.
Masood now has very little time left to secure a job before his time runs out. While his family still remains in Skellefteå, many of his friends and former colleagues have left.
Masood's wife Ayesha Masood and daughter Alaya Ali Khakhrani love snow which is one reason why they want to stay.
– I will say it's a 75-25 ratio. Only 25% of people have found jobs. The majority of people I know have moved to Malmö, Gothenburg and Stockholm in search of opportunities. Very few people have found jobs here in Skellefteå. Some are working for Stegra in Boden.
The family would of course like to stay in Skellefteå, particularly his wife Ayesha and daughter Alaya who love snow. However, time is now quickly running out for Masood.
– If I don't find a job within the time frame I have I will move from Sweden. I will move back to my country and I respect the laws here but if I get the chance I will come back again.
Thinking back over the last year Masood Ali Khakhrani has a lot of thoughts about what could have been done differently at Northvolt.
– They should have been straightforward with us. From November when they laid off the first 1,600 employees, we should have learnt the lesson at that time. But they were saying that everything is now looking positive, they had reduced all the extra costs and we’re now on track and they set new targets.
Masood says that there was a sense among the employees that they were part of something big, the great future of green energy. There was hope until the very end and that made it harder when several thousand people became unemployed and starting looking for work at the same time.
Ayesha Masood, Alaya Ali Khakhrani and Masood Ali Khakhrani outside their home in Anderstorp.
Masood still harbours a hope that the factory in Skellefteå could be viable if the finances are managed better.
– Finance is not my direct domain. But I have been hiring people and I know how to budget, how many employees you need and how much expansion you can do – on a smaller level of course, Northvolt was a huge setup, Masood says and continues:
– They should have realised that if their finances are not manageable, they should have tried to minimise their costs earlier. And they should have stopped the expansions. The production plants were not 100% productive so they should have focused on that first because in the expansion, they spent a lot of money.
– And one more thing is that they were very generous to new employees with paying for relocation and everything like that. If they had started cost-cutting initially, they would have saved a lot.
When asked the, perhaps somewhat tone-deaf, question whether he has any plans for the summer Masood does not miss a beat.
– For now, the main plan is to secure a job. Any other plans are secondary.