The thesis addresses the debate about the impact of immigration policy on the socio-economic incorporation of immigrants. A distinction between rights-based and responsibility-based models of incorporation is made and the effect of a feature of the responsibility-based model, temporary residence permits, on socio-economic incorporation is studied. Empirically, a policy change in Sweden that entailed a shift from permanent to temporary residence permits is explored through individual-level register and survey data. The thesis uses a two-folded methodological approach: a traditional regression approach and a fuzzy regression discontinuity design. The composition of the available data motivates the two-folded approach. The limitations of both approaches are discussed, and the results compared and contrasted. The results indicate that immigrants with temporary residence permits work more than immigrants with permanent residence permits. This result should however be interpreted with caution due to the limitations of the approaches used. The results do not show a significant effect oftemporary residence permits on an educational outcome, Swedish tuition, nor on a labour market activation outcome, participation in labour market programmes. The predictions that immigrants with temporary residence permits study less and participate in labour market programmes more than immigrants with permanent residence permits are thus not supported.

Denna uppsats studerar hur de tillfälliga uppehållstillstånden påverkar nyanländas incitament att ta sig in på den svenska arbetsmarknaden. En av motiveringarna bakom den tillfälliga lagen var – förutom att ge svenskt flyktingmottagande ett andrum – att ge nyanlända personer starkare drivkrafter att komma in på arbetsmarknaden. För att undersöka detta görs en brytpunktsanalys (Regression Discontinuity design) där individer som registrerat sin asylansökan hos Migrationsverket före och efter den 24 november 2015 jämförs. Detta datum avgör om barn och barnfamiljer behandlas enligt den gamla eller den tillfälliga lagen, och därmed om de har möjlighet att få permanenta eller tillfälliga uppehållstillstånd. Resultaten visar att individer på olika sidor om datumgränsen inte verkar skilja sig åt i förutbestämda variabler, vilket tyder på att de inte har haft möjlighet att bestämma vilken sida av datumgränsen de hamnat på. Individer som passerat gränsen har signifikant lägre sannolikhet att få permanenta uppehållstillstånd, minskningen är dock marginell. Det beror troligen på att uppföljningsperioden är kort. Som indikation på hur incitamenten att komma in på arbetsmarknaden påverkas av reformen studeras invandrartäthet samt arbetslöshetsnivå i de län som sökande bor i ett år efter ankomsten. Resultaten tyder på att individer som fick sin ansökan registrerad efter brytpunkten inte bor i län där invandrartätheten eller arbetslösheten är annorlunda. Även detta kan bero på att det än så länge gått för kort tid för att kunna se några effekter. / This paper studies how the temporary residence permits affects immigrants’ incentives to enter the Swedish labor market. One of the reasons behind the adoption of the temporary permits was – in addition to provide Swedish refugee reception a relief – to give immigrants stronger incentives to enter the labor market. To study this, a Regression Discontinuity design study is done, where individuals who had their asylum application registered at the Swedish Migration Agency before and after November 24, 2015 are compared. This date will determine if children and families are treated by the old or the temporary law, and thus if they can get permanent or temporary residence permit.   The results show that individuals on different sides of the dateline do not seem to differ in predetermined variables, suggesting that they have not been able to decide which side of the dateline they are on. Individuals who crossed the threshold are significantly less likely to have permanent residence permits, the decrease is however marginal. This is probably because the follow-up period is short. As an indication of how the incentives to enter the labor market are affected by the reform, immigrant density and unemployment rate in the county that the applicant lives in a year after the arrival is used. The results suggest that individuals who registered their applications after the threshold does not live in counties with a different immigrant density or unemployment rate. This as well can be due to that the follow-up period is short.