‘The officer laughed at me’: Bengaluru founder opens up about Swedish visa rejection and return to India

In late February, Abhijith Nag Balasubramanya packed up his life in Sweden into one suitcase and boarded a flight to Bengaluru. What followed was days of anger and resentment over the way he was treated Swedish authorities. Now, the India-born entrepreneur is ready to talk about why he was forced to sell his startup and leave Sweden.Abhijith Nag Balasubramanya, 30, was forced to sell his startup in Sweden over visa issuesOver a telephonic conversation with HT.com, 30-year-old Abhijith said that Swedish bureaucracy killed his business, even though he had nothing but praise for the people of Sweden and its regional governments and Municipalities.Working in EuropeAt 30, Bengaluru-born Abhijith Balasubramanya has more degrees than most people — one in electrical engineering, a second in international marketing from Germany, and the third is a research master’s in Sustainable Economics from Sweden.Despite this, academia never enticed him. And the corporate world left him burnt out.“I have been working for the last six years. I worked at a company in Germany called Murrelektronik, then in Sweden at a company called Northvolt. I also worked at an eco-village in Sweden called Sudern, where I got into hydroponics,” he told HT.com. “Briefly, I also worked in France at a company called Verkor, which was into electrical battery manufacturing for EV cars.”It was while working in France, where he was earning around 45,000 euros a year ( ₹48 lakh approximately), that Abhijith experienced burnout so severe he had to return home to India.After returning home, he decided to follow his passion of growing produce on a more professional level.Relocating to SwedenAbhijith began applying for a Sweden visa and was lucky enough to get approval for a Job Seeker/Potential to start a Business Residence Permit, which allows recipients to stay in Sweden for up to nine months. In November 2024, he moved to Sweden with the dream of starting his own hydroponics business.Abhijith had worked in Sweden in the past as well, which is when he had realised that the north of Sweden had little supply of fresh produce. With his startup, he aimed to address that gap.“The eco village Sudern is where I found my passion for hydroponics because I was working as an applied research coordinator. That’s where I fell in love with hydroponics,” he said.“But since it was a part-time job and I was also writing my master’s thesis, I couldn’t make it my full-time job.“After that, I had to find a full-time job to stay in Sweden, so I applied to Northvolt and got in. This was around 2022. I moved about 700 kilometres north of Stockholm, close to the Arctic Circle.“There, I noticed a big issue — the food in supermarkets wasn’t nutritious because it travelled long dances. the time you bought it, especially greens and vegetables, they would go bad quickly. That’s where the idea came from to use my hydroponics experience to grow local food in northern Sweden,” he said.A startup in SwedenAbhijith started growing produce in his basement, using a small hydroponics kit. “I started small — growing in my home unit and talking to local municipalities to understand how to start a business there. I started growing in my basement in Skellefteå,” he recalled.“I posted on a local Facebook group asking if anyone wanted to try my produce. Within two hours, I got 40 responses. I dributed everything for free, though many people insed on paying. That really motivated me.“Then I approached a supermarket, ICA Kvantum. I showed them a presentation of my work and gave them samples. They loved the quality and were interested in working with me,” he told HT.com.At this point, Abhijith was working alone and doing everything from growing the produce to market research to approaching potential customers.“This was before formally regering the company. I wanted to validate demand first. After getting confirmation, I regered the company in May 2025,” he said.That’s how he became the founder of Hydro Space Sweden AB, with the dream of making north Sweden food secure.The challenges of being an immigrant entrepreneurHowever, growing the startup was not easy. Abhijith had to contend not only with operational delays and setbacks but also with the Swedish Migration Agency — which was ultimately responsible for his eviction.“Our equipment arrived late due to shipping delays from China. We started full-scale production in December. But soon after, I was asked to leave Sweden,” he said.In July 2025, Abhijith’s initial visa was set to expire. He had already filed paperwork for a business visa.“I wanted to make sure everything was legal, so I uploaded all the documents that I had. And then I even wrote to them saying that if they needed any more documents, please let me know. I’ll be happy to provide. After that, I never heard back from them till the first week of December,” he said.Reasons for deportation“In the first week of December, I received a letter from the migration agency stating that, based on the documents I had submitted, my application was likely to be rejected. They led four reasons, but none of them made much sense,” said the entrepreneur.Abhijith told HT.com that Migrationsverket, the Swedish Migration Agency, gave him four reasons as to why his application had been rejected. He refuted all four reasons, calling them baseless.“The first reason was that I did not have prior experience running a business. This was incorrect. I had been actively involved in my parents’ company and was managing its full-scale operations. While I did not own 100% of the company—as it is a coffee business and I did not have the capital to hold complete ownership—I was still running it in a significant capacity,” he told HT.com.The second reason“The second reason they gave was that I did not have sufficient knowledge of Swedish, which again was not true,” he said.“As part of my application, I had submitted proof of my language proficiency through SFI (Swedish for Immigrants), a government-run programme that certifies language levels. I had completed levels C and D, and while I was still waiting for the official certificate for level D due to the midsummer holiday closures, I already had my results.“I shared screenshots of those results along with my level C certificate and informed them that I would submit the final certificate as soon as I received it.“Moreover, their own guidelines stated that applicants needed proficiency in either Swedish or English—not both. English is my native language, and I have completed my entire education in English, including publishing my master’s thesis in the language. So, even independently of my Swedish proficiency, I met the language requirement,” Abhijith claimed.The third reason“The third point they raised was that I did not have enough customers, which I found particularly frustrating.“ that stage, I had already secured ICA Kvantum as a client and had formal acceptance documentation from them. I had also approached restaurants and other smaller provisional stores myself providing them with taste boxes as samples and had them as my customers,” he explained.The fourth and final pointFinally, the Swedish Migration Agency told the Indian entrepreneur that he did not have enough personal capital to support himself. Abhijith dismissed this too.“There was also a fourth concern they raised—that I did not have enough personal capital to support myself in Sweden. According to their own guidelines, I needed to show around 200,000 Swedish kronor ( ₹20 lakh approximately). I had already submitted proof of 250,000 kronor ( ₹25 lakh) in my personal bank account—not my business account, just my personal funds,” he said.(Also read: Bengaluru tech founder says his US visa was rejected after question on salary)“What made this particularly confusing was that they already had full access to my bank statements. Despite that, I sent them an updated statement again on the same date, confirming that the funds were still intact and had not been used.“I also mentioned that I could provide statements from my Indian bank account if required, as I had additional funds there but had chosen not to transfer everything to my Swedish account,” Abhijith claimed.Leaving SwedenDespite sending clarifications, bank statements, customer contracts, and certifications, Abhijith never got a proper response from Swedish authorities. this time, his case had begun to receive attention in local media.On February 6, 2026, Abhijith’s application was rejected. He was asked to leave Sweden within 28 days.He directed his frustration towards the migration agency in general and his case officer in particular.“Because of the publicity surrounding my case, the officer knew who I was. I asked him whether additional personal funds or investment into the company’s account could improve my chances, but he never gave a direct answer. “He avoided answering me and said he could not give me any such information,” Abhijith explained.“When I followed up to ask if there was any other way to secure a visa, he said he couldn’t provide specifics, as the decision was made on a case–case basis and only he knew which documents were required.“When I pressed for guidance, he laughed over the call. The interaction felt dismissive and, frankly, xenophobic,” said Abhijith.Selling the companyWith just weeks to wrap up his operations, Abhijith faced the daunting task of selling his produce and shutting down the business he had poured so much time, energy, and resources into. He immediately contacted the procurement manager at ICA Kvantum, explaining the situation. The manager, recognising the value of Abhijith’s products, agreed to help.Abhijith and his intern harvested all their produce in a single day, packing around 800 items into 60–80 bags. Each bag was sold at a deep discount to ensure nothing went to waste, and within hours, everything was pre-booked and sold.For this final batch, the startup earned roughly 12,000 Swedish kronor (around ₹1.2 lakh).So what is next for this entrepreneur? As of right now, Abhijith is not sure. He is back in Bengaluru and has joined his family’s coffee business, and is not certain whether he wants to go abroad anytime soon.