Migration influx in Western countries resulting in increas-ingly diverse societies results in more complex situationsfor bureaucrats in their client interactions in welfareorganizations. The role of discretion for services to clientshas received much attention in the public administrationresearch and therefore this study explores the relationamong perceived workload, anti-immigration attitudes,perceived discretion, and perceived difficulty in workingwith migrants. The paper examines the function of per-ceived discretion as moderator or mediator variable inthis constellation. The relations are examined by usingstructural equation modelling based on a survey amongSwedish welfare bureaucrats (N = 1,319). The results showthat heavier perceived workload increased the likelihoodof experiencing work with migrants as difficult and thatgreater perceived discretion decreased the likelihood ofexperiencing work with migrants as difficult. The resultssuggest that perceived discretion functions as a mediatorfor the relation between perceived workload and difficultyin work with migrants: potentially functioning as a ‘buffer’for organizational pressure. We also found that bureaucratswho hold negative attitudes towards migrants were morelikely to express their work with migrants as more diffi-cult. This paper contributes to the public administrationliterature by increasing our knowledge on how discretion has significance in relation to when bureaucrat’s behaviouris determined by specific organizational and personalfactors.