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Maintenance requirements

If you live in Sweden, you may be subject to a maintenance requirement. This means that you must be able to support yourself and have a home of sufficient size and standard for you and your relative(s) to live in together.

The maintenance requirement does not apply to everybody. 

Exceptions


The maintenance requirement does not apply to you if you:
  • are a citizen of Sweden, another EEA country or Switzerland
  • have a permanent residence permit and have stayed in Sweden for at least four years with a residence permit for settlement
  • are a child under the age of 18
  • have been granted a residence permit as a refugee or have been granted a declaration of refugee status
  • have been granted a residence permit as a person eligible for subsidiary protection or have been granted status as a person eligible for subsidiary protection
  • have special grounds, for example long-term impairment of capacity to work owing to illness.

You will also be exempted if you have been granted a residence permit as a person otherwise in need of protection according to the Aliens Act of 2005 and the decision was made before 1 January 2010, if the reasons for the decision are that you:

  • felt a well-founded fear of suffering the death penalty or being subjected to corporal punishment, torture or other inhuman treatment
  • needed protection because of external or internal armed conflict.

Nor does the maintenance requirement apply if it is your child that is applying for a residence permit or if your child applies together with its other parent.

If you are subject to the maintenance requirement

 


If you are subject to the requirement, this means that to begin with you will have to answer questions concerning how you will arrange your support and the size and standard of your home.

Capacity to support yourself


You need to show that you have work-related, regular income, for example pay from full-time work, so that you can support yourself.
Work-related income includes, for instance:
  • wages and salary
  • unemployment benefit
  • sickness benefit
  • income-based old age pension. You also satisfy this requirement if you have a sufficiently large capital on which you can live.

Requirement for home


The maintenance requirement also means that you must have a home of sufficient size and standard for you and your relative(s).  A home big enough for two adults without children is a home with a kitchen or kitchenette, living room and at least one bedroom. If children live there, there must be more than one bedroom. Two children may share a bedroom.

It is possible to subrent accommodation, but the rental must be approved by the landlord, tenant or tenancy board.

You must be able to use the home from when your relative(s) come to Sweden.

This is what will happen when your relative(s) has applied


When the application is received by the Swedish Migration Board, we will send a letter to you as a resident of Sweden. This letter will state that you must complete a standard form available on our website and send it to the Swedish Migration Board. The letter explains which form you must fill in. It is important that you complete the right form, are careful about entering all the details that we ask about and attach the documents we need. The form is only available in Swedish.

These are:

  • A population Registration Certificate, a "family certificate" for a residence permit that shows the address at which you are registered, marital/civil status, children, etc. You can order this from the Swedish Tax Agency. It must not be older than one month when you send it in.
  • A copy of your passport or identity card that contains your personal details.

If you are subject to the maintenance requirement, you should also attach:

  • An employment certificate and/or other documents that show how you support yourself.
  • A tenancy agreement, alternatively a certificate from a housing agency or a landlord and/or other document that shows that you have appropriate housing.

You should not complete any form before you have received the letter from the Swedish Migration Board.

Sidan senast uppdaterad: 2011-09-05