Permits for family members of those who are long-term residents of the EU
If you are granted a Swedish residence permit, your family may also receive permits for the same period as you. Your family may begin working or studying as soon as they arrive in Sweden. They do not need to wait for your application to be processed. Those who are students may work as well as study without having to apply for a specific work permit.
Which members of your family can accompany you to Sweden?
- Your partner (cohabiting partner, spouse or registered partner)
- your or your partner's unmarried children under 21 years of age
- your or your partner's children over 21 years of age if they are dependent on you for financial support
- your or your partner's parents who are financially dependent on you.
How your family should apply
Each family member, including children, fills in the form Application for a residence permit for persons who have long-term resident status in another EU state and their family members, 136011, and sends this or hands it in to one of the Swedish Migration Agency's permit units within three months of their arrival in Sweden.
The Migration Agency's visiting addresses and opening hours
Postal addresses to the Migration Agency's Permit Units
If your family are citizens of a country whose citizens require a visa in order to travel to Sweden, they will need to apply for visas before they travel to Sweden at a Swedish embassy or consulate-general in their country of origin or other country, outside of Sweden, in which they live. The regulations in the EU Visa Code determine whether or not they are granted a visa. Their application may be rejected if the decision-making authority judges that they are unlikely to leave the Schengen area after their visit and that the purpose of their visit is not as specified in their application.
Countries whose citizens require a visa for visits to Sweden (the government's list)
External link.
Read more about applying for visas
Swedish embassies and consulates-general
External link, opens in new window.
Your family should enclose
- copies of the pages in their passports which show their personal information, photograph, signature, passport number, passport issuing country, the period of the passport's validity and whether they have permission to live in countries other than their country of origin.
- copies of marriage certificates or the equivalent (valid for married couples or couples in registered partnership)
- documents which show that you have lived together in your country of origin (valid for cohabiting partners)
- birth certificates or another document showing that you are related (valid for all children and parents of person over 21 years of age)
- documents which show that those over the age of 21 are dependant on their parents or children in Sweden for their support.
Shorter processing times for complete applications
For the Swedish Migration Agency to make a decision about your application, all the details need to be filled in and all necessary documents attached. This means that the processing time will be shorter if all the necessary information is included from the start than if information is added afterwards.
Note that the Migration Agency may in some cases need to further examine your application even if you have included all the required information and documents.
When we have received the application
Your family must show their passports
The Swedish Migration Agency must check all your family member's passport before a decision can be made. They may therefore need to show their passport at a Swedish embassy or consulate-general if they are outside Sweden, or at one of the Swedish Migration Agency's service centres if they are in Sweden.
In some cases, your family members will not be required to show their passport, for example, if the Swedish Migration Agency have already checked the passport during a previous visit.
If your family members needs to show their passport, we will contact them with information on how and when to do so.
The requirement to show your passport in person does not apply to children under the age of five, it is sufficient that the parent brings the child's passport to the visit. However, if the child needs a residence permit card, they must come along to be photographed for it.
Residence permit card
If your family member receives a permit for more than three months, they will receive a residence permit card. The card is a proof that they have permission to be in Sweden and contains, among other things, a photo of them along with their fingerprints. Your family member will be photographed and have their fingerprints taken when they visit us to show their passport. They will be photographed and have their fingerprints taken even if they previously have had a residence permit card, because the Swedish Migration Agency cannot save this information.
Read more about residence permit card
The Migration Agency's visiting addresses and opening hours
After the decision has been made
The decision will be sent to your address in Sweden. When the residence permit cards are ready, they will be sent to your home within about a week.
If the Swedish Migration Agency refuses the application
If the Swedish Migration Agency refuses your family's application, they may appeal the decision within three weeks of the day you received it. Information on how to do this can be found in the decision.
What is a power of attorney?
A power of attorney can be a signed letter in which the person applying for a permit allows another person to represent them. A power of attorney can, for example, give someone the right to apply, be informed of the reasons for a decision, or lodge an appeal for someone else. The power of attorney must be signed by the person who gives their power of attorney to another person, and must be presented in the original if required by the Swedish Migration Agency.
In order to give another person power of attorney, you will need to send a letter to the Swedish Migration Agency stating
- that it is a power of attorney
- the name, date of birth and address of the person giving someone else the power of attorney
- what the person who has the power of attorney has to do
- the name, personal identity number and address of the person who is given the power of attorney
- the signature of the person giving someone else the power of attorney
- the date and place where the power of attorney is signed.
Power of Attorney, form 107011
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