Frequently asked ques­tions about moving to some­one in Sweden

The main rule is that if you want to live with someone in Sweden you must apply for a residence permit from your home country or the country that you have permission to live in. The residence permit must be ready before you enter Sweden. In certain cases you can be granted a residence permit without having to leave Sweden. This may apply if you already have another residence permit or if you have children or are pregnant.

Restrictions in different countries due to the coronavirus or the fact that certain countries are especially vulnerable do not affect the requirement that the residence permit must be ready before entry. In some individual cases, there may be reasons to make exceptions to this requirement, for example if the effects of the spread of the coronavirus causes children and parents to stay apart for too long. The Swedish Migration Agency makes an individual assessment in each case.

In most cases, you must visit a Swedish embassy or consulate-general for verification of passport and other documents, verbal interview and to be photographed and provide fingerprints for a residence permit card. A visit to a Swedish embassy or consulate-general is therefore necessary and the embassies and consulates-general have no possibilities of conducting the interview by telephone, Skype or video.

No, the Swedish Migration Agency does not grant any visas to conduct the interview in Sweden. As an applicant you must follow the instructions from the local authorities and first consult the website of the relevant embassy/consulate-general to check the possibilities of conducting, for example, an interview. Via Sweden Abroad External link, opens in new window. you can find the websites of the embassies/consulates-general.

The Swedish Migration Agency cannot influence decisions made by other countries regarding border controls. You should therefore contact the embassy and reschedule your appointment for a later date. Via Sweden Abroad External link, opens in new window. you can find the websites and contact information of the embassies/consulates-general.

If you travel abroad in connection with your permit expiring and you have applied for an extension, it can be difficult for you to return to Sweden before you have been granted your new permit. You may then need to wait for your new decision outside Sweden.

If you have to travel back to Sweden before that for urgent reasons, it is possible to apply for a national entry visa. With such a visa, you can travel back to Sweden and wait there for your decision on extension. You apply for an entry visa at a Swedish embassy or consulate-general in the country where you are located, provided that the authority issues entry visas. You must be aware that such an application requires that there are special grounds for issuing an entry visa and that the Swedish Migration Agency cannot control how the embassy or consulate decides in the application. It is therefore only in exceptional cases, and if you really have to, that you should leave Sweden during the processing time. Examples of special grounds can be sudden illness, death in the family or important job-related assignments. The embassy may require a certificate regarding the reason for the trip. You should also be aware that a decision on a national entry visa cannot be appealed.

Read about how to apply for a residence permit to move to a person you are already married to, or a registered partner or in a live-in relationship with

Read about how to apply for a residence permit to move to a future spouse or live-in partner

Read about how to apply for a residence permit for a child under 18 years of age

Read about how to apply for a residence permit to move to another family member in Sweden

On the application, you enter information about yourself and the person in Sweden you want to move to. You must also send in various documents. Besides the address, phone number and email address for the family member in Sweden, you also need his or her Swedish personal identity number.

You indicate what Swedish embassy or consulate-general you want to visit to hold your interview. You must visit the embassy or consulate-general in the country you live in. If there is no Swedish embassy or consulate-general in the country you live in, you must turn to the nearest neighbouring country that has a Swedish embassy or consulate-general that you have permission to travel to. Not all Swedish embassies and consulates-general administer migration cases. Therefore, check in advance if the embassy you want to visit handles migration cases.

Swedish embassies and consulates-general External link, opens in new window.

If you have children under the age of 18 who will accompany you to Sweden, you must apply for a residence permit for them at the same time.

Read more about how to apply for a residence permit to move to someone

If you have completed an online application, you can essentially always count on the case being complete since it cannot be sent in otherwise. We may nonetheless need more information from you depending on what comes forth in the administration process, but we won’t know that until we begin administering your case.

You can find all the information about this on My Page

On My Page, you can see if your supplements have been received by the Swedish Migration Agency

It is always good for you to send in new information to the Swedish Migration Agency. You can send it in the post or submit it to an office or the embassy or consulate-general where you turned in your application.

Contact information to the Swedish Migration Agency

The Swedish Migration Agency will contact you if we need more information from you. The case officer can also make a decision in your case without needing to contact you. If you want to submit new information in your case, you can do so by phone, email or in the post. You can also visit the Swedish Migration Agency or the embassy or consulate-general where you turned in your application.

Contact information to the Swedish Migration Agency

The decision must be issued before you travel to Sweden. While you are waiting on a decision, you can apply for an entry visa to temporarily visit Sweden. It is the embassy in the country you live in that reviews your application for an entry visa and an individual assessment is always done.

A prerequisite for being granted an entry visa is that the embassy deems that your intention is to leave Sweden when your visa expires. If you are granted an entry visa to visit, it is important that you return home when it expires and wait there for a decision in your residence permit case. A residence permit cannot normally be granted if you are in Sweden. You can only apply for a visa at a Swedish embassy or consulate-general in the country that you are in. Other Member States that represent Sweden cannot grant applications for an entry visa during the time that you are waiting. If you have a visa exemption and are waiting on a decision for a residence permit, you can also visit Sweden temporarily.

The Swedish Migration Agency recommends for several reasons that you do not apply for a residence permit for a visit that concerns stays over 90 days in Sweden:

• You cannot be granted two residence permits at the same time. The Swedish Migration Agency decides in the case that is most advantageous for you.
• If you apply for a residence permit for a visit while you are in Sweden, you are at risk of a rejection of your application for a residence permit to move to someone.
• If you are outside Sweden, you must wait until a decision is made in the application that is most advantageous for you. This may mean that the dates that you apply for a residence permit for a visit may have passed when the decision is made.

The Swedish Migration Agency therefore recommends that you do not apply for a residence permit for a visit in these cases

If you have been photographed and submitted your fingerprints at an embassy or consulate-general, you will receive the card from them. Ask the embassy or consulate-general if they are sending it to you or if you have to collect it. Once you received the decision on a residence permit, it can take up to four weeks before you can collect it at the embassy or consulate-general.

If you have been photographed and submitted your fingerprints at the Swedish Migration Agency, your card will be sent to your home address within a week.

The residence permit card is manufactured in connection with the decision being made, although no earlier than three months before the residence permit begins to apply.

It is not possible to shorten the time for manufacture and delivery of the card.

If the residence permit card is to be sent to your home address, we need your address. If you have moved, you can provide your new address at the appointment. Remember to say if you live with somebody else and have a c/o address.

Yes, by submitting a complete application. It is also important that you check that the family member you will move to in Sweden meets the requirements on financial support and housing. This means that your family member must be able to support both you and him- or herself and also have a home of an adequate size and standard.

Read more about the maintenance requirement

We cannot say exactly how long the processing time is in your individual case. We can only provide a general answer based on how long the processing time is in the cases we have decided on right now.

Processing times can vary. Two cases submitted at the same time can have different decision dates. The reason is that the processing of a case is made up of several parts before a decision can be taken. Different parts can take different amounts of time. One reason why one case can take longer than another is if the Swedish Migration Agency needs to request supplementary information in the case.

The Swedish Migration Agency does not grant priority. All applications have to be processed rapidly and simply in the light of the circumstances of the case. This means that similar cases have to be processed in a similar way with roughly the same processing time, irrespective of whether they are online applications or paper applications. But we do not process cases in order based on when they were received by the Swedish Migration Agency. Instead, it depends on what type of application it is and what it looks like; whether the application needs to be supplemented, whether an oral investigation needs to be carried out or whether the application needs to be investigated more for various reasons. The rules about processing cases in order are only used between cases that are similar, for instance cases in which an oral investigation is required.

If you feel that the processing of your application is taking too long, you are able to send in a written request that the Swedish Migration Agency conclude your case. For you to be able to send in a request to the Swedish Migration Agency, six months must have passed since you sent in your application. Then the Swedish Migration Agency has to either conclude your case or refuse your request within four weeks.

To request that the Swedish Migration Agency conclude your case, you must do so in writing. Feel free to use the form Request to conclude a case, 271011, and send it to the Swedish Migration Agency.

You can only send in one request in each case.

Request to conclude a case, form 271011 Pdf, 911.4 kB, opens in new window.

When the Swedish Migration Agency has gone through your application and the questionnaire that your family member in Sweden sends in, you will receive an email where we ask you to book an interview appointment at the embassy or consulate-general.

Bring your passport and the originals of the documents you sent in with your application. Children who are applying should also accompany you. During the interview, you will answer questions about your relationship to the person in Sweden. The passport and the original documents will be checked at the embassy or consulate-general.

If you are granted a residence permit, you get a residence permit card. The card contains your fingerprints and a photograph of you, among other information. The fingerprints and photo are only stored on the card’s chip.

If you need an entry visa to travel to Sweden, you need the residence permit card when you travel to Sweden. You will therefore be photographed and submit your fingerprints in connection with your interview. If you are granted a residence permit to settle in Sweden, your residence permit card will be sent to the embassy where you had your interview.

If you do not need an entry visa to travel to Sweden, you can travel without the residence permit card. You must submit what is needed for the residence permit card at the Swedish Migration Agency once you have come to Sweden.

The documentation from your interview is sent to the Swedish Migration Agency for processing. We will contact you if we need more information or documents from you. You do not need to contact the Swedish Migration Agency.