For the relative in Sweden

You who live in Sweden and have family who are citizens of a country outside the EU or EEA and who want to move to you in Sweden, must meet certain requirements. On this page you will learn more about these requirements. Your family's residence permit must be granted before they move to Sweden.

Requi­re­ments you must meet

Your family member can be granted a residence permit in Sweden if

• you are a Swedish citizen
• you have a permanent residence permit
• you have permanent right of residence or a permanent residence card
  
• you have a temporary residence permit as a refugee or have subsidiary protection status, and are at the same time considered to have well-founded prospects of being granted a residence permit for a longer period
• you have a temporary residence permit on the grounds of impediments to enforcement or exceptionally distressing circumstances, and are considered to have well-founded prospects of being granted a residence permit for a longer period.

Furthermore, you must meet a maintenance requirement (read more under the heading Maintenance requirement).

If you have a work permit or a residence permit for studies in Sweden, other rules apply when your family is moving to you.

Read more about what applies to family of a person with a work permit

Read more about what applies to family of a person with a residence permit for studies

Who counts as a family member?

The following are counted as family members

• wife/husband
• cohabiting partner
• registered partner
• children under the age of 18.

You and your partner must both be over 18 years old.

If you are a Swedish citizen or have a permanent residence permit, the person you are planning to marry or cohabit with may also be granted a residence permit in order to move to you in Sweden. This also applies if you have a temporary residence permit as a refugee, as a person with subsidiary protection status, on the grounds of impediments to enforcement or on the grounds of special or exceptionally distressing circumstances, but then you must be able to show that you have a serious relationship that was already established in the country of origin, but that you did not have the possibility of living together in the country of origin.

In exceptional cases, a close relative, who is not or will not become your spouse or live-in partner, can get a residence permit to live with you in Sweden. You must then have a permanent residence permit.

Read more about residence permits for close relatives

Main­te­nance requi­re­ment

You who live in Sweden must

• be able to support yourself, other persons living in the household and the family members who are applying for a residence permit
• have a home of a sufficient size and standard for you all to live in.
  

Your family member should wait and only send in their application when you fulfil the maintenance requirements.

Your main­te­nance

You need to show that you have regular income that allows you to support yourself, other people in your household, and the family members who are applying for a residence permit. Income includes, for example

• salary/wages from work
  
• unemployment benefits
• sickness benefits
• income-based old-age pensions.
  

You may also fulfil the maintenance requirement (be considered able to support yourself) if you have enough money/taxable assets to support yourself, other persons in your household and the family members who are applying for a residence permit for at least two years.

Your income

The amount of income necessary in order for you to fulfil the maintenance requirement depends on how large your family is and how high your accommodation costs are. Your after-tax income must be sufficient enough, after your accommodation costs are paid each month, to cover, among other things, the cost of food, clothing, personal hygiene products, telephone costs and insurance of all the members of your household.

For 2023 the amount you must have left after the accommodation costs are paid is

• SEK 5,717 for a single adult
• SEK 9,445 for cohabiting spouses or cohabiting partners
• SEK 3,055 for children 0–6 years of age
• SEK 3,667 for children 7–10 years of age
• SEK 4,279 for children 11–14 years of age
• SEK 4,889 for children 15 years of age or older.

Documents you can attach to show that you fulfil the income requirements

Your home

You have to have a home of sufficient size and standard for all of you to live in. For two adults without children a home is big enough if it has a kitchen or kitchenette and at least one room. If children are going to live in the home, there must be more rooms. Two children can share a bedroom. This means that the accommodation requirement is met if a family of two adults and two children has an apartment consisting of two rooms and a kitchen. There are no requirements on how big (number of square meters) a home must be, but the rooms must be intended for living.

A sub-let home is alright, but the sub-let must be approved by the landlord, housing cooperative association or regional rent tribunal. Having a live-in arrangement at someone else’s residence, or living with your parents, does not count as having an acceptable type of accommodation.

You have to be able to use the home from when your family members come to Sweden.

You must be able to show that you have a home for at least one year to come.

Documents you can attach to show that you fulfil the requirements

Exemp­tions to the main­te­nance requi­re­ment

You are not required to be able to support yourself and have accommodation if:

• you are under 18 years of age and someone is applying for a residence permit in order to come live with you
• a member of your family is applying to extend her/his residence permit
• you are a Swedish citizen, a citizen of the EU/EEA or a Swiss citizen and you are married/cohabiting partners and your relationship is well established (you have, for example, lived together for a long time). If you are a Swedish citizen, a citizen of the EU/EEA or a Swiss citizen, you are subject to the maintenance requirement if you and your partner have non-joint children who are moving to Sweden
• you have a residence permit with refugee or subsidiary protection status, and the application is made within three months of your having been granted a residence permit in Sweden, you do not have the possibility of being reunited in a country outside the EU and you lived together immediately before you moved to Sweden and your relationship is well-established
• you have come to Sweden as a quota refugee and your family apply within three months of your arrival in Sweden
  
• there are other special grounds, for example you may be unable to meet the maintenance requirement on the grounds of permanently impaired working capacity, for example due to illness or disability.

If you are a Swedish citizen and reside outside Sweden

If you are a Swedish citizen living in another country, but you plan to move to Sweden together with your family member who is a citizen of a country outside the EU/EEA, you must be able to show that you have the intention of moving to Sweden in the near future. When the Swedish Migration Agency determines if your family member can be granted a residence permit, an individual assessment is always done of what your plans to move to Sweden look like. In general, you must be able to show that you are planning to move to Sweden within a few months.

Power of attorney

You can apply for your family member if you have a power of attorney to represent your family member. At any time at all during the application process, your family member can give you a power of attorney. To give another person power of attorney, you can use the form “Power of Attorney”.

Power of attorney, form 107011 Pdf, 641.6 kB, opens in new window.

Ques­tionnaire about family rela­tionship and the main­te­nance requi­re­ment

Once your family member has submitted an application for a residence permit in order to come live with you in Sweden, you will receive an email. The email will contain instructions for logging in to a questionnaire, which you have to fill in within two weeks. The questionnaire has questions about your relationship. If you are subject to the maintenance requirement, you will also need to show that you meet this. Your answers are important for the Swedish Migration Agency's assessment of your family member's application, and it is important that you answer the questions within the time period in which you have been asked to fill out the form.

Requi­re­ments to use the e-service

In order for you or your family member to apply online, you as a relative in Sweden need to

• be at least 18 years of age. The person applying for a residence permit must also be at least 18
• have a permanent residence permit, temporary residence permit as a refugee or person in need of subsidiary protection or are a Swedish or Nordic citizen if the person applying is your spouse, registered partner or live-in partner
• have a permanent residence permit, or be a Swedish or Nordic citizen, if you plan to marry or become the cohabiting partner of the person applying for a residence permit
• have a permanent residence permit or be a Finnish, Norwegian, Danish or Icelandic or citizen if the person applying is another close relative
• have a valid email address
• be able to scan or photograph and attach a copy of your passport or identity card when you answer your questionnaire.

Go to the application for a residence permit to move to someone in Sweden

When you have received an email telling you to complete the ques­tionnaire

When your family has send in their application and you have received an email from the Migration Agency, you must log in and complete the questionnaire. When you agree to the terms of use below, the login page opens and you can register as a user. You will then receive the login information you need in order to fill in the questionnaire. Note that you should not register as a user to fill in the questionnaire before you have received an email from the Migration Agency.

If your answers have not been received within two weeks from when your family member submitted their online application, the Migration Agency may refuse their application.

Check the appli­ca­tion

When your family member has submitted their application, he or she will be given a reference number (case number). You can use that number to check whether the application has been registered by the Migration Agency and whether a decision has been made.

Check the application