You want to apply Doctoral studies

You want to apply for a residence permit for doctoral studies. If your family will be accompanying you, they can apply at the same time.

  • Important to know
  • How it works
  • Apply

If you are a citizen of a country outside the EU/EEA, you will in most cases need a residence permit to study in Sweden.

Here you will find information about residence permits for people who have been admitted to doctoral studies. Doctoral studies are third-cycle studies that will lead to a licentiate degree, qualification in the fine, applied, or performing arts, a doctoral degree, or a doctoral degree in the fine, applied, or performing arts. If you will be studying in Sweden for less than three months, you should not apply for a residence permit.

If you have a hosting agreement with a research principal, you can apply for a residence permit for researchers.

Apply for a residence permit to conduct research in Sweden

Doctoral student or researcher – which permit must I apply for?

If you are unsure about which type of residence permit to apply for, you can use our guide: Guide for doctoral students and researchers

These requirements must be met in order for you to be granted a residence permit.

You must have a valid passport

You must be admitted to full-time doctoral studies
You must be finally admitted to full-time studies in Sweden.

You must have, or have applied for, a comprehensive health insurance policy

If you have been admitted to studies that will last less than a year, you need comprehensive health insurance. If you do not have insurance through your higher education institution, you must have or have applied for your own insurance. The insurance must be valid for the entire time you will be in Sweden and cover costs for emergency and other medical care, hospitalisation, and emergency dental care. It must also cover expenses for home transportation for medical reasons.

 

If your studies will last for at least one year, you should register in Sweden’s population register. This will give you access to health and medical care and dental care.

You must be able to support yourself financially
Your means of “financial maintenance” must be sufficient for the entire period for which you are applying for a residence permit. If your family is applying with you, you must be able to support them as well, if they do not have their own means of financial maintenance.

Translate documents
All submitted documents should be in Swedish or English. If you have translated your documents yourself, the translation should be certified. You must also include a copy of the document in its original language.

Plan which embassy to visit to present your passport or be interviewed

You may need to present your passport or be interviewed at an embassy or a consulate-general before you can receive a decision. In the application, you must therefore state which embassy you want to visit. Not all Swedish embassies and consulates-general handle migration cases. In some locations, you may be interviewed via video link. In that case, you will visit the embassy or consulate-general in that location, but a different embassy will be responsible for your application and can answer your questions. Here, you can find out where to turn:

You must attach copies of these documents to your application

Make sure that the information in the documents you include is clearly visible.

Correctly made copies of your passport
You can never be granted a permit for longer than your passport is valid.
Read more about what the passport copies must show

Admission decision from the higher education institution
The decision must state that you have been finally admitted to full-time doctoral studies and that you will be studying on site in Sweden.

Supplementary certificate of doctoral studies
You must also enclose a supplementary certificate of enrolment issued by the higher education institution. The Swedish Migration Agency has developed a checklist outlining what this certificate must contain. Refer your higher education institution to the checklist:
Checklists and examples – attestation of third-cycle studies (doctoral studies) pdf, 471.9 kB, opens in new window.

Documents showing that you have or have applied for comprehensive health insurance
If you have been admitted to studies for less than one year and are not listed in Sweden’s population register.

Documents showing that you meet the maintenance requirement
You must attach different certificates depending on how you will be supporting yourself financially. If your family will be applying with you, your entire family’s financial maintenance must be arranged.

You must attach a copy of the scholarship stating

  • who is the scholarship provider
  • that you are a recipient of the scholarship
  • the period for which the scholarship applies and that it is for your studies in Sweden
  • how much money you will receive
  • when the money will be paid out. If you will receive the money on an ongoing basis, information must be provided about when the payments will be made and how large the instalments will be, as well as the total amount
  • how much of the scholarship is intended to cover your living expenses.

If the copy of the scholarship does not contain all of this information, you must supplement it with, for example, a certificate from the scholarship provider.

You must attach a certificate of enrolment issued by the higher education institution. The certificate of enrolment must state

  • the monthly amount
  • the time period for which you will receive the money.

You must attach a bank statement, which must be issued no more than four months before the date on which you want the residence permit to take effect. For example, if you want your residence permit to start on 1 August, your bank statement must be issued no earlier than 1 April.

The following information must be included on your bank statement:

  • account holder(s)
  • bank
  • date of issue
  • balance
  • currency.

If permission from a central bank or the equivalent is required to take out the money from your country, you must include such a permit.

A representative can apply for you, if you grant them power of attorney. In that case, the person who applies for you must attach a copy of the power of attorney to your application.

Power of attorney (107011) pdf, 535.3 kB.

Read more about power of attorney

Documents to attach if your family is applying with you

Correctly made copies of each family member’s passport

Your family member can never be granted a residence permit for longer than their passport is valid.

Read more about what the passport copies must show

Documents showing that the family’s financial maintenance has been arranged
For example, bank statements that confirm that the family’s financial maintenance has been arranged for the time in Sweden.

Documents showing your relationship
If you are married: marriage certificate, marriage record, or similar document.
If you are cohabiting partners: documents showing that you have lived together, such as population registration certificates, a joint rental contract, or proof of the joint purchase of a home.

Birth record or birth certificate stating the names of the child’s parents

Sole custody decision
If you have sole custody of your child, you must attach a court decision to this effect. If the other parent is deceased, you must submit a death certificate.

Consent that the child may move to Sweden
If a child has two parents/legal guardians and the child’s other parent/legal guardian will be remaining in their country of origin, you must attach a statement of consent from the other parent/legal guardian to the application. If you share joint custody, a copy of the other parent or legal guardian’s passport or other identity document must also be attached.
Consent for a child to settle in Sweden (217011) pdf, 1.1 MB.

Adoption documents, if your child is adopted

The so-called “maintenance requirement” means that you must show that you have funds (money) available through your own bank assets, scholarship, or doctoral student salary or doctoral grant. You can combine different forms of financial maintenance.

The maintenance requirement is

  • at least SEK 10,656 per month, if you applied in 2026
  • at least SEK 10,584 per month, if you applied in 2025.

If you can show that you receive free housing and/or food through the higher education institution or an organisation that works for international exchange, the amount per month can be reduced. The monthly amount can be reduced by

  • SEK 2,960 per month for free food and SEK 4,736 per month for free housing, if you applied in 2026
  • SEK 2,940 per month for free food and SEK 4,704 per month for free housing, if you applied in 2025.

If your family applies with you, the monthly amount will be higher. In that case, it will include an additional

  • SEK 4,440 per month for a spouse or cohabiting partner
  • SEK 2,664 per month for each child.


The Swedish Migration Agency assesses your family’s overall ability to support yourselves financially.

Read more about the rules for the different forms of financial maintenance

If you will receive a salary for employment as a doctoral student, you must show this with a certificate of enrolment issued by the higher education institution.

Scholarships, for example from national authorities, higher education institutions, organisations, foundations, or companies, can be approved as a basis for financial maintenance.

If you will receive a doctoral grant, you need to show this with a certificate of enrolment issued by the higher education institution.

Having “personal bank assets” means that you have money in an account that belongs to you, and from which only you and your accompanying partner (if any) can withdraw funds. Credit, funds or shares are not approved as personal bank assets. Assets in a microfinance bank are also not approved.

Locked assets, i.e., bank funds that are deposited in an account for a certain period of time, cannot be a basis for financial maintenance if they will be frozen during the permit period for which you are applying.

Other rules apply if you are a citizen of the EU/EEA or Switzerland, or if you have long-term resident status in another EU country.

EU/EEA citizens with right of residence

If you are an EU/EEA citizen, you have the right to live in another EU/EEA country if you fulfil the requirements for right of residence through work, your own company, your studies, or by having sufficient funds to support yourself. If you have right of residence, you do not need to apply for a residence permit to live in Sweden.

EU/EEA citizens

Swiss citizens

If you are a citizen of Switzerland, you can move to Sweden to work, study, start your own business, or live on your own funds. If you want to remain in Sweden for longer than three months, you must apply for a residence permit for Swiss citizens.

You want to apply – Swiss citizens

If you have long-term resident status in another EU country

If you have long-term resident status in another EU country, you can move to Sweden to work, study or live on your own funds. If you plan to stay longer than three months, you need to apply for a residence permit for long-term residents.

You want to apply – Long-term residents in another EU country

If any of your family members also want to apply for a residence permit, they can do so at the same time as you. “Family members” are considered to include spouses, registered partners, cohabiting partners, and children under the age of 18.

If anyone in your family decides later that they want to move to Sweden to join you, they must submit their own application afterwards.

You want to apply – Family who want to apply afterwards

If you are applying for a residence permit for the first time, you must do so while you are outside Sweden, otherwise your application may be rejected. In some cases, you can apply for a residence permit while you are in Sweden with another valid Swedish residence permit.

The guide below provides support regarding what applies to those who wish to apply for a residence permit for doctoral studies. The guide does not provide answers to how the decision in the individual case will be.

If your application is rejected, you must leave Sweden

If you are currently in Sweden and your application is rejected, you must prepare to leave the country. If you do not leave Sweden voluntarily, you may need to regularly report to the Swedish Migration Agency in a process known as supervision, or be placed in a detention centre run by the Swedish Migration Agency. Your case may also be handed over to the police.

Yes, in parallel with your education, you can work with teaching, research or administration (up to 20 percent of full time). If you are an industrial doctoral student, you can work more than 20 percent of full time, under certain conditions.

You can be granted a residence permit for a maximum of four years, but not for longer than your studies are supposed to last. You can never be granted a permit for longer than your passport is valid.

If you are granted a residence permit for the entire duration of your studies, the Swedish Migration Agency will add an extra two weeks to your permit period, to give you enough time to complete your studies and leave the country.

Your residence permit can be extended.

If an application for a residence permit for doctoral studies is complete, we will make a decision within 30 days.

It is not possible to say exactly how long you will need to wait for a decision. There are many things that affect the waiting time, for example whether your application is complete to begin with or whether we need to request more information, or whether we need to check with other authorities when investigating your case.

Here we show statistics on how long it has taken for people who have applied for the same permit as you. The statistics are based on cases decided in the last 12 months.

75% of recently decided cases have been decided within:3 months

Adults: SEK 1,500
Children under 18 years of age: SEK 750

You will not receive a refund if your application is rejected.

The following people pay no fee to apply:

  • students at the World Maritime University (WMU) in Malmö
  • Japanese citizens
  • students who have received a scholarship for studies in Sweden from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the EU, the Swedish Institute, or Uppsala University’s International Science Programme. The scholarship must be intended to be used for living expenses and not just cover tuition fees. The scholarship must be paid out during the period for which you are applying for a residence permit. The exception does not apply if you receive a salary, for example if you are employed as a doctoral student.

You can be granted a residence permit in Sweden even if you will be spending time in another country during part of the permit period, as long as the stay abroad is part of the education to which you have been admitted in Sweden.

If you will be visiting Sweden as part of an education programme in another country, for example if you are invited to study or conduct research in Sweden but have not been admitted to a Swedish higher education institution, you must instead apply for a visitor’s permit.

You want to apply – Visiting Sweden for more than 90 days (visitor’s permit)

If you have a doctorate or are eligible to start a doctoral programme and are invited by a research organisation to conduct research in Sweden, you must apply for a residence permit as a visiting researcher.

You want to apply – Researchers

News

2026-09-24

New look – same agency

The Swedish Migration Agency has a new logo. On 24 September, the new logo will replace the old logo on the Agency’s website. The new logo will be rolled out gradually across all digital services and communications.

2026-09-17

New rules for family members accompanying students

From 1 October 2026, new rules for immigration due to family ties will apply. For those of you who have, or are planning to apply for, a residence permit for studies in Sweden, this means certain changes to the requirements for your family members.

2026-05-25

New rules for residence permits for studies in higher education

The Swedish Parliament has decided on new rules for those who have or are going to apply for a residence permit for studies in higher education. The rules mean, among other things, limitations on work alongside your studies, higher requirements for study results, and that you must notify the Swedish Migration Agency of your address.

2026-05-25

New rules for researchers and doctoral students

The Swedish Parliament has decided on new rules for researchers and doctoral students. The rules mean, among other things, that doctoral students with a hosting agreement can receive a residence permit for research, that it will be easier to receive a permanent residence permit, and that you can apply for another permit in Sweden in more situations.

Migrationsverket - Desktop Logo Footer

The Swedish Migration Agency is responsible for considering applications from people who want to live in Sweden, seek protection or become Swedish citizens. Our work is based on Swedish laws and international conventions, with a focus on legal certainty and effective reception and return.