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Work permits for au pairs
If you are a citizen of a country outside the EU and want to work as an au pair, you need to have a work permit. For work that lasts less than three months, citizens of certain countries also need to have a visa.
Requirements for work permits
To be eligible for a work permit, you must
- have a valid passport (if your passport will expire soon, you should renew it since you cannot get a permit for longer than the validity of your passport)
- be between 18 and 30 years old
- show that you have an explicit interest for and use of Swedish language studies
- have a certificate of a place for studies in Swedish
- have a written offer of work from a family in Sweden where it states that you will work with light household work for a maximum of 25 hours per week (the time for household work and studies may not together exceed 40 hours per week)
- not have any accompanying family members
- pay a fee in most cases (fees for work permits).
For work that lasts less than three months, citizens of certain countries also need to have a visa.
Countries whose citizens must have a visa for Sweden
Read more about applying for a visa under Visiting Sweden
Requirements to use the e-service
In order to use the e-service, you need
- to get an e-mail from your host family with a link that leads you to the e-service
- copies of the pages in your passport that show personal data, photo, signature, passport number, issuing country, period of validity and if you have permission to live in countries other than your home country
- a written offer from the host family which presents the terms of your employment as an au pair
- a certificate of a place for studies which states how many hours per week you will study.
Check your application status
You can check that your application has been registered with the Swedish Migration Agency or if you have received a decision on the page Check your application.
Get photographed and provide your fingerprints
If you are granted a permit for more than three months, you will receive a residence permit card. The card is a certification that you have permission to be in Sweden and contains your fingerprints and a photo of you, among other information.
If you are granted a permit for less than three months, you do not receive a residence permit card, but may need a visa.
Countries whose citizens must have a visa for Sweden
Read more about applying for a visa under Visiting Sweden
If you need a visa to travel to Sweden, you must visit a Swedish embassy or general consulate as soon as possible to be photographed and provide your fingerprints. You need to be photographed and submit your fingerprints even if you previously had a residence permit card because your photo and your fingerprints cannot be saved. Contact the embassy or the general consulate before your visit.
Find the nearest embassy at swedenabroad.com
If you do not need a visa to travel to Sweden, you must book an appointment to submit documentation for the residence permit card at the Swedish Migration Agency after you arrive in Sweden.
Read more about residence permit cards
Have you had a permit as an au pair in a different country?
If you have had a permit as an au pair in a different country immediately before your planned stay in Sweden, it may affect your possibilities of getting a permit in Sweden. The reason is that it may indicate that it is a matter of regular work as a child minder or the like and not a job as an au pair.
The Swedish Migration Agency sends the decision to the embassy or general consulate where you turned in your application or that you wrote in your online application. When you go to collect your decision, you must bring your passport with you.
Find the nearest embassay at swedenabroad.com
The Swedish Institute’s website Working in Sweden
Residence permit card
After a positive decision, we manufacture a residence permit card. When it is ready, the embassy or general consulate will hand out or send the finished card to you. Keep in mind that it can take up to four weeks to manufacture and deliver the card to the embassy or general consulate after you have received your decision. When you travel into Sweden, you must present the residence permit card together with a valid passport.
If you can travel to Sweden without a visa, you should be able to present a copy of the decision when you travel in. As soon as you have arrived in Sweden, you must book an appointment to submit fingerprints and be photographed. After that, we make your residence permit card. When the residence permit card is ready, we send it to your address in Sweden.
Information for those who have recently moved to Sweden with a residence permit
If you are granted a permit for less than three months, you do not receive a residence permit card and must therefore present the decision together with your passport when you travel to Sweden.
Important information about insurance
If you need to seek care in Sweden, you may need to pay for the care yourself if you are not nationally registered in Sweden and do not have a Swedish personal ID number. If you are nationally registered, you may also be registered with the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan) and be covered by Swedish social insurance.
To be nationally registered and get a Swedish personal ID number, you must generally have been granted a residence permit for at least one year in Sweden and that you plan to live here for one year or more. You should therefore get nationally registered as soon as possible after you have moved to Sweden.
Read more about national registration on the Swedish Tax Agency website
If the Swedish Migration Agency rejects your application
If the Swedish Migration Agency rejects your application, it means you are not entitled to a residence permit for Sweden. You may lodge an appeal against the decision within three weeks of the date when you received notification of the decision. Information on how to lodge an appeal can be found in your decision. If you have given someone a power of attorney document that authorises him/her to represent you, this person is able to lodge an appeal on your behalf.
If you are still in Sweden when your application is rejected, you must leave the country within the timescale given in the decision.
If you apply online, you are given clear instructions on how to complete your application and what you have to send in with it. It is easy to do it right from the beginning, which increases your chances of getting a decision faster.
If you cannot apply online, you complete the form Application for au pairs, number 131011, and turn it in at a Swedish embassy or general consulate in the country in which you live. The application form indicates what documents you must attach to it. Contact the embassy or general consulate before you turn in the application.
If it is not possible to apply in your country, you must apply at the embassy or general consulate that is closest to the country in which you live. Contact the embassy or general consulate before you turn in your application for more information.
If you apply at an embassy or a general consulate, you pay the fee when you submit your application. For information on fees, contact the embassy or consulate in question since they do not have the same fee regulations as the Swedish Migration Agency.
If you are to apply to extend your permit, you complete the form Application for au pairs, number 131011. The application form indicates what documents you must attach to it.
Application for au pairs, form number 131011
Find Swedish embassies and general consulates at swedenabroad.com
Send the application to
Migrationsverket
Box 3100
903 03 Umeå
In most cases, you must pay a fee.