Employers – Extending a permit Athletes and coaches

You have an employed athlete or coach with a work permit in Sweden who wants to extend their permit.

  • Important to know
  • How it works
  • Apply

If you want to see the information aimed at the employee, you can visit the page You want to extend – Athletes and coaches

A work permit is valid for a maximum of two years. If the employee wants to continue working for longer than their work permit is valid, they can apply to extend it.

If the person has worked in Sweden with a work permit for at least four years during the past seven years, they can choose to apply for a permanent residence permit at the same time.

The employer starts the application

For an employer, the process of applying for an extended work permit is the same as a first-time application. You start the application by providing information about the employment in the e-service. When you are done, the employee receives a link to the e-service, where they fill in their information and submit the application, thus completing the process. Only then is the application registered with the Swedish Migration Agency.

In addition to the requirements imposed on the employee, as an employer you must meet the following requirements in order for the employee to be able to get an extended work permit:

The club or association must be affiliated with the Swedish Sports Confederation

The terms of employment must have been met throughout the entire period during which the employee has had a work permit
The employee’s salary/wages and other terms of employment must have been met throughout the period that they have had a work permit in Sweden.

The employee must have a valid employment contract
The contract must be signed by both parties.

You must offer a high enough salary/wages
The salary/wages must total at least one third of the price base amount at the time of application. The current price base amount can be found on the website of Statistics Sweden External link..

The employee must play or coach in a particular division or series – football
The athlete must play in at least Division 1 for men or the Damallsvenskan or Elitettan for women, if they are a football player. The same requirements apply to football coaches.

The employee must play or coach in a particular division or series – basketball
The athlete must play in the Basketligan or the Basketettan leagues, if they are a basketball player. The same requirements apply to basketball coaches.

The employee must play or coach in a specific division or series – ice hockey
If they work in men’s hockey, the employee must play or coach in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), Hockeyallsvenskan or Hockeyettan. In women’s ice hockey, the employee must play or coach in the Swedish Women’s Hockey League.

The Swedish Sports Confederation must certify that the employment is of essential importance
They must certify that the employment of the athlete or coach is essential for the positive development of the sport.

Employment contract

Make sure that the employee has a valid contract, signed by both parties. The employee will later be asked to attach a copy of the contract in their part of the application.

In order for the Swedish Migration Agency to be able to assess whether the employment meets the required conditions for a work permit, in addition to name and contact details, a contract should include the following:

  • the employee’s name and address
  • the employer’s name and address
  • information about where the workplace is located
  • title and brief description of work responsibilities
  • form of employment (permanent, fixed-term or probationary)
  • employment start date or time of start
  • monthly salary/wages (in Swedish kronor), other salary benefits, and how often the salary/wages will be paid
  • working hours
  • which insurances the employee is covered by
  • duration of the playing season expressed by start and end dates.

Collect important information

Make sure you have access to the information about the employee, company and employment that you will need to provide in the e-service.

Information about the employee
Name, date of birth, citizenship, education and email address. Please note that it is through this email address that your employee will log into the e-service to continue their work permit application, so double check it carefully.

Information about the company
Company registration number, contact details, date the business was established, and location of the workplace.

Information about the employment
Occupation, SSYK code for the occupation in question, work responsibilities, form of employment, start date, scope, salary/wages, and insurance company.

A copy of their power of attorney to act as a representative.

Power of attorney (107011) pdf, 535.1 kB.

Read more about power of attorney

If you will be acting as a representative for an employer, you need to arrange a power of attorney.

Please note that if you are a representative with power of attorney, you are the only person who will have access to the case during the entire application period, because you create the e-application using your e-ID. You will thus be the only one who can complete the employer’s part of the application and respond to any requests for supplementation.

Read more about power of attorney

If the employee wishes to apply for a permanent residence permit in connection with their application for an extended permit, they must

  • have had a permit for work and worked in Sweden for at least four years during the past seven years
  • be able to support themselves financially
  • live a well-behaved life.

If the person does not meet the requirements for a permanent residence permit, they may still be granted an extended work permit, if the requirements for it are met.

It is the employee who chooses to apply for a permanent residence permit. As an employer, you do not need to do anything in your part of the application.

The employee can apply for an extension of their work permit no more than two months before the current permit will expire. You must apply before the current permit expires. If you apply too late, the employee will not be able to work during the processing time.

The Swedish Migration Agency recommends that you submit the application no more than 30 days before the current work permit will expire. This is because we cannot make a decision about a permanent residence permit application until the current permit has expired.

The employee has the right to continue working during the waiting time, as long as they have had a work permit for at least six months and they submit their application before the previous permit expires. This applies even if the previous permit expires before they receive a decision about their application for an extension.

The employee can be granted an extended work permit for a maximum of two years, but not for a longer period than the contract period. They can never be granted a permit for longer than their passport is valid. If any of the employee’s family members are accompanying them to Sweden, they can be granted residence permits for the same period, but never longer than the period of validity of their passports.

If the employee is granted a permanent residence permit, it is valid for as long as they reside in Sweden.

It is not possible to say exactly how long it takes to receive a decision. There are many things that affect the waiting time, for example whether the 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 the case.

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

Complete applications

75% of recently decided cases have been decided within:1 months

Incomplete applications

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

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.