Employers – Extending a permit EU Blue Cards

You have an employee with an EU Blue Card in Sweden who wants to extend their permit.

  • Important to know
  • How it works
  • Apply

If you want to see the information that is aimed at the employee, you can visit the page You want to extend – EU Blue Cards

An EU Blue Card is valid for a maximum of two years. If the employee wants to continue working longer than the permit is valid, they can apply to extend the card.

If the person has worked in Sweden with an EU Blue Card or other permit for work for 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 EU Blue Card 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 EU Blue Card:

The terms of employment must have been met throughout the period during which the employee has had an EU Blue Card
The employee’s salary/wages must have reached or surpassed the current salary/wages threshold for EU Blue Cards. In addition, the salary/wages, insurance and other terms of employment must be at least on par with collective agreements or common practice in the occupation or industry. The terms must have been met throughout the time that the employee has had an EU Blue Card in Sweden.

The terms of employment must continue to comply with the EU Blue Card requirements
The employee’s salary/wages must continue to be in line with the current salary/wages threshold for EU Blue Cards. In addition, the salary/wages, insurance and other terms of employment must be at least on par with collective agreements or common practice in the occupation or industry.

Each year, the Swedish Migration Agency sets the salary threshold that must be met to be able to get an EU Blue Card. The salary threshold corresponds to 1.25 times the average gross salary in Sweden published by the Swedish National Mediation Office.

 

As of 9 July 2025, the salary threshold is SEK 52,000 per month.

You must give the relevant trade union organisation the opportunity to comment on the terms of employment

Employment agreement

Make sure that the employee has a valid employment agreement signed by both parties. The employee will later be asked to attach a copy of the agreement 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 an EU Blue Card, in addition to name and contact details, an employment agreement 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
  • notice period, length of probationary period, or end date of employment
  • salary, other salary benefits and how often the salary is to be paid
  • working hours
  • what applies to overtime or additional time work and compensation for such work
  • holiday days or holiday allowance
  • which collective agreement applies, if the employer has signed a collective agreement.

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, date of any collective agreement, and insurance company/companies.

Insurance for the employee

The employee must be covered by medical insurance, life insurance, occupational injury insurance and occupational pension insurance throughout the permit period. It is therefore important that the documentation shows the date on which the insurance starts to apply and what the insurance terms and conditions are. You should be able to show that the insurances have applied during the previous permit period and that they continue to apply in the future.

Medical insurance provides financial support if the insured person falls ill or is injured. Medical insurance should not be confused with healthcare insurance, which helps the insured person to gain faster access to care.

A life insurance policy provides financial security if the insured person dies. For example, the money that is then paid out can help their surviving family be able to afford to stay in their home.

With an occupational injury insurance policy, the policyholder can receive compensation in the event of long-term unemployment or sick leave. The insurance provides compensation if the policyholder has been injured on the job or on the way to or from their workplace. This form of insurance is often referred to in Swedish as “Trygghetsförsäkring vid arbetsskada” and abbreviated to the acronym “TFA”.

Occupational pension insurance is an insurance solution to secure an occupational pension. It can be taken out by the employer for the benefit of the employee, or taken out by the employee but then paid by the employer.

Select which trade union might want to comment

In the e-service, you can choose which trade union organisation should be given the opportunity to comment on the employment. You choose the trade union that is relevant to the work that the employee is to perform. If the union is connected to the Swedish Migration Agency's digital processing, you will be able to select it directly in the e-service and later receive its statement of opinion directly in the e-service. Otherwise, they may give their statement via a form.

If the trade union refrains from commenting on the terms of employment, the Swedish Migration Agency will decide whether the offered terms of employment correspond to collective agreements or what is customary in the occupation or industry.

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 wants to apply for a permanent residence permit at the same time as their application for an extended EU Blue Card, they must

  • have had an EU Blue Card or permit for work and worked in Sweden for at least four years during the past seven years
  • be able to support themselves financially
  • live an orderly life.

If the person does not meet the requirements for a permanent residence permit, they may still be granted an extended EU Blue Card, 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 extension application.

The employee can apply for an extension of their EU Blue Card no earlier than two months before the current permit expires. You must apply before the current permit expires.

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 an EU Blue Card for at least six months and the application has been submitted 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 EU Blue Card for two years at a time. They cannot be granted a permit for longer than the duration of employment, and never 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:2 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.