Employers – Extending a permit Researchers

You have an employee with a residence permit to conduct research who wants to extend their permit.

If you want to see the information that is aimed at the researcher, you can visit the page You want to extend – Researchers

A residence permit for research is valid for a maximum of four years. If the researcher wants to continue working beyond the period of validity of their residence permit, they can apply to extend the permit.

If the person has worked in Sweden with a permit for research or for work 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 researcher makes the application

It is the researcher who must apply to extend their residence permit.

In addition to the requirements imposed on the researcher, as the research principal, you must meet the following requirements:

You must be approved as a research principal
You must be approved as a research principal by the Swedish Research Council External link..

The researcher must devote at least 50 per cent of their working hours to research
More than half of the researcher’s working hours must be devoted to research. Teaching or administrative work in the research group is not considered to constitute research.

You must have signed a hosting agreement with the researcher
The researcher must attach the hosting agreement to their application.

If you are acting as an agent for a research principal, 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. This means you will be the only one who can complete the research principal’s part of the application and respond to any requests for supplementation.

Read more about power of attorney

If the researcher wants to apply for a permanent residence permit in conjunction with their application for an extension, they must

  • have had, and fulfilled the conditions for, a permit for research or other permits for work, and worked in Sweden for 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 able to get an extended residence permit, if they meet the requirements.

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

The researcher can apply for an extension of their residence permit no sooner than four months before their current permit will expire. They must apply before the current permit expires. If the researcher applies too late, they will not be allowed to work during the processing period.

The Swedish Migration Agency recommends that the researcher submits their application no earlier than 30 days before the current permit expires. This is because we cannot make a decision about a permanent residence permit application until the current permit has expired.

The researcher has the right to continue working during the waiting period, if 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 researcher may be granted an extended residence permit for a maximum of four years, but not for longer than the duration of the employment. They can never be granted a permit for longer than their passport is valid. If the researcher’s family applies with them, they can be granted a residence permit for the same period as the researcher, but never longer than the period of validity of their passports.

If the researcher is granted a permanent residence permit, it will remain valid as long as they continue to 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.