You have received a decision Family reunification

If you have been granted a residence permit in Sweden due to protection needs, your family may have the right to move here to live with you.

If you have applied for international protection (asylum) in Sweden and have been granted a residence permit, in some cases it is possible for members of your immediate family to be granted a residence permit to move here to live with you.

Requirements for your family to be granted a residence permit

Your immediate family members may be granted a residence permit to move to Sweden to live with you if any of the following applies to you:

  • You have a permanent residence permit.
  • You have a residence permit as a refugee or a person in need of subsidiary protection and have well-founded prospects of being granted the right of permanent residence.
  • You have a residence permit due to impediments to enforcement or exceptionally distressing circumstances, and are deemed to have a well-founded prospect of being granted a permanent residence permit.

If you have a temporary residence permit, you must have held a residence permit for at least two years before your family can apply for family reunification. This requirement does not apply if you have refugee status and the family relationship was established before you entered Sweden, nor does it apply to certain children. The Swedish Migration Agency may also make an exception if there are special grounds.

To be granted a residence permit, your family member who wants to move to Sweden to live with you must also meet certain requirements. You can read more about these requirements on the page where they apply:

You want to apply – Live with someone

Who counts as the immediate family?

Your spouse or cohabiting partner and your children under the age of 18 are considered to be immediate family members. If you are under the age of 18, your parents count as your immediate family.

Different rules apply to family members other than your immediate family who want to move to Sweden to live with you, for example children over the age of 18.

If you have a permanent residence permit, a new partner can also get a residence permit to move to Sweden to live with you.

If you have a temporary residence permit, it is required that you have a serious relationship that was already established in your country of origin, but you had no possibility to live together there, for example if you are a same-sex couple who have been unable to live together before.

Maintenance requirement

If your family wants to move to Sweden to live with you, you may be subject to a so-called “maintenance requirement”. This means that you must be able to financially support yourself and your family and have a home that meets certain requirements for you to live in.

The requirement does not apply to refugees if your family members apply for a residence permit within three months from the date on which you received a decision granting you a residence permit or refugee status.

Maintenance requirement for reference persons

For how long can my family be granted a residence permit?

Your family can be granted a residence permit for the same period as your temporary residence permit. This means that if you have a residence permit that expires in five months, your family member will receive a residence permit that is only valid for five months.

If you have a permanent residence permit, your family may be granted residence permits for a maximum of two years. A residence permit can never be granted for a period longer than the validity of the passport.

You can apply for a travel grant for your family members’ travel to Sweden if any of the following applies to you:

  • You have a residence permit as a refugee under the 1951 Geneva Convention.
  • You are a stateless Palestinian and have a travel document or refugee status.

The travel grant applies to your family members with whom you have lived while outside Sweden:

  • your spouse or cohabiting partner
  • your children (if they are unmarried and under the age of 20).

Before you can apply for the grant, your family members must have been granted residence permits in Sweden and have valid passports.

You cannot receive the grant if you are a Swedish citizen or if you or your close relatives can pay for the journey to Sweden themselves.

The grant for your family members’ travel to Sweden consists of an airline ticket per person from the country where the family member is located (including any necessary domestic flights).

On the application form, you write between which locations your family will travel. If your application is granted, the Swedish Migration Agency books and pays for the ticket via the International Organization for Migration (IOM). We will book the trip according to your wishes as far as possible. It may take about a month before your family members can travel to Sweden.

IOM contacts the person who is going to travel and informs them about practical details for the trip to Sweden. They help with check-in at the airport and hand over the flight ticket. For children under the age of 18 who are going to travel alone, IOM arranges an escort to accompany the child on the flight.

Sweden’s social services organisation has primary responsibility for helping children who have a residence permit with their financial maintenance and other expenses. Close relatives of unaccompanied minors can only receive travel grants from the Swedish Migration Agency if the social services have refused a child’s application for money to travel and there are special grounds for granting the application for a travel grant.

Application

Fill in the form:

Ansökan om bidrag för resa till Sverige för anhöriga till flyktingar [Application for a grant for travel to Sweden for relatives of refugees] (4452, only in Swedish) pdf, 1.1 MB.

Send your application to:

Migrationsverket
Box 3100
903 03 Umeå

The decision will be sent to you by post.

You cannot appeal the Swedish Migration Agency’s decision on your travel grant.

News

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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.