Important to know

If you are a citizen of a country outside the EU/EEA, or are an EU citizen without the right of residence, in most cases you need a residence permit to live with someone in Sweden.

These requirements must be met in order for you to be granted a residence permit:

You must have a valid passport

Your child’s age
When you apply for a residence permit, your child must be unmarried and under the age of 18. If your child was under the age of 18 when they applied for asylum, but turned 18 before their permit was granted, you must apply within three months of your child being granted a residence permit in Sweden.

Your child came to Sweden alone, or ended up alone in Sweden
Your child must have come to Sweden without a parent or another legal guardian, or have ended up alone after arriving in Sweden.

Your child must have refugee status or subsidiary protection status

Your child cannot have become a Swedish citizen

If you have children under the age of 18 who will accompany you to Sweden, you must apply for a residence permit for each of them in your application.

Translate documents
All submitted documents should be in Swedish or English. If you have translated your documents, the translation should be certified. You must also include a copy of the document in its original language.

Select an embassy for your interview
In your application, you must indicate which Swedish embassy or consulate-general you want to visit for your interview. Not all Swedish embassies and consulates-general handle migration cases, so it is important to check which one you should contact:

You must attach copies of these documents to your application

Make sure that the information in the documents you include is clearly visible.

Documents about you (the applicant) and your relationship to the person in Sweden

Correctly made copies of your passport
If your passport is about to expire, you should extend it, because you cannot get a permit for longer than your passport is valid.

Read more about what the passport copies must show

Documents showing that you are the parent of the child in Sweden
For example, a birth record or birth certificate.

Documents showing whether you are married, divorced or widowed

A representative can apply for you, if you grant them power of attorney. In that case, the person who applies for you must attach a copy of the power of attorney to your application.

Power of attorney (107011) Pdf, 1.1 MB, opens in new window.

Read more about power of attorney

Documents to attach if more family members are applying with you

If other members of your family are submitting their application with you, you must attach additional documents.

Correctly made copies of your family member’s passport
Your family member can never be granted a residence permit for longer than their passport is valid.

Read more about what the passport copies must show

Proof that you are married or live together
This can be a marriage certificate (if you are married), or some other form of documentation that shows that you live or have lived together.

Correctly made copies of each child’s passport
Read more about what the passport copies must show

Birth record or birth certificate stating the names of each child’s parents

Sole custody decision
If you have sole custody of your child, you must attach a court decision to this effect. If the other parent is deceased, you must submit a death certificate.

Consent that the child may move to Sweden
If a child has two parents/legal guardians and the child’s other parent/legal guardian will be remaining in their country of origin, you must attach a statement of consent from the other parent/legal guardian to the application. You must also attach a copy of the other legal guardian’s passport or other identity document.

Consent for a child to settle in Sweden (217011) Pdf, 1.1 MB.

Adoption documents, if your child is adopted

Permission to live in other countries
Document(s) showing that your child has a permit to live in countries other than their country of origin.

You can be granted a residence permit for a maximum of two years, but never for longer than your passport is valid.

Your residence permit can be extended.

Adults: SEK 2,000
Children under 18 years of age: SEK 1,000

You will not receive a refund if your application is rejected.

The following people pay no fee to apply:

  • family members of EU/EEA citizens. In this context, Swedes do not count as EU citizens
  • EU/EEA citizens who are applying for a residence permit
  • Swiss citizens and their family members
  • Japanese citizens
  • husbands, wives, cohabiting partners, registered partners and unmarried children under the age of 18 who are applying for a residence permit to live with a family member who has been granted a residence permit in Sweden due to their need for protection or exceptionally distressing circumstances.

It is not possible to say exactly how long you will need to wait for a decision. There are many things that affect the waiting time, for example whether your 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 your case.

Here we show statistics on how long it has taken for people who have applied for the same permit as you.

75% of applications receive a decision within:25 months

Other rules apply if you are a citizen of the EU/EEA or Switzerland, or if you have long-term resident status in another EU country.

EU/EEA citizens with right of residence

If you are an EU/EEA citizen, you have the right to live in another EU/EEA country if you fulfil the requirements for right of residence through work, your own company, your studies, or by having sufficient funds to support yourself. If you have right of residence, you do not need to apply for a residence permit to live in Sweden.

EU/EEA citizens

EU/EEA citizens without right of residence

If you who are an EU/EAA citizen do not fulfil the requirements for right of residence, and have a family member residing in Sweden, you can apply for a residence permit to live with your family member. The requirements for being granted a residence permit and information on how to apply can be found on this page.

As an EU/EEA citizen, you are exempt some of the requirements to get a residence permit to live with someone. This applies to you:

  • You can apply for and be granted a residence permit while you are in Sweden.
  • To identify yourself, you can choose to present your passport or your national ID card.
  • You have the right to start working or studying before you have received our decision about your residence permit.

Swiss citizens or family members of Swiss citizens

If you are a citizen of Switzerland, you can move to Sweden to work, study, start your own business, or live on your own funds. If you want to remain in Sweden for longer than three months, you must apply for a residence permit for Swiss citizens. You who are a family member of a citizen of Switzerland must also apply in the same way.

You want to apply – Swiss citizens

If you have long-term resident status in another EU country or are family members of someone with this status

If you have long-term resident status in another EU country, you can move to Sweden to work, run your own business, study or live on your own funds. If you plan to stay longer than three months, you need to apply for a residence permit for long-term residents.

You want to apply – Long-term residents in another EU country

If you are a family member of a person with permanent resident status in another EU country, you must apply for a residence permit

You want to apply – Family of long-term residents in another EU country

Yes, if you are granted a residence permit in Sweden, you will also have the right to work and study.

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.