Important to know

If you were born in Sweden and have been stateless since birth, are aged between 18 and 21, and have lived in Sweden for at least five years or for a total of ten years, you can file a notification. You can find information about applications for stateless persons born in Sweden by reading on on this page.

If you are a stateless person born in Sweden and wish to become a Swedish citizen by notification, you must meet certain requirements. The following requirements must be met before you submit your notification:

You must have turned 18 but not yet be 21 when the Swedish Migration Agency receives your notification

You must have one of the following:

  • a permanent residence permit
  • residence status
  • right of residence or a residence card.

Alternatively, you must have been granted a temporary residence permit on one of the following grounds:

  • as a refugee or person in need of subsidiary protection
  • as a family member of someone in Sweden
  • impediments to enforcement
  • exceptionally or particularly distressing circumstances.

You must have lived in Sweden (been habitually resident here) for at least five years

You must not have been convicted of an offence against Sweden’s security or sentenced to a custodial sentence of five years or more

If you have children under the age of 18 who live in Sweden, they will become Swedish citizens at the same time as you, if any of the following is true of you:

  • You have sole custody of the child.
  • You share joint custody with the child’s other parent, who is a Swedish citizen.
  • The other parent becomes a Swedish citizen at the same time as you.

If none of these situations apply to you and you want your child to also become a Swedish citizen, you must submit a separate application for the child.

Citizenship for children

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. The statistics are based on cases decided in the last 12 months.

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

Notification fee for stateless persons born in Sweden aged between 18 and 21: SEK 475

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

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.