You want to apply Artists

You want to apply for a work permit to work as an artist in Sweden. Artists include, for example, singers, musicians, dancers, circus performers, actors, directors and filmmakers, but also the artist's technicians and the like who accompany them. If your family will be accompanying you, they can apply at the same time.

  • Important to know
  • How it works
  • Apply

If you are a citizen of a country outside the EU/EEA, you will in most cases need a permit to work in Sweden.

Certain artists do not need a work permit

Certain people or categories of artists do not need to apply for a work permit.

As an EU/EEA citizen, you do not need to apply for a work permit or entry visa to travel to or work in Sweden.

You do not need to apply for a work permit if you have been invited by an established organiser to work for a maximum of 14 days in a twelve-month period.

List of established organisers

If your total stay is longer than 14 days, or if the organiser is not established, you must apply for a work permit.

You do not need to apply for a work permit if you have a temporary assignment for one of the following employers:

  • Sveriges Radio AB
  • Sveriges Television AB
  • Sveriges Utbildningsradio AB
  • Nordisk Television AB.

If you will be carrying out artistic activities in Sweden and are not employed, but instead have your own business registered outside Sweden, you do not need a work permit. If you will be visiting Sweden for more than three months, you need to apply for a visitor’s residence permit.

You want to apply – Visiting Sweden for more than 90 days

Keep in mind that even if you do not need to apply for a work permit, you may need to apply for an entry visa to travel to Sweden.

Countries whose citizens need an entry visa for travel to Sweden External link.

You want to apply – Visiting Sweden for up to 90 days (entry visa)

In order for you to be granted a work permit, your employment must meet all the requirements. You cannot combine two or more jobs in order to meet the requirements.

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

You must have a valid passport

You must have an employment contract or contract
The employment contract or contract must include any tour plan, salary/wages, and time and place of the engagement, and must be signed by both you and the organiser.

You must have the right terms and conditions of employment
Your salary/wages and other working conditions must be at least on par with Swedish collective agreements or common practice in your profession or industry.

Your employer must have taken out insurance for you
By the time you start your job, your employer must have taken out health insurance, life insurance, industrial injuries insurance, and occupational pension insurance for you.

Your employment must enable you to make a good living
This means that you must have a monthly salary or wages totalling at least 80 percent of the median salary published by Statistics Sweden (SCB) that applied when you submitted your application.

To be considered to be making a good living, you must have a monthly salary/wages of at least SEK 29,680. This corresponds to 80 percent of the current median salary that Statistics Sweden publishes in June of each year.

Read about the current median salary on Statistics Sweden’s website (in Swedish) External link.

Your monthly salary/wages must also be in line with collective agreements or with common practice in your profession or industry. This means that your salary/wages may need to be higher than 80 percent of the median salary.

Read more on the page A good living – maintenance requirement for work permits

Make sure that your employer has the correct information about you

Your employer needs information about your name, date of birth, citizenship and email address. They will use this information when they start your application for a work permit.

It is important that you have access to the email address that you give to your employer until you have received a decision about your application. The Swedish Migration Agency will use this email address when we contact you.

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.

Plan which embassy to visit to present your passport
You may need to present your passport at an embassy before you can receive a decision. In the application, you must therefore state which embassy you want to visit.

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 on your submitted documents is clearly visible.

Correctly made copies of your passport

You can never be granted a permit for longer than your passport is valid.

Read more about what the passport copies must show

Employment contract or contract
The employment contract or contract must include any tour plan, salary/wages, and time and place of the engagement, and must be signed by both you and the organiser.

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.

Read more about power of attorney

Documents to attach if your family is applying with you

Correctly made copies of each 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

Documents showing your relationship

If you are married: marriage certificate, marriage record, or similar document.

If you are cohabiting partners: documents showing that you have lived together, such as population registration certificates, a joint rental contract, or proof of the joint purchase of a home.

Documents showing that you meet the maintenance requirement

You can act as a representative for your family members over the age of 18 and apply on their behalf. To do this, you must have a power of attorney and attach it to the application.

Power of attorney (107011) Pdf, 1.1 MB.

Read more about power of attorney

Birth record or birth certificate stating the names of the 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 parent or 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

Documentation showing that a child over age 21 is dependent on you or their other parent for their financial maintenance

If you are going to work at a funfair or amusement park, you should apply for a seasonal work permit.

You want to apply – Seasonal workers

If any of your family members also want to apply for a residence permit, they can do so at the same time as you. “Family members” are considered to include spouses, registered partners, cohabiting partners, and children under the age of 21. Children over the age of 21 can also accompany you to Sweden in special cases, if they are dependent on you for their financial maintenance.

If anyone in your family decides later that they want to move to Sweden to join you, they must submit their own application afterwards.

You want to apply – Family of an employee or self-employed person who apply afterwards

If your family is granted residence permits, your adult family members and children who will turn at least 16 during the current year are permitted to work.

You must be able to financially support your family

If your family applies together with you, you are subject to a maintenance requirement. This means that you must have an income that allows you to financially support yourself and your family.

To meet the maintenance requirement, you must have an income that can cover housing costs and living expenses for yourself and your family members.

In the first instance, the Swedish Migration Agency looks at your income from salary/wages, but if this is insufficient, it is also possible to count income from business activities or personal wealth.

The following types of income count

  • taxed income from the employment for which you are applying or have been granted a permit
  • parental benefits or sickness benefits, provided that you have ongoing employment and your parental leave or sick leave is not assessed to be longer than 18 months
  • income from business activities
  • assets.
Amount of income

Your income after tax must be high enough so that after paying your monthly rent, you still have a certain amount of money left over that can cover the costs of food, clothing, hygiene, telephone, and insuring everyone in your household, among other things.

For 2025, the amount you must have left after paying your rent is:

  • SEK 6,186 for a single adult
  • SEK 10,219 for cohabiting spouses or cohabiting partners
  • SEK 3,306 for children 0–6 years of age
  • SEK 3,967 for children 7–10 years of age
  • SEK 4,629 for children 11–14 years of age
  • SEK 5,290 for children 15 years of age or older.

If you have a child with whom you do not live and you pay maintenance to the child’s other parent, your salary/wages must also be sufficient to cover their maintenance allowance.

Housing costs

The housing costs that your wages must be sufficient to cover each month depend on the type of home in which you live:

  • If you live in a rented flat, you must include both the rent and the cost of heating in this calculation, if the latter is not included in the rent.
  • If you live in a tenant-owner flat, you must include any fees paid to the tenant-owner association and the interest on any home loans in your calculation. You must also include necessary operating costs (such as water and heating), if these are not included in the monthly fee.
  • If you live in a freestanding house, you must include the interest rate for any home loans and necessary operating costs (such as water and heating) in your calculation.

Amortisation of home loans is not included in the cost of housing. You also do not have to include the cost of electricity in your calculation, as this cost is included in the so-called “standard amount”.

You should count your entire actual housing cost. If you and your family are moving to Sweden together, you may not yet have arranged your housing when you apply for a residence permit. The Swedish Migration Agency then assumes a so-called standard cost for housing a family of your size in the town or city where your workplace in Sweden is located.

What income does not count?

You may not count income from

  • a family member
  • unemployment insurance (unemployment benefits) or an activity allowance
  • various forms of grants or scholarships
  • subsidised employment (for example, when the Swedish Social Insurance Agency or the Swedish Public Employment Service pays all or part of the salary/wages)
  • undeclared work or employment without the legal right to work.

You can be granted a work permit for a maximum of two years, but not for longer than the term of your employment contract. You can never be granted a permit for longer than your passport is valid.

The permit can be extended.

If your family is accompanying you to Sweden, they can be granted a residence permit for the same period as you, but never longer than the period of validity of their passports.

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.

Complete applications

75% of recently decided cases have been decided within:2 months

Incomplete applications

75% of recently decided cases have been decided within:1 months

Employees: SEK 1,500.
Adult family members: SEK 1,500
Children: SEK 750

Citizens of Japan do not pay an application fee.

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

If you currently have a work permit to work for a specific employer but get a new job with another employer, you must submit a new application for a work permit. The same applies if you currently have a work permit to work for an employer and they change their company identity number or get new owners.

If you change profession, get new work responsibilities, or your working conditions change in other ways, your work permit is no longer valid. This means you must apply for a new work permit.

Once you have submitted your application, you can start working for your new employer before you have received a decision from the Swedish Migration Agency, provided that you have applied before your previous work permit has expired.

If you are applying for a work permit for the first time, you must do so from outside Sweden, otherwise your application may be rejected.

News

2025-05-20

What counts as a salary?

One of the requirements for being granted a work permit is that the salary must enable you to make a good living. A new ruling from the Migration Court of Appeal clarifies what counts as a salary.

2025-04-03

If you are planning to work, study or move to Sweden to live with someone, you can now visit the embassy in Islamabad

On 9 April, the Swedish Migration Agency will resume its residence and work permit activities in Pakistan. Applicants needing to submit biometric data, have their passport checked or be interviewed after submitting an application can once again do so at the embassy in Islamabad. This does not apply to those who are applying for a Schengen visa to visit Sweden for a short stay.

2025-04-01

From 1 April, the possibility of changing tracks will end

On 1 April, the Swedish Parliament’s decision to remove the possibility of changing tracks will come into force. This affects those who have been granted, or applied for, a work permit after an asylum application has been rejected. Your co-applicant family members will also be affected.

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.