Important to know

You can apply for an extension of your adopted child’s residence permit. If the child has lived in Sweden (with a residence permit) for at least three years, you can also choose to apply for a permanent residence permit.

The child must have a valid passport
Keep in mind that your child can never be granted a residence permit for longer than their passport is valid.

Requirements to get a permanent residence permit

The child must meet the requirements for an extended residence permit

The child must live a well-behaved life (applies to children over age 15).

If the child is over 15 years of age, it is important that they cannot be expected to commit a crime in the future, should they be granted a permanent residence permit in Sweden. It is therefore required that children over 15 years of age who apply for a permanent residence permit must live a well-behaved life. To be able to assess this, the Swedish Migration Agency needs to look at how the child has behaved in their life so far, for example whether they have been convicted or suspected of any crime in Sweden or abroad.

There are no detailed rules on the types of crimes or the length of the penalty that may prevent a child from being granted a permanent residence permit. It is not only serious crimes that are taken into account. Even less serious ones can be an obstacle, if the child misbehaved in other ways at the same time.

If there is reason to suspect that a child will not live a well-behaved life in the future, the Swedish Migration Agency will weigh these concerns against the reasons for granting them a permanent residence permit. Here, we take the nature of a child’s misbehaviour into account and consider how long ago the events took place.

You must attach copies of these documents to the child’s application. Make sure that the information on your submitted documents is clearly visible.

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

Read more about what the passport copies must show

You can apply for an extension your child’s residence permit no more than two months before the current permit will expire. You must apply before the current permit expires.

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

If your child receives a permanent residence permit, it is valid as long as the child is resident in Sweden.

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: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.