Residence permit for EU/EEA citizens who wish to move to a family member in Sweden
If you are an EU/EEA citizen but don't have right of residence, you can apply for a residence permit if your family member is residing in Sweden and you wish to live together here. You can apply from Sweden.
If you have right of residence you do not need to contact the Migration Agency
If you work, study or have sufficient means to support yourself, you automatically have right of residence in Sweden and therefore need not apply for a residence permit or contact the Swedish Migration Agency. If you are a family member of an EU/EEA citizen who has right of residence, you, too, have right of residence. After five years you can receive permanent right of residence.
EU/EEA citizens who work, study or live in Sweden
To register yourself in the Swedish population register and obtain a Swedish personal identity number, you need to contact the Swedish Tax Agency.
Information about how to register at the Swedish Tax Agency
External link, opens in new window.
If you want to apply for a residence permit, your family member in Sweden must be your
- spouse, cohabiting partner or registered partner
- future spouse, cohabiting partner
- children under 18.
Maintenance requirement
The person you are moving to in Sweden must be able to support both of you. He or she also needs to have a home of sufficient size and standard for you to live in.
Other close relatives
In exceptional cases, you may obtain a residence permit based on family ties to other close relatives with whom you have lived in your country of origin. This category covers, for example, if you are over the age of 18 and your parents are resident in Sweden.
You must be able to prove that you were living together just before your relative moved to Sweden and that you were socially or emotionally dependent on each other such that it is difficult for you to live apart.
The application must be submitted as soon as possible after your relative moved to Sweden. It is normally not possible to obtain a residence permit if you apply long after your relative moved to Sweden, or if you become dependent on each other after the move.
How to apply
You may apply online. In the application, you fill out information about yourself and the person you are joining. If you have children under the age of 18 who have or will come with you to Sweden you can apply for residence permits for them at the same time.
The application is free of charge for all EU/EEA citizens.
You must enclose
- copies of the pages in your passport or national ID card, showing your citizenship and period of validity. You should copy both sides of the ID card
- a copy of a marriage certificate or the equivalent if you are married
- proof of national registration, a lease or proof of purchase for your residence, or another document showing that you have shared a home if you are cohabiting partners
- copies of birth certificates of accompanying children showing the names of the parents
- consent from the child's other guardian if they are not coming to Sweden or proof of sole custody. This can for example be a court decision, or a death certificate if the other parent is deceased. Applies to children under 18.
Other close relatives must also enclose
- documents showing how you are related to each other
- documents showing that you were living together up until your family member moved to Sweden, if you have such a document.
If your passport or national ID card is about to expire you should have it renewed, since a permit cannot be obtained for longer than the passport's or ID card's period of validity.
Shorter processing times for complete applications
For the Swedish Migration Agency to make a decision about your application, all the details need to be filled in and all necessary documents attached. This means that the processing time will be shorter if all the necessary information is included from the start than if information is added afterwards.
Keep in mind that the Swedish Migration Agency might have to investigate the application further even if all the information and documents that we asked for are submitted.
Once we have received the application
The Swedish Migration Agency must check your passport or national ID card before a decision can be made. You may therefore need to show your passport and national ID card at a Swedish embassy or consulate-general if you are outside Sweden, or one of the Migration Agency's service centres if you are in Sweden.
In some cases, you will not be required to show your passport or national ID card, for example, if we have already have done the check during a previous visit.
If you need to show your passport or national ID card, we will contact you with information on how and when to do so.
If you have children under the age of 18 who are also applying for a residence permit the Swedish Migration Agency must check their passports as well. Children under the age of five do not need to show their passport in person, the parent can do this.
If you receive a permit for more than three months, you will also receive a residence card. The card, which is proof that you have the right to be in Sweden, contains your photo and your fingerprints. You will be photographed and provide your fingerprints and write your signature when the passport is being checked. You need to be photographed and provide your fingerprints even if you have had a residence permit card previously because your photo and fingerprints cannot be saved.
Follow your case in My page
You can use the My page e-service to see how your case is progressing and, for example, whether a decision has been made.
After the decision has been made
The decision will be sent to your address in Sweden. If you are granted a residence permit you will receive your residence permit card in the mail within a week.
The residence permit card will be produced at the time the decision is made, but no earlier than three months before the residence permit becomes valid.
We cannot speed up the production or delivery of the card.
Children who apply together with one of their parents usually receive a permit for the same period as the parent. The same applies for you who applies for a permit to live with a relative in Sweden who does not have a permanent residence permit.
If you plan to continue living together in Sweden after the permit expires, you must apply for an extension of your residence permit.
If you do not apply online
If you are not able to apply online, you must fill out the forms Application for residence permit to settle in Sweden, 161011, and Family detail, 239011. Children under the age of 18 must use the form Application for residence permit to settle in Sweden – for a child under the age of 18, 163011.
Family details – Appendix to your application, form 239011
Pdf, 876.4 kB, opens in new window.
If your relationship ends
If your relationship ends while you have a temporary residence permit, you can only extend your permit in special cases. The Swedish Migration Agency may also recall the residence permit. In each individual case we determine if there are grounds for approving a continued residence permit.
If your relationship ends while you have a temporary residence permit, you should personally submit a new application to the Migration Agency and state your reasons for staying in Sweden.
The residence permit can be withdrawn
A permanent residence permit can be withdrawn if you leave Sweden. If you notify the Swedish Migration Agency that you wish to retain your permanent residence permit, you can remain abroad for up to two years without your permit being affected.
If you have not returned to Sweden after two years the Migration Agency may withdraw your residence permit. The residence permit can also be withdrawn if you gave a false identity when you applied for the residence permit, or if you knowingly lied or failed to mention something that was significant for your residence permit.
Information for people who are moving to Sweden with a residence permit
On the page Information for people who are moving to Sweden with a residence permit, you will find information that is useful to know before you move or after you have moved to Sweden, such as work, healthcare, school and education in Sweden.
Information for people who are moving to Sweden with a residence permit