Extending your residence permit to live with someone in Sweden

If you have a residence permit and wish to continue living in Sweden after your permit has expired, you should apply for an extension of your permit. The easiest way to apply is online. Here you will find information on what the requirements for extension are, and how to apply. You will also find information on how to apply for a permanent residence permit in connection with an extension application

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If you have had a residence permit for 6 months or more and are applying for an extension before your current permit has expired, you have the right to continue working while you wait for a decision. The earliest you can apply is 30 days before your current permit expires.

Infor­ma­tion you will find on other pages

If you have a perma­nent resi­dence permit

If you have a permanent residence permit and the period of validity for your residence permit card ("UT-kort") expires, you should make an appointment with the Swedish Migration Agency to have your photograph taken and leave your fingerprints for a new residence permit card.

Family members of former asylum seeker

If you have a residence permit as a family member of a person with a temporary residence permit due to protection, you should apply for an extension together.Read about how to extend a permit for former asylum seekers and their fami­lies

Requi­re­ments to extend a resi­dence permit

To be granted an extended residence permit, you must still meet the requirements for the permit. This means that you and your partner or other family member with whom you received a residence permit to live the first time, intend to continue living together in Sweden. You also need to have a valid passport.

If your relationship has ended, you can in some cases still apply for an extension of your residence permit.

Read more about what applies if the relationship has ended

If you are also applying for a perma­nent resi­dence permit

You can only apply for a permanent residence permit in connection with an application for an extended residence permit, but only after three years. As a residence permit is usually granted for two years at a time, the earliest you can apply for a permanent residence permit is usually after four years.

Requi­re­ments for a perma­nent resi­dence permit

To be granted a permanent residence permit, you must

  • meet the requirements for an extended residence permit
  • be able to support yourself financially
  • live an orderly life.

Read more about the requirements to support yourself and live an orderly life:

In order to obtain a permanent residence permit, you must be able to support yourself through income from employment or your own company, or a combination of employment and your own company. You may add together income from one or more part-time jobs, provided that all the employments meet the requirements below.

The livelihood must be sustainable and serious

You must be able to show that you can support yourself for a longer period of time ahead. If you do not have permanent employment, an individual assessment is always made as to whether your income is sustainable. A longer fixed-term employment is usually approved. In some cases, an employment with a probationary period can also be approved.

People who support themselves financially through self-employment must demonstrate that their company has realistic business plans and stable finances, so that you can be expected to be able to support yourself through your profits for a longer period of time.

It is only the income you actually have when we consider your application that counts. You cannot get a permanent residence permit based on your chances of getting another job or higher income sometime in the future.

What income counts?

You may only count taxed income from legal employment. This means that you must have permission to work or be exempt from the work permit requirement. You may not count undeclared income, nor income from a profession that you are not licensed to practise.

You may count 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 12 months.

To count income from your business, you must show that you own at least half of the company and that you have decisive responsibility for its operations. It is also required that you run the company professionally, independently and for profit.

If you wait too long to apply for an extended residence permit (after your current permit has expired), you will not have the right to work while you wait for a decision and therefore will not meet the maintenance requirement.

Amount of income

Your income after tax must be so large that, after your accommodation costs have been paid each month, you have a certain amount left that should be enough for food, clothing, hygiene, telephone, electricity and insurance for yourself, among other things. For 2024, that amount is SEK 6,090 per month for a single adult. If you have a child with whom you do not live and you pay maintenance to the child’s other parent, your income must also be sufficient to cover the maintenance allowance.

The housing costs that your income 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 accommodation.

You only need to be able to support yourself, not your family members. If you live alone or with underage children, you must include your entire actual accommodation cost in your calculation. However, if you live with one or more other adults, you should divide the actual accommodation cost by the number of adults in the household and only include your share in the calculation, no matter how much each person actually pays for the accommodation.

What income does not count?

You may not count income from

  • a family member
  • wealth or returns from capital
  • unemployment insurance or activity compensation
  • 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 wages).

Pensions do not count as income either, but people who receive a pension may be exempt from the requirement that they must be able support themselves financially.

Exemptions from the maintenance requirement

Exemptions from the maintenance requirement can be made if

  • you are under the age of 18 when the Swedish Migration Agency makes a decision
  • you are entitled to a pension
  • you are unable to support yourself financially on other special grounds.

If you can submit a decision from the Swedish Pensions Agency that shows that you are entitled to an income-based retirement pension, a guarantee pension or financial support for the elderly, then you are exempt from the requirement to be able to support yourself financially. It is the right to a pension that is crucial, not whether you actually take out a pension or the size of your pension. Both guarantee pensions and financial support for the elderly can be paid out no sooner than the month you turn 66. Income-based old-age pensions can be paid out no sooner than the month you turn 63. If you have reached the age of 63 but not 66, you must show that you have retired and started to take out your income-based old-age pension. It is your age on the date of the decision that matters.

Exemptions from the maintenance requirement may also be made if other special grounds exist which are not temporary. For example, you may be unable to meet the maintenance requirement on the grounds of permanently impaired working capacity due to illness or disability. This can also apply if you are unemployed and so close to retirement age that it is difficult to get a new job. Exemptions can also be granted if it is not reasonable to request that you be able to support yourself financially. For example, such exemptions are granted for monks and nuns.

If you believe that you have special grounds for exemption from the maintenance requirement, please attach documents showing that you have, for example, a permanently impaired ability to work. Such proof may take the form of an investigation by the Swedish Public Employment Service, a decision on entitlement to sickness benefits, sickness benefits or activity compensation from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, or a medical certificate.

In order to be granted a permanent residence permit in Sweden, it is important that you cannot be assumed to commit a crime in the future. Therefore, it is required that those who apply for a permanent residence permit will live a well-behaved life. To be able to assess this, the Swedish Migration Agency needs to look at how you have lived so far, for example if you 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 person from obtaining a permanent residence permit. It is not only about serious crimes, even less serious crime can be an obstacle if you have misbehaved in other ways at the same time.

If there is reason to suspect that you will not live in a well-behaved manner in the future, the Swedish Migration Agency will weigh these suspicions against your reasons for being granted a permanent residence permit. We take into account how you have misbehaved and how long ago the events took place.

Exemptions to the requirement that applicants live a law-abiding life are made only for children under the age of 15.

Instruc­tions for online appli­ca­tion

Making an online application makes it easy for you to get it right from the start. When you make an online application, you will be given clear instructions on how to fill in the application form, and what you need to attach, which means you are more likely to receive a decision all the sooner.

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Fill in the application

In the application you fill in details about yourself and your partner or other close relative. If you have children under 18 years of age who also need a residence permit, you should apply for them at the same time.

To be able to apply online

  • you and the person you are living with in Sweden must be older than 18 years of age
  • you and your children who are applying together with you must have a registered address in Sweden
  • you need a valid email address
  • you will need to be able to pay the application fee by Visa or Mastercard
  • you will need to be able to scan or photocopy the documents that are to be attached.

Read more about the requirements for an online application

2

Attach docu­ments

You will need to scan or photocopy these documents and send them with your application:

  • copies of the pages in your passport that show your personal details, period of validity, country of issue, signature, and whether you have permission to live in countries other than your country of origin. If your passport is about to expire, you should renew it as you cannot obtain a residence permit for a period longer than the validity of your passport. You can do this in your country of origin or at the embassy of your country of origin
  • copies of passport or identity document showing the personal data of the close relative you are applying for a residence permit to live with.

If your partner has e-ID, for example BankID, they must provide assurance that your relationship is current, using the online service. If your partner does not have e-ID, you must also attach

  • the form Assurance of cohabitation, 243011W, which your partner should complete. Note that you and your partner do not need to print out and sign the assurance of cohabitation form by hand when applying online. If you open the form in the latest version of Adobe Acrobat (which you can download free of charge), you can fill it in and save it on your computer. You can then easily attach it to your application. If you are unable to save the form on your computer, you must print it out and then scan or photocopy it and attach it to your online application.

Assurance of cohabitation, form 243011W Pdf, 787 kB, opens in new window.

Check that the information given in the documents you attach is clear. Digits and characters at the very top and the very bottom of your passport must also be clearly visible on the copies of your passport.

If you are applying for a permanent residence permit, you must also submit documents showing that you

  • are supporting yourself financially as an employee, for example an employment contract and your payslips for the last one to three months
  • are supporting yourself financially as a self-employed person, for example F-tax card, registration certificate for your company, final tax statement for the previous income year, copy of income tax return (together with copy of NE or N3A appendix) for the previous income year
  • are exempted from the requirements to support yourself financially because you are entitled to a pension, for example a decision from the Swedish Pensions Agency stating that you are entitled to income-based retirement pension, guarantee pension or financial support for the elderly
  • are exempted from the requirement to support yourself financially on other special grounds, for example a decision on entitlement to sickness benefit or activity compensation from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, or a medical certificate.

If you are also applying for your children, you should also submit

  • copies of the pages of child’s passport that show personal details, photo, signature, passport number, country of issue, period of validity, and whether the child has permission to live in countries other than their country of origin.

If your children are over 18, you cannot include them in the online application. They should submit their own application instead, on the form:

Application for a residence permit to take up residence in Sweden, form 161011 Pdf, 869.6 kB, opens in new window.

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Pay and submit your application

In most cases, you will pay a fee for this. You pay with a Visa or Mastercard. When the fee has been paid, you submit your application. You will receive an email confirming that your application has been submitted. The Swedish Migration Agency will contact you if further information is required.

Application fees for residence permits

4

Interview with the Swedish Migration Agency

Sometimes the Swedish Migration Agency wishes to meet you and your partner or close relative. If you have to attend an interview, you will receive an appointment by email, sent to the address you gave when you made your application.

5

The Migration Agency processes the application

If you have submitted an application for extension, you have the right to remain in Sweden until the Swedish Migration Agency has made its decision. You also have the right to continue to work if you have had a residence permit for 6 months or more and the application is made before your current permit expires.

Bear in mind that you only have the right to continue working during the waiting time if your application is received by the Swedish Migration Agency before your previous permit has expired.

If you have previously had a decision on refusal of entry or deportation and you are applying after your previous permit has expired, then your application will be considered in accordance with the rules on impediments to enforcement, in which case there are different and more stringent requirements for being granted a permit.

Read more about impediments to enforcement

If the Swedish Migra­tion Agency needs more infor­ma­tion from you

The Swedish Migration Agency will contact you if we need further information or documentation from you. You do not need to contact the Swedish Migration Agency. If you have applied online and the Swedish Migration Agency asks you to provide additional information, you should do so by email. You should not send documents to the Swedish Migration Agency by regular post. You can read more about providing additional information in support of your case in the email the Swedish Migration Agency sends if you need to submit further information.

You may need to show your passport

The Swedish Migration Agency may need to check your passport before a decision can be made. You will then need to visit one of the Swedish Migration Agency's service centres to show your passport.

In some cases, you will not be required to show your passport, for example, if we have already checked your passport during a previous visit.

If you need to show your passport, we will contact you with information on how and when to do so.

Travel­ling abroad during the proces­sing time

If you travel abroad around the time when your permit expires, and you have applied for extension, it may be difficult for you to come back to Sweden before your new permit has been granted. You may then have to wait outside Sweden for your new decision. If there is an urgent reason why you must go back to Sweden before then, you can apply for a national visa to enter Sweden. With that sort of visa, you can travel back to Sweden and then wait for your extension decision there. You apply for that sort of visa at the Swedish embassy or consulate-general in the country where you are, providing that the authority in question is able to issue visas. You must be aware that such an application can only be granted if there are special reasons why a visa should be issued. The Swedish Migration Agency has no power to influence the decision taken by the embassy or consulate. Therefore, you should not leave Sweden during the processing period of your application unless there are exceptional circumstances and you really need to go. Some examples of special reasons are sudden illness, a death in the family, or work-related tasks. The embassy may require documentation proving the reason for the trip. You should also be aware that a decision on a national visa cannot be appealed.

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.

Log in to My page

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You receive the decision

You will receive an email stating that the decision has been made. The decision itself will then be sent home to your address in Sweden. If you receive a residence permit, you will also receive a residence permit card. When the residence permit card is ready, it will be sent to your home within about one week.

If your family member has applied for asylum and is applying to extend their temporary residence permit, you will receive your decisions at the same time.

Tempo­rary resi­dence permit

If your application is approved you will receive a new temporary residence permit that is valid for two years. However, the duration of the residence permit cannot be longer than the validity period of your passport. If your family member has a temporary residence permit, you will receive a permit for the same time period as your family member.

If your family member has been seeking asylum and has applied to extend their temporary residence permit, you will receive a permit for the same time. If your family member has had a residence permit that has been valid for 13 months, you may receive a new residence permit for two years.

Perma­nent resi­dence permit

If you are granted a permanent residence permit, this is valid for as long as you reside in Sweden.

If the Swedish Migra­tion Agency rejects your appli­ca­tion

If you are not given a residence permit you may lodge an appeal within three weeks from the date you received the decision. Information on how to do this can be found in your decision documentation. If you have given someone a power of attorney document that authorises him/her to represent you, this person may lodge the appeal. Children under 18 years of age cannot appeal themselves. The appeal should be made by their parents or another legal guardian on the child’s behalf.

You can appeal against a decision not to grant a permanent residence permit if your application was rejected because you do not meet the maintenance requirement or the orderliness requirement. If you do not meet the requirements for a permanent residence permit, you may still be able to receive a residence permit as a close relative.

7

Basis for residence permit card

If you receive a residence permit, you will also receive a residence permit card. The card is proof that you have permission to stay in Sweden and contains your photograph and fingerprints. You should therefore make an appointment with the Swedish Migration Agency to have your photograph and fingerprints taken as soon as possible. You also need to do this if you have previously had a residence permit card as your photo and fingerprints are not stored.

Read more about residence permit cards

Book an appointment at the Migration Agency to be photographed and fingerprinted

If you are unable to make an online appli­ca­tion

If you are unable to apply online, you should complete the form Application for residence permit to settle in Sweden, 161011. You and your partner should also complete the form Assurance of cohabitation – Appendix to application for extended residence permit, 243011B.

Application for residence permit to settle in Sweden, form 161011 Pdf, 869.6 kB, opens in new window.

Assurance of cohabitation – Appendix to application for extended residence permit, form 243011B Pdf, 1.2 MB, opens in new window.

In the case of applications for children under 18, you fill in the form Application for residence permit to settle in Sweden – for a child under the age of 18, 163011.

Application for residence permit to settle in Sweden – for a child under the age of 18, form 163011 Pdf, 852.1 kB, opens in new window.

The application form specifies the documents you must enclose.

Send your application to:

The Swedish Migration Agency
Box 3100
903 03 Umeå

In most cases you must pay a fee.

Application fees for residence permits

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