New assessment of maintenance requirement when applying for a permanent residence permit
Following a landmark ruling from the Migration Court of Appeal, the Swedish Migration Agency has updated its guidelines on the length of employment needed to meet the requirement for sustainable maintenance when applying for a permanent residence permit.
According to the Swedish Migration Agency's previous assessment, at least 18 months of employment was required from the date of the decision in order to meet the legal requirement of "sustainable maintenance" when applying for a permanent residence permit.
Guiding judgment after appeal
The requirement has been criticized by, among others, doctoral students, who believe that employments longer than 12 months are rare in the university world. A doctoral student who appealed the Swedish Migration Agency's decision to reject the application for a permanent residence permit led to a landmark ruling from the Migration Court of Appeal. Following the ruling, the Swedish Migration Agency has now removed the requirement of at least 18 months of maintenance in order to obtain a permanent residence permit.
The Court held that there is no basis for defining "sustainable maintenance" differently in the case of different types of permits. The Court pointed out that the requirement for applications for permanent residence permits should be similar to that imposed on people who are to support relatives who move to Sweden, which is usually one year's support in the future. At the same time, however, the Court expressed that no fixed time limit should be set, but that the review must include a degree of flexibility. Therefore, it cannot be determined that 12 months of employment is always sufficient, or always required, to obtain a permanent residence permit. Therefore, the Swedish Migration Agency chooses to emphasise the importance of individual assessment if the person applying for a permanent residence permit does not have permanent employment.
The Swedish Migration Agency has now updated its legal position, the case assesments have been adapted and the information on the Swedish Migration Agency's website has been rewritten.
Read more about a permanent residence permit for doctoral students