Employers Seasonal workers

Du har en anställd med arbetstillstånd för säsongsarbete som vill förlänga sitt tillstånd.

  • Important to know
  • How it works
  • Apply

If you want to see the information aimed at the employee, you can visit the page You want to extend – Seasonal workers

A work permit is valid for a maximum of two years. If the employee wants to continue working for longer than their work permit is valid, they can apply to extend it.

If the person has worked in Sweden with a work permit for at least four years during the past seven years, they can choose to apply for a permanent residence permit at the same time.

People who are in Sweden for less than one year do not have the same right to social welfare benefits as those who reside here. It is therefore required that the employee also has private insurance that can cover any costs that might arise if they fall ill or are injured in an accident. If the employee has not arranged this, they cannot be granted a work permit.

The employer starts the application

For an employer, the process of applying for an extended work permit is the same as a first-time application. You start the application by providing information about the employment in the e-service. When you are done, the employee receives a link to the e-service, where they fill in their information and submit the application, thus completing the process. Only then is the application registered with the Swedish Migration Agency.

In addition to the requirements imposed on the employee, as an employer you must meet the following requirements in order for the employee to be able to get an extended work permit:

The terms of employment must have been met throughout the period during which the employee has had a work permit
The employee’s salary/wages, insurance and other terms of employment must have been at least on par with collective agreements or common practice in their occupation or industry. These conditions must have been met throughout the period that they have had a work permit in Sweden.

You must continue to offer the employee a job

The employment’s salary/wages must provide a good living
The employment must enable the employee to make a good living. This means that the employee must have a monthly salary/wages amounting to at least 80 per cent of the median salary published by Statistics Sweden (SCB) that was current at the time of application.

To make a good living, the employee must receive a monthly salary/wages of at least SEK 28,480. This corresponds to 80 per cent of the current median salary published by Statistics Sweden (SCB) in June of each year.

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

The salary/wages must also be on par with collective agreements or common practice in the relevant occupation or industry. This means that the employee’s salary/wages may need to be higher than 80 per cent of the median salary.

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

You must give the relevant trade union organisation the opportunity to comment on the terms of employment

  • Collect important information

Make sure you have access to the information about the employee, company and employment that you will need to provide in the e-service.

Information about the employee
Name, date of birth, citizenship, education and email address. Please note that it is through this email address that your employee will log into the e-service to continue their work permit application, so double check it carefully.

Information about the company
Company registration number, contact details, date the business was established, and location of the workplace. Employers in industries with higher requirements, start-ups and representatives also need to attach supporting documents.

Information about the employment
Occupation, SSYK code for the occupation in question, work responsibilities, form of employment, start date, scope, salary/wages, date of any collective agreement, and insurance company/companies.

  • Insurance for the employee

The employee must be covered by medical insurance, life insurance, occupational injury insurance and occupational pension insurance throughout the permit period. It is therefore important that the documentation shows the date on which the insurance began to apply, as well as the terms and conditions of the policy. You must be able to show that the insurance policies applied during the previous permit period and that they will remain valid in the future.

Medical insurance provides financial support if the insured person falls ill or is injured. Medical insurance should not be confused with healthcare insurance, which helps the insured to gain faster access to healthcare.

A life insurance policy provides financial security if the insured person dies. For example, the money that is then paid out can help their surviving family be able to afford to stay in their home.

With an occupational injury insurance policy, the policyholder can receive compensation in the event of long-term unemployment or sick leave. The insurance provides compensation if the policyholder has been injured on the job or on the way to or from their workplace. This form of insurance is often referred to in Swedish as “Trygghetsförsäkring vid arbetsskada” and abbreviated to the acronym “TFA”.

Occupational pension insurance is an insurance solution to secure an occupational pension. It can be taken out by the employer for the benefit of the employee, or taken out by the employee but then paid by the employer.

The employee must also take out private insurance

People who are in Sweden for less than one year do not have the same right to social welfare benefits as those who reside here. It is therefore required that the employee also has private insurance that can cover any costs that might arise if they fall ill or are injured in an accident. If the employee has not arranged this, they cannot be granted a work permit.

  • Select which trade union might want to comment

In the e-service, you can choose which trade union organisation should be given the opportunity to comment on the employment. You choose the trade union that is relevant to the work that the employee is to perform. If the union is connected to the Swedish Migration Agency's digital processing, you will be able to select it directly in the e-service and later receive its statement of opinion directly in the e-service. Otherwise, they may give their statement via a form.

If the trade union refrains from commenting on the terms of employment, the Swedish Migration Agency will decide whether the offered terms of employment correspond to collective agreements or what is customary in the occupation or industry.

  • If your company is subject to higher requirements or is a start-up, you need to prepare supporting documents

If your company is subject to higher requirements or is a start-up, you will need to attach copies of supporting documents. Prepare the documents and make sure that the information on them is clearly visible.

  • Documents showing cash and cash equivalents
  • Balance and performance reports for previous and current years
  • The company’s tax account statement for the last three months.
    Please note that this only applies if you have previously employed people from outside the EU who have been granted a work permit due to your employment.

  • Documents showing cash or cash equivalents or overdraft facility
  • Balance and performance reports for the current year
  • Agreement(s) on ongoing or upcoming assignments.

If you have previously employed people from outside the EU and those people have been granted a work permit to work for you, you must also attach:

  • the company’s tax account statement for the last three months. The tax account statement must show paid employer contributions
  • documents showing that the former employees were covered by medical insurance, life insurance, occupational injury insurance and occupational pension insurance for the entire period that they had a work permit in Sweden.

A copy of their power of attorney to act as a representative.

Power of attorney (107011) Pdf, 1.1 MB.

Read more about power of attorney

Some industries have higher investigation requirements. If your company belongs to one of these industries, you must be able to report how the company is able to guarantee pay for the person applying for a work permit. You must also be able to prove that the conditions exist for you to be able to pay their salary/wages for at least three months.

These rules apply to you if you employ employees within the following industries:

  • Cleaning (81290, 81210)
  • Hotel and restaurant (55101, 56)
  • Construction (41200, 421, 42990, 43)
  • Trade (471–478)
  • Agriculture and forestry (0113, 012, 02102)
  • Automotive workshop (452)
  • Service (9602, 9604, 9609)
  • Staffing (782)
  • Personal assistance (88101, 88102)


The numbers in parentheses represent the first digits of current SNI codes. Your company’s SNI code can be found in your registration certificate from the Swedish Tax Agency.

Exemptions from higher requirements

Municipal, regional and state employers are exempt from the higher requirements and do not need to report the above to meet the work permit requirements.

If your business has existed for less than a year or has been dormant, you need to prove that you are able to pay salary/wages to the people you are hiring for at least three months. If you have previously employed non-EU/EEA citizens, you need to be able to prove that you have paid employer contributions and that these employees have been covered by the right insurance.

If you will be acting as a representative for an employer, you need to arrange a power of attorney.

Please note that if you are a representative with power of attorney, you are the only person who will have access to the case during the entire application period, because you create the e-application using your e-ID. You will thus be the only one who can complete the employer’s part of the application and respond to any requests for supplementation.

Read more about power of attorney

If the employee wishes to apply for a permanent residence permit in connection with their application for an extended permit, they must

  • have had a permit for work and worked in Sweden for at least four years during the past seven years
  • be able to support themselves financially
  • live a well-behaved life.

If the person does not meet the requirements for a permanent residence permit, they may still be granted an extended work permit, if the requirements for it are met.

It is the employee who chooses to apply for a permanent residence permit. As an employer, you do not need to do anything in your part of the application.

If the employee has previously received a rejection or expulsion decision and the decision still applies, it is very important that you apply for an extension of the work permit before the current permit expires. If you apply after the current work permit has expired, the application is instead examined as an application for impediments to enforcement.

The employee can apply for an extension of the work permit no more than four months before the current permit will expire. You must apply before the current permit expires. If you apply too late, the employee will not be able to work during the processing time.

The Swedish Migration Agency recommends that you submit the application no more than 30 days before the current work permit will expire. This is because we cannot make a decision about a permanent residence permit application until the current permit has expired.

The employee has the right to continue working during the waiting period if they have applied before the previous permit expires.

If the employer rents housing to the employee or acts as an intermediary in finding them housing

  • the rent must not be in exorbitant in comparison with the salary/wages or the housing standard (this means that the rent must not be unreasonably high in relation to the housing standard and that the employee should not need subsistence support to cover their living expenses after the rent has been paid)
  • the rent may be deducted from the seasonal worker’s salary/wages only if they have given you their written consent
  • you must provide the seasonal worker with a written document stating the rental terms
  • the housing must comply with public health and safety regulations.

The employee may not be a lodger during their stay in Sweden. “Lodger” refers to a situation in which a tenant rents a specific part of a residence while the landlord usually uses the rest of the residence.

To show that the housing requirement is met, the employee needs a copy of a lease agreement or a certificate of future accommodation from the landlord or housing broker. The employee must submit this copy with their part of the application.

The rental agreement must include

  • the address of the housing
  • rent
  • living space (in square meters)
  • number of rooms and kitchen/toilet
  • the term of the lease agreement and the period of notice
  • contact details of the landlord and the tenant
  • signatures of the landlord and the tenant
  • the number of people, including the employee, who will be sharing the housing
  • type of housing (for example freestanding house, apartment, or corridor room)

If the housing is being sublet, the employee must also submit documents showing that this has been approved by the landlord, tenant-owner association or rental board.

The employee can be granted a permit for seasonal work for a maximum of six months during a twelve-month period. They can never be granted a permit for longer than their passport is valid.

If the employee is granted a permanent residence permit, it remains valid as long as they reside in Sweden.

It is not possible to say exactly how long it takes to recieve a decision. There are many things that affect the waiting time, for example whether the 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 the case.

Here we show statistics on how long it has taken for people who have applied for this permit.

Complete applications

75% of applications receive a decision within:7 months

Incomplete applications

75% of applications receive a decision within:6 months

News

2025-03-05

The Swedish Migration Agency's new website has now been launched

On 5 March, the Swedish Migration Agency launched a completely new version of migrationsverket.se, with a new structure and a more user-friendly navigation. The purpose of the new website is primarily to make it easier for visitors to find the information they need.

2025-01-07

New EU Blue Card rules now apply

As of 1 January, new requirements and rules apply for anyone who wants to apply for an EU Blue Card and existing Blue Card holders.

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.