Employers Seafarers

Du vill anställa någon som är medborgare i ett land utanför EU/EES och som ska arbeta som sjöman ombord på ett svenskt fartyg i inrikes trafik.

  • 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 apply - Seafarers

The information on this page is aimed at employers who want to employ someone who needs a work permit to work in Sweden. Certain people may work in Sweden without a work permit. This applies, for example, to people who already have a certain type of residence permit in Sweden, or belong to a special occupational group.

Certain people are exempt from the work permit requirement

What does a seafarer do?

A seafarer is employed to do ship work on board a ship, in a position such as ship’s officer, sailor, engineer officer, or on-board service personnel. In order for the employee to be granted a work permit as a seafarer, they must meet the requirements for qualifications and certificates set out in the rules of the Swedish Transport Agency.

Qualifications for seafarers (in Swedish) External link.

What does “domestic traffic” mean?

“Domestic traffic” means travel from a Swedish port to the same port or to another Swedish port. A ship operating between two Swedish ports is considered to be in domestic traffic, even if it occasionally passes through international waters.

The employer starts the application

As an employer, you start the work permit application for the person you want to employ. You do this by providing information about the employment to the Swedish Migration Agency via our e-service. When you are finished, the employee receives a link to the e-service, where they fill in their information, submit and thus complete the application. Only then is the application registered with the Swedish Migration Agency.

The work permit requirement applies to a person who will be working in Sweden, regardless of whether they are to be employed in Sweden or abroad, whether they are employed by a staffing agency that leases a workforce to a company in Sweden, or whether they are to be transferred within a group.

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

You must advertise the vacant position for at least 10 days
You must advertise the vacancy in Sweden and within the EU/EEA and Switzerland for at least ten days.

You and the employee must sign an employment agreement
The employment agreement must be signed after the vacancy advertisement period has expired and must be signed by both parties.

You must agree with the employee on terms of employment and salary/wages
The terms of employment and salary/wages must be at least on par with Swedish collective agreements or what is customary in the occupation or industry. The employment must also 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 that was published by Statistics Sweden (SCB) 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 arrange insurance for the employee
The insurance must be taken out by the time their employment begins.

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

  • Advertise the position for at least 10 days

When you plan to fill a vacancy, you must advertise the available position so that all residents of Sweden, the EU/EEA and Switzerland can apply. You can do this by advertising the position via the Swedish Public Employment Service’s job placement portal for at least ten days. Advertisements in the Swedish Public Employment Service’s jobs portal are also visible in the European job placement portal, EURES.

This vacancy advertisement requirement exists to ensure that your recruitment procedure is compatible with Sweden’s commitments as an EU Member State. See Chapter 6, Section 2 of the Aliens Act.

If you choose to advertise a vacancy in any way other than through the Swedish Public Employment Service, you must show that your vacancy advertisement corresponds to those in EURES and has been available to everyone in all EU/EEA countries and Switzerland. For example, it is usually not enough to advertise only on LinkedIn or via other such channels.

Please note that you will later need to have access to the relevant ad ID for the ad in the job placement portal, or the reference number for the ad in EURES.

Applies to new recruitment only

The vacancy advertisement requirement applies only to new recruitment. For people who are employed by an employer abroad, and who have been assigned to perform work in Sweden, no vacancy advertisement is required, nor is it necessary if an employee is transferred within a group – as long as the position is still based abroad. However, if the position is moved to Sweden, it is considered a new job. Then you must advertise the position, and the person who will be working for you must apply for a new work permit.

  • Sign an employment agreement with the employee

The employment agreement must be signed by both parties. The employee will later be asked to attach a copy of the agreement in their part of the application.

In order for the Swedish Migration Agency to assess whether the employment meets the required conditions for a work permit, in addition to name and contact details, an employment agreement should include the following:

  • the employee’s name and address
  • the employer’s name and address
  • information about where the workplace is located
  • title and brief description of work responsibilities
  • form of employment (permanent, fixed-term or probationary)
  • employment start date or time of start
  • notice period, length of probationary period, or end date of employment
  • salary/wages, other salary benefits and how often the salary is to be paid
  • working hours
  • what applies to overtime or additional time work and compensation for such work
  • holiday days or holiday allowance
  • which collective agreement applies, if the employer has signed a collective agreement.

If the processing of the application takes time, the start date you specify in the employment agreement may pass. Then the Swedish Migration Agency may need to ask you for a new start date – which could extend the processing time. To avoid this, you can formulate the employment agreement so that it does not specify a specific start date, but instead states that the employment will start from the date that the Swedish Migration Agency grants the work permit.

  • 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 person you want to employ
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 start-ups 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, insurance company/companies and advertisement ID.

  • Insurance for the employee

In order for the employee to be granted a permit, the employer must have taken out medical insurance, life insurance, occupational injury insurance and occupational pension insurance for the employee by the time they start their employment.

If the employee later wants to apply for an extension of their permit, they must have been covered by medical insurance, life insurance, occupational injury insurance and occupational pension insurance for the entire period that they have had a permit in Sweden. 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.

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 very important that the employee has their own private insurance that can cover any costs that might arise if they fall ill or have an accident.

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 person to gain faster access to care.

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.

  • 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 a start-up, you need to prepare supporting documents

If your company 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 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

If your business is foreign but has a branch in Sweden, it is the branch that must provide information about the employment in the e-service and thus start the application. They are also responsible for providing additional information about the employment to the Swedish Migration Agency, if necessary.

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

The employee can be granted a work permit for a maximum of two years, but not for longer than the duration of their employment. They can never be granted a permit for longer than their passport is valid. If any of the employee’s family members are accompanying them to Sweden, they can be granted residence permits for the same period, but never longer than the period of validity of their passports.

The permit can be extended.


If you want to employ a person who is already working in Sweden and has a valid work permit, you need to apply for a new work permit if the person has had a permit for less than two years, because the person will be changing employers.

If the person has had a work permit for more than two years, you only need to apply for a new work permit if the position is in a different occupation than the one to which the current permit relates. Otherwise, the person may work with you under their current permit.

If a person who already has a work permit to work for you is going to change occupations, get new work responsibilities, or if the terms of their employment with you otherwise change, you and the employee need to apply for a new permit. The same applies if the company changes company registration numbers or is acquired by new owners. Remember to apply before the current permit expires.

Some people are in Sweden with a residence permit that also gives them the right to work. Read more about them:

Employing someone who already has the right to work in Sweden

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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.