Working in Sweden

What is required to get a work permit?

If you want to work in Sweden, you must have an offer of employment from an employer in Sweden.

To get a permit, you must also:

Have a valid passport. Earn enough from employment to support yourself.

In addition, your employer must:

Have advertised the job vacancy in Sweden and the EU. Offer terms of employment equivalent to a Swedish collective agreement or customary terms for the occupation or industry. Give the relevant union an opportunity to state an opinion on the terms of the offer of employment.

You and the employer are responsible for showing the Migration Agency that the requirements above have been met. You do this by completing the application form for employees and the employer completes the Offer of Employment form.

Where do you apply for a residence and work permit?

The main rule is that people who want to work in Sweden must apply for a residence and work permit in the country of origin or another country outside Sweden in which you reside.

Where do I apply?

If you are outside Sweden, you apply electronically on the Migration Agency website.

Residents of Moldova have until now been referred to the Embassy in Bucharest for applications for residence and work permit. Since Romania now is a part of the Schengen area the Embassy in Bucharest have been exempted from handling migration matters. Applicants residing within the Embassy of Bucharest´s consular jurisdiction is from now instead referred to one of the five so called Schengen hubs that handles all migration matters within the Schengen area.

The Schengen hubs are the following Swedish Embassies:

Athens

Berlin

Madrid

Paris

Rome

This means that if you want to apply for residence or work permit you can choose which of these five Missions you want to handle your application. It also means you can no longer turn to the Embassy in Bucharest for migration matters. Please note that this only applies to applications for residence and work permit. There will be no changes with regards to applications for Schengen visas.

To book an appointment or to contact the Embassy for other questions you can find contact information on swedenabroad.se.

You must always append the following documents to your application:

• Copy of your passport
• Offer of Employment
• Receipt showing that you have paid the application fee.

Please note: If you are a student or a doctoral student at a university/ college you do not need a work permit to be able to work during your studies.

How long is the permit valid?

If the employment is temporary, you will be issued a residence and work permit valid only for the same period, but for a maximum of two years at a time.

After 48 months, you will become eligible for a permanent residence permit.

Further information

For further information please contact the Embassy of Sweden in Athens, Berlin, Madrid, Paris or Rome.

You may also contact:

The Migration Agency
601 70 Norrköping
Sweden
Phone: +46-771-23 52 35 > www.migrationsverket.se

In order to read the forms you need to have Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. If you do not have the programme you may download it, free of charge, from Adobe's website.