Cost of Moving to Sweden by Permit Route, as of October 2026

Moving to Sweden costs money in six separate places, and your permit route decides which of them reach you first. Migrationsverket, the Swedish Migration Agency, sets the fee and the income test. Skatteverket, the Tax Agency, decides when you get a personnummer, the personal identity number. SCB and Konsumentverket publish the rent and household figures that fill in the rest. This guide shows how those pieces fit together, with every figure checked on 7 October 2026.

Who this guide is for and who it is not for

This guide is for four readers who need a Swedish permit: partners joining someone in Sweden, families moving with children, work-permit holders and students. It assumes you are a citizen of a country outside the EU/EES.

Three other readers should start elsewhere. If you are an EU/EES citizen, start with the EU family-member residence card. If you plan a visit, not a move, go to planning a trip. If you already hold a permit and are counting years towards permanent residence, go to citizenship and permanent residence.

What you need in place before any figure applies

Four prerequisites decide which numbers in this guide are yours. Check them first.

• A permit route. You need a job offer for a work permit, an admission to a university or högskola (university college) for a study permit, or a partner, parent or child already in Sweden for a family permit.
• A sponsor on the right status. On the partner and child route, from 1 October 2026 an anknytningsperson (the person in Sweden whom you join) on a temporary permit must have lived in Sweden with a permit for two years when you apply (utlänningslagen 5 kap. 3 i §). This does not apply to the families of work-permit, EU Blue Card, ICT or research permit holders, per Migrationsverket.
• A plan to stay at least a year. Skatteverket says a person who plans to live in Sweden for at least one year should in most cases be folkbokförd, meaning registered in the population register, per Skatteverket.
• Check for an exemption. A sponsor who is a Swedish, EU/EES or Swiss citizen is exempt from the försörjningskrav when the relationship is well established, per Migrationsverket. The exemption does not apply if you bring children and your sponsor is not their other parent or guardian.

How the cost system works: who sets each cost and in what order

Each cost has a different owner, and the owners do not coordinate with each other. Knowing the owner tells you where to check a figure before you rely on it.

Migrationsverket owns the fee and the money test. Skatteverket owns folkbokföring and the personnummer. Försäkringskassan, the Social Insurance Agency, decides whether you are insured in Sweden and so whether benefits such as barnbidrag (child allowance) reach you, per Försäkringskassan. SCB, Statistics Sweden, publishes the rent and median-salary statistics. Konsumentverket, the Consumer Agency, publishes reference costs for a household.

The order follows the route. You pay the fee when you apply, show the money test while you wait, and meet housing and insurance on arrival. The personnummer arrives last and releases the rest.

Application fees by route

The ansökningsavgift depends on the permit and on whether the applicant is an adult or a child. A child counts as family up to 21 on the work route and under 18 otherwise. Each family member pays their own fee when the application is made, and Migrationsverket states that the fee is not returned after a rejection. The current amounts are on Migrationsverket's page for each route: work permit (worker and family), study permit, higher education and living with a partner in Sweden.

The money test: four different rules under one name

Cost guides often lump these together as one "maintenance requirement". Migrationsverket applies four different tests, and the one that applies to you depends on the route.

Work permit: a salary floor. Since 1 June 2026 the lönekrav (salary requirement) is a monthly salary of at least 90 percent of the median that SCB published when you applied. From 16 June 2026 that is SEK 34,470 a month, based on a median of SEK 38,300, per Migrationsverket. The salary must also match the kollektivavtal (collective agreement) or the practice of the trade, so the floor can be higher. Exempted occupations need at least 75 percent of the median, per Migrationsverket.

An extension has a transition rule. For a permit granted before 1 June 2026, an extension applied for between 2 June and 1 December 2026 needs SEK 30,640 a month, which is 80 percent of the median, per Migrationsverket. The new floor applies to everyone from 2 December 2026.

Study permit: funds for the whole permit period. The försörjningskrav for a student who applied in 2026 is at least SEK 10,656 a month, per Migrationsverket. The money must cover the full period of the permit, and the bank statement may be issued no earlier than four months before the permit should start. For a 12-month permit that is SEK 127,872 (12 × 10,656), by arithmetic. Tuition (studieavgift) comes on top and must be paid before you apply: "Du ska ha betalat eventuella studieavgifter innan du ansöker", per Migrationsverket's study page. The amount is set by each university; see studying in Sweden as a non-EU citizen.

Family permit: the sponsor's remaining income. The anknytningsperson must show an income after tax that leaves a set amount after the rent is paid. There are two scales: one for the partner and child route and a lower one for the family of a work-permit holder. The next section gives both.

Single-income and no-income households: whose money counts

The household rule differs by route, and this is where a single-income household finds out which route it is on.

Joining a partner or parent. This is the partner and child route (utlänningsförordningen 4 kap. 4 d §). At the first application the sponsor alone must support the household, per Migrationsverket. From 1 October 2026 the amount left after tax and rent, for 2026, is:

The child amounts are reduced by any barnbidrag and flerbarnstillägg. An extension of a permit granted before 1 October 2026 keeps the older, lower amounts if it is applied for by 1 October 2027, and the higher amounts apply to every application from 2 October 2027, per Migrationsverket. Income from subsidised employment, unemployment insurance and activity support does not count. A sponsor can also qualify with enough förmögenhet (wealth) to live on for at least two years.

Following a work-permit holder. The worker must have income that covers the rent and living costs of the family, and income from a family member may not be counted, per Migrationsverket. Adult family members who receive a permit are allowed to work. By this reading, a partner's later pay does not help the first application, only later ones. From 1 October 2026 the försörjningskrav is also tested at extension and family members' income counts then, per Migrationsverket. The amount is lower than on the partner route: the worker must have the normal amount left after tax and housing (utlänningsförordningen 4 kap. 4 c §), which for 2026 is SEK 6,243 for one adult, SEK 10,314 for a couple and SEK 3,336 to SEK 5,339 per child, per Migrationsverket's work-permit page. If the family has no home on the day of application, Migrationsverket uses a schablonkostnad (standard housing cost) for the place where the job is. The two-year stay rule for sponsors does not apply on this route.

Following a student. Migrationsverket assesses the family's combined capacity (samlade försörjningsförmåga), per Migrationsverket. The student amount grows by SEK 4,440 a month for a spouse or partner and SEK 2,664 a month for each child. A student with a partner and two children therefore needs SEK 20,424 a month (10,656 + 4,440 + 2,664 + 2,664), by arithmetic. A student who started under the rules from 11 June 2026 may work at most 15 hours a week during term, with unlimited work in June, July and August, per Migrationsverket.

A household with no earner has two documented routes. A student may show funds from own bank assets, a scholarship, a student loan or a sponsor, per Migrationsverket's study page. A family sponsor may show wealth to live on for at least two years. Unemployment insurance and subsidised pay do not count towards a sponsor's income.

The work-permit page lists lower amounts than the sponsor page because it is a different rule, not a conflict. The partner and child route requires 1.30 times the normal amount (utlänningsförordningen 4 kap. 4 d §), so SEK 6,243 for one adult on the work route becomes SEK 8,116 on the partner route, and SEK 10,314 for a couple becomes SEK 13,408.

Housing: a requirement and the rent market

Housing is a cost and a condition. On the partner and child route, Migrationsverket requires a sponsor to show a home that is large enough for at least one year ahead. A sublet counts only with approval from the landlord, the bostadsrättsförening (housing cooperative) or Hyresnämnden (the rental tribunal). Lodging with someone else or living with parents does not count, per Migrationsverket.

SCB publishes the average rent for first-hand rental flats (hyresrätt) each year, by flat size and region, per SCB. These are averages for existing first-hand contracts. A newcomer usually rents second hand at first, which these figures do not cover; see housing.

The deposit for your own first flat is covered in paying a deposit and first month's rent without a personnummer.

Insurance: who must hold it and what it covers

Insurance splits into a permit condition and a household cost.

As a permit condition, an employer must take out sjukförsäkring (health), livförsäkring (life), trygghetsförsäkring (employment-security) and tjänstepensionsförsäkring (occupational pension) insurance for a worker when the job starts. If the job lasts one year or less, you must hold or have applied for a heltäckande sjukförsäkring (comprehensive health insurance). It must cover acute care, hospital stays, acute dental care and medical repatriation, per Migrationsverket. A student admitted for under one year needs the same cover unless the university provides it. From 1 October 2026 the same requirement applies to family members of students who stay at most one year, per Migrationsverket. The pages cited here state no price for this cover.

As a household cost, Konsumentverket counts hemförsäkring (home contents insurance) among its 2026 household reference costs, per Konsumentverket. Once you are folkbokförd you pay the normal patient fee for public healthcare, which each region sets, per 1177.

The personnummer gap: what the first weeks look like

The gap is the time between arrival and your personnummer, and it is a timing cost more than a fee. Skatteverket gives a personnummer when you are folkbokförd for the first time, and it requires a planned stay of at least one year, per Skatteverket. Skatteverket asks you to book the identity check in advance. A move notification takes about five weeks before it reaches a case officer, per Skatteverket.

A samordningsnummer is the interim number, and its rules differ by stay length. A person who plans to stay under a year may apply for one by showing a need and a connection to Sweden, per Skatteverket. For a new arrival who will work, Skatteverket tells the worker to book a visit to a servicekontor as soon as possible to apply for one. The worker also needs a decision on preliminär A-skatt (preliminary income tax) so that the employer can make tax deductions, and may start work before it arrives, per Skatteverket. For a partner, family member or student who plans a stay of a year or more, the Skatteverket pages cited above give no interim number; the personnummer follows folkbokföring.

Budget the gap as weeks of full living costs with a partly working paper trail. Shipping your goods adds a separate line, covered in the cost of shipping to Sweden.

Building a monthly budget from Konsumentverket's reference costs

Konsumentverket's 2026 reference costs cover about 40 percent of a household's costs and exclude housing and transport, per Konsumentverket. The figures are not statistics on what households spend; they are estimates for a household in a flat.

The report lists separate posts for food, for clothes, leisure, phone and hygiene, and for shared household costs such as internet, electricity and equipment, by age and household size, per Konsumentverket. Add the rent you are actually offered, not an average, to reach a monthly budget.

Which guide to read next for your route

Use the route to pick the detail:

• The overall cost of moving to Sweden covers the full budget by city.
• The first three months for a single person splits one-time and monthly costs.
• The first three months for a family of four applies the family test to a real household.
• Shipping cost and deposit and first month's rent cover the two arrival costs.
• Permits, partner and family permits, studying in Sweden and housing cover the routes and the rental market.
• Personnummer, ID and BankID covers the gap after arrival.