Sweden Work Permit: How Your Partner and Children Join You

Who this article is for

This article is for two readers. The first holds, or is applying for, a Swedish work permit and wants a partner or children to join them. The second is the partner or adult child who will apply. Both are citizens of a country outside the EU/EES.

Family permits depend on the permit the person in Sweden holds. Migrationsverket applies separate rules to families of workers, students and long-term residents of another EU country, and this article covers only the worker rules.

It is not for these readers:

• Your partner is a Swedish citizen or permanent resident: read the partner visa and sambo requirements.
• You are an EU/EES citizen, or your partner is: read the EU family member residence card guide.
• You are coming to study: start at Studying in Sweden as a non-EU citizen.
• You are visiting for a short stay: start at Planning a Trip.
• You have not yet secured the work permit: start at Permits first.

Prerequisites before any step applies

Four conditions decide whether this route is yours.

• Citizenship. The family member is a citizen of a country outside the EU/EES. Migrationsverket states that citizens of such countries need a residence permit in most cases to live with someone in Sweden.
• Your permit. You have, or have applied for, a work permit as an employee. Migrationsverket's family page also covers people with permits as entrepreneurs, researchers, ICT permit holders and EU Blue Card holders, with different limits noted below.
• Passports. Every family member has a valid passport, and as a rule the permit is not granted for longer than the passport is valid.
• Income. Your salary meets the försörjningskrav described below. The work permit itself needs a monthly salary of at least SEK 34,470, so the family test comes on top of that, not instead of it.

Folkbokföring (the population register) and a personnummer (the personal identity number) come after arrival, once the family has moved.

Who counts as family on a work permit

The term in Swedish is medföljande familjemedlem, an accompanying family member. For a worker, Migrationsverket defines family as "maka, make, sambo, registrerad partner och ogifta barn under 21 år". That is a wife or husband, a sambo, a registered partner and unmarried children under 21.

Three details change who can come:

• Adult children. An unmarried child aged 21 or over can get a permit in some cases, if the child depends on you or your partner for support. You then attach documents that show the dependency.
• Other work-based permits. For an entrepreneur, researcher, ICT permit holder or EU Blue Card holder, the same page sets the child limit at unmarried children under 18.
• Custody. A child who is not shared by both of you must be in the custody of the worker or of the worker's spouse or sambo. If the other custodian stays in the home country, you attach that person's written consent and a copy of their passport.

The partner route uses a different test: both partners must be over 21 and children must be under 18, per Migrationsverket as of 7 October 2026. Do not read the partner-permit page for your case.

Which permit each family member applies for, and when

Each family member applies for an uppehållstillstånd, a residence permit, that follows your work permit. It is a separate permit for each person, not a line on yours. The legal basis is utlänningsförordningen (2006:97) 4 kap. 4 a §, not the partner-route sections of utlänningslagen. On paper, each adult fills in their own form. When the family applies afterwards, children under 18 go on a parent's form.

Option 1: apply together with you

If your family applies at the same time as you, they can do it in your work-permit application. Migrationsverket states that when you apply in the e-service, you can add your family to your own application. In that case, the försörjningskrav applies from the start and you attach documents for each person.

Option 2: apply afterwards

If your family decides later, each person makes their own application "i efterhand", meaning afterwards. Migrationsverket's rule is that the person in Sweden needs a work permit or an application for one, and a family member who applies for the first time must be outside Sweden when applying.

Where and when

A first application is made while the applicant is outside Sweden. Migrationsverket states: "Ditt uppehållstillstånd måste vara klart innan du reser in i Sverige." The permit must be ready before you enter Sweden. The same principle sits in utlänningslagen (2005:716), 5 kap. 18 §: a foreigner who wants a residence permit in Sweden must have applied for and been granted it before entering the country.

One exception concerns a child born in Sweden, who can in some cases get a permit while already in the country.

How long the permit lasts

Your family receives a permit for the same period as yours, and as a rule not longer than the passport is valid. A work permit is granted for at most two years, and not for longer than the employment lasts. The family permit can be extended.

Försörjningskrav: what you must earn

The försörjningskrav is the requirement that you can support yourself and your family in Sweden. Migrationsverket applies it when family applies for a first permit, and from 1 October 2026 it applies again at every extension.

What counts as income

Migrationsverket looks first at your salary. Counted income is:

• taxed income from the job you hold the permit for,
• parental benefit or sickness benefit, if you have an ongoing job and the leave is not expected to exceed 18 months,
• income from a business, and
• wealth.

Income that does not count is income from a family member, unemployment insurance or activity support, grants or scholarships, subsidised employment, and undeclared work.

How much must remain each month

After tax, and after rent is paid, you must have a set amount left for food, clothes, hygiene, telephone and insurance. These are the amounts Migrationsverket lists for 2026 on its worker and worker-family pages:

The child amounts are reduced by any child benefit and flerbarnstillägg, the supplement for families with several children. If you pay maintenance for a child who lives elsewhere, your salary must also cover that payment.

A worked example: a couple with a 3-year-old and a 9-year-old need SEK 10,314 + 3,336 + 4,004 = SEK 17,654 per month after tax and rent, before the child-benefit reduction.

The two scales on Migrationsverket's own pages

Migrationsverket publishes a higher scale for anknytningspersoner, the sponsors of the partner route: SEK 8,116 for a single adult and SEK 13,408 for a couple from 1 October 2026. The two scales differ by law. For a worker's family the sponsor must keep the förbehållsbelopp, the protected amount under the debt-enforcement rules (utlänningsförordningen 4 kap. 4 c §). For the partner route the amount is 1.30 times that norm (4 d §), which is why it is higher. The amounts are indexed each year; check the worker-family page for the current year.

Entrepreneurs and researchers

If you are an entrepreneur, the test is funds, not salary: SEK 200,000 for you, SEK 100,000 for a spouse and SEK 50,000 for each child, enough for the whole permit period, normally two years. If you are a researcher, each adult family member must show at least SEK 4,440 per month and each child SEK 2,664 per month.

Housing: a cost, not a size test

On the worker route, housing appears as a cost inside the försörjningskrav, not as a separate size test.

• If you rent, count the rent and the cost of heating and water if they are not in the rent.
• If you own a bostadsrätt (a tenant-owned apartment), count the association fee, mortgage interest and necessary running costs.
• Mortgage principal repayments (amortering) do not count, and electricity is excluded.
• If the family moves together and has no home yet, Migrationsverket uses a standard housing cost, a schablonkostnad, for a family of your size in the town where you will work.

The size test is published on Migrationsverket's page for anknytningspersoner. It asks for a kitchen or kitchenette and at least one room for two adults, lets two children share a bedroom, and sets no minimum in square metres. There is no housing-size requirement for a worker's family. That test (utlänningslagen 5 kap. 3 j §) applies only to the partner and child route. Where you can rent without a personnummer is covered in renting an apartment in Sweden without a personnummer.

Fees

Each person who applies pays their own application fee: the worker, each adult family member and each child. The fee is paid with the application, by Visa or Mastercard in the e-service, and it is not refunded if an application is refused. The partner route has its own fee, which does not apply here. Migrationsverket publishes the current amounts on the worker-family page for family members and on the work-permit page for the worker.

Processing time and the steps

Migrationsverket cannot give a fixed waiting time. For family of an employee or entrepreneur who applies afterwards, the statistics page shows that 75% of recently decided cases were decided within:

• 2 months for complete applications, and
• 11 months for incomplete ones.

The figures are based on cases decided in the last 12 months, as of 7 October 2026. A complete application is the main lever you control.

The steps in order:

1. The application. Each adult files in the e-service or on paper, with the passport copy, proof of the relationship, and your salary, income and housing documents. For a sambo, proof is a document showing joint living, such as a joint lease.
2. The passport check. Migrationsverket asks the applicant to show the passport at a Swedish embassy or consulate, or in some cases through a digital passport check. Fingerprints and photograph are taken at the embassy, or in Sweden after arrival if the check was digital.
3. The decision. The applicant receives an email when the decision is ready. The family waits outside Sweden until the permit is granted.

What the family can do on arrival

An adult family member with a permit has the right to work. Migrationsverket states that this applies to adults and to children who turn at least 16 during the current year, for as long as the permit is valid.

Once the family is in Sweden:

• Folkbokföring. Skatteverket states that in most cases you must be registered if you plan to stay at least one year. A citizen of a non-EU country shows a valid residence permit card. Each family member who moves with you must visit a service office in person for an identity check.
• Personnummer. The first time a person is registered in folkbokföring, they receive a personnummer. The steps are in personnummer eligibility and the one-year test and what to bring to the Skatteverket appointment.
• Swedish lessons. SFI, Swedish for immigrants, is run by the municipality where the person is registered in folkbokföring. Arbetsförmedlingen states that you contact your municipality to start.
• Care before the personnummer. See seeing a doctor before the personnummer arrives.

When your permit or the family permit is extended

From 1 October 2026 the försörjningskrav is tested again when the family applies to extend. Migrationsverket states that income from family members is then counted too, though subsidised employment and unemployment benefits still are not.

If you apply for a permanent uppehållstillstånd, your family member must apply for a separate permit of their own to keep living with you. Plan this before you apply for permanence. Relevant background is in permanent residence or Swedish citizenship.

Which 1 October 2026 changes reach you

The new two-year stay requirement is written for sponsors on a time-limited permit on the partner route. Migrationsverket states that it does not apply to people with work permits, researchers, doctoral students, EU Blue Card holders and ICT permit holders, who are covered by other rules. For family of ICT permit and EU Blue Card holders who will stay in Sweden for at most one year, a requirement for comprehensive health insurance is introduced.