On a partner permit to a non-Swede: your route to permanent status and citizenship

If you live in Sweden on an uppehållstillstånd (residence permit) to be with a partner who is not a Swedish citizen, your route is a ladder with three rungs. The rungs are the first permit and its extensions, then permanent residence, then citizenship. After 3 years on the permit you can ask for a permanent uppehållstillstånd (PUT, permanent residence permit), as Migrationsverket's partner-permit extension page states in October 2026. After 8 years of hemvist (residence with the intention to stay) you can apply for Swedish citizenship. Your partner's own status decides whether the first rung exists at all. This article follows the steps in the order you meet them.

Who this is for, and who should read something else

This is for you if you hold a residence permit as the husband, wife, registered partner or sambo (cohabiting partner) of someone who lives in Sweden but is not a Swedish citizen. Your partner might have a PUT, or a time-limited permit with well-founded prospects of a lasting one.

It is not for you if:

• Your partner is a Swedish citizen. The 7-year hemvist rule applies to you, and your permit rules differ. Start with the spouse 7-year rule and from sambo to permanent residence.
• You or your partner is an EU/EEA citizen using free movement. Different rules apply: see the EU family member residence card.
• You came to study. See studying in Sweden as a non-EU citizen.
• Your partner holds a work permit and you came as their family. Your permit rests on a different provision (utlänningsförordningen 4 kap. 4 a §). The two-year stay rule and the 8 116 / 13 408 kronor amounts in Step 1 do not apply to you, and the PUT after three years in Step 3 does not cover your permit. If your partner gets a PUT, you need a permit of your own to live with them. See how family migration works.
• You hold a work permit yourself. See the permits guides.

This article only follows the partner-permit path.

Prerequisites before any step applies

Migrationsverket (the Migration Agency) decides permits and citizenship. Skatteverket is the Tax Agency. The prerequisites below are as of October 2026, per Migrationsverket.

• A partner permit already granted, with the original relationship still intact. For an extension you must still live with the partner you got the permit for.
• A valid passport (Migrationsverket, extension page, October 2026).
• If you have married or registered a partnership, your partner has registered it with Skatteverket, as Migrationsverket asks.
• For a PUT: your own income from employment or a business, and a law-abiding record.
• For citizenship: identity proven by an identity document and a personal visit to Migrationsverket, plus the knowledge and self-support requirements below.

Step 1: how your partner's status shapes your route

Your first permit depends on your partner's status. As of October 2026, per Migrationsverket (application page), the person in Sweden must hold one of these:

• Swedish or Nordic citizenship.
• A permanent permit, card, right or status.
• Varaktigt bosatt status with well-founded prospects of a lasting permit.
• A temporary permit valid for at least one year with well-founded prospects of a lasting permit.

Both partners must be over 21. Migrationsverket allows exceptions only for special reasons, for example shared children (application page).

Two things matter most for you.

A partner with a temporary permit must have stayed 2 years first. From 1 October 2026, an anknytningsperson with a temporary permit must first have lived in Sweden with a permit for two years. Only then can the family member apply. Refugees whose relationship began before they arrived can be exempted (Migrationsverket, news of 1 October 2026). The rule covers the partner route only, not the families of work-permit holders (utlänningslagen 5 kap. 3 i §).

Your partner must support you both and have housing. Migrationsverket sets amounts that must remain after tax and after the rent is paid. For 2026 that is 8 116 kronor for a single adult and 13 408 kronor for cohabiting spouses or sambos (Migrationsverket, försörjningskrav for anknytningspersoner). Since 1 October 2026 this requirement is also checked when you extend, and as a main rule your own income can then be counted if your partner's income alone is not enough. If your first permit was granted before 1 October 2026 and you apply to extend by 1 October 2027, the higher amount introduced on 1 October 2026 does not apply. These amounts are for the partner route; the family of a work-permit holder is tested at a lower level (utlänningsförordningen 4 kap. 4 c §).

Your first permit lasts as long as your partner's temporary permit if they have one. Otherwise it is for at most two years, never longer than your passport (Migrationsverket, application page).

The sponsor types that block a PUT

You cannot get a PUT if your permit rests on a connection to someone who holds one of these (Migrationsverket, extension page; news of 18 June 2026):

• A time-limited permit as a refugee or subsidiary protection holder (internationellt skydd).
• A varaktigt bosatt permit.
• A permit for exceptionally distressing circumstances.
• An enforcement-obstacle permit.

All four are named on Migrationsverket's extension page and in utlänningslagen 5 kap. 3 m §. This also shapes your citizenship path: see the last paragraph of Step 4.

Step 2: the first three years

You extend the permit in the normal way. To extend, you must still live with your partner, your partner must still meet the support requirement (your income can count too), and your passport must be valid. A permit extension is granted for at most two years at a time, never longer than your passport is valid (Migrationsverket, extension page). Do not leave a gap. Migrationsverket states for an application filed after the permit has expired: "Du får inte arbeta under väntetiden" (you may not work while you wait) (Migrationsverket, extension page).

Step 3: permanent residence after 3 years

PUT is possible on this route unless your partner's permit is one of the blocking types above. When you have held a permit in Sweden for at least three years, you can apply for it together with your extension (Migrationsverket, extension page, October 2026). You must also meet the ordinary extension conditions.

For a PUT you must:

• Support yourself from your own employment or business. Income from a family member, capital, unemployment benefit or subsidised employment does not count. Anyone with a Pensionsmyndigheten decision showing a right to income-based pension, guarantee pension or äldreförsörjningsstöd is exempt from this support requirement.
• Have enough left after paying your housing cost. For 2026 Migrationsverket sets that at 6 243 kronor a month for a single adult.
• Live a law-abiding life (skötsamt liv).

A PUT has no end date and is valid for as long as you are resident in Sweden. Migrationsverket can revoke it if you no longer live here (Migrationsverket, permanent uppehållstillstånd page).

One apparent conflict needs an answer. Migrationsverket's citizenship page says that from 12 July 2026 PUT is "som huvudregel" no longer granted. The law is narrower. Utlänningslagen 5 kap. 3 m § still allows a PUT for someone who has held a time-limited permit on this route for at least three years. It blocks a PUT only where the permit rests on a connection to a refugee or subsidiary protection holder, or to someone with a varaktigt bosatt, distressing-circumstances or enforcement-obstacle permit. The background is proposition 2025/26:262 and the Riksdag committee report SfU30, and Migrationsverket's news of 18 June 2026 lists the same groups. If your partner's permit is in a blocked group, Step 3 does not apply to you. If it is not, Step 3 applies.

Step 4: citizenship

Citizenship (medborgarskap) is decided by Migrationsverket under lag (2001:82) om svenskt medborgarskap, the Swedish Citizenship Act. Every rule below is as of October 2026, per Migrationsverket (Medborgarskap för vuxna).

You need a PUT first, in most cases. Citizenship requires a permanent permit. Temporary-permit holders can apply without one only if their permit is varaktigt bosatt, protection, exceptionally distressing circumstances, an enforcement obstacle, or a connection to a person with one of those. They also need välgrundade utsikter att beviljas ett varaktigt uppehållstillstånd (well-founded prospects of a lasting permit). A partner with an ordinary work permit or a PUT is not on that list, so do not count on the exemption. Step 3 is the gate to Step 4.

The residence time is 8 years. The 7-year period applies to someone married to, registered with or cohabiting with a Swedish citizen. Yours is not such a relationship. It requires the marriage or cohabitation to have lasted at least 5 years and your partner to have been a Swedish citizen for at least 5 years (lag 2001:82, 11 a §). The general main rule is "minst åtta år" of continuous residence. If your partner later becomes a Swedish citizen, check the 7-year rule on Migrationsverket's page at that point.

What counts as hemvist. Migrationsverket defines hemvist as: "Med hemvist menas att du är bosatt i Sverige och har för avsikt att stanna kvar här."

If you spend more than six weeks abroad in a year, the whole time abroad is subtracted from the hemvist period. If you move to another country and settle there, the Swedish hemvist period ends (both Migrationsverket, Medborgarskap för vuxna).

The other conditions are the same as for everyone:

• Identity shown by an identity document and a personal visit.
• Swedish and society knowledge if you are aged 16 to 66. Knowledge of society is shown by a pass in the medborgarskapsprov i samhällskunskap (citizenship test in civics), or by a qualifying school grade. The first sitting took place in August 2026 and registration is closed as of 7 October 2026 and the next date is still to come. The Swedish language test may be postponed, but the requirement stays (UHR, Om medborgarskapsprovet; Migrationsverket, news of 30 September 2026).
• Self-support if you are 18 to 67: at least three inkomstbasbelopp before tax, 250 200 kronor for 2026, which is 20 850 kronor a month (an inkomstbasbelopp is the state's yearly income base amount). You may not have received more than six months of försörjningsstöd (social assistance) in the three years before you apply (lag 2001:82, 11 b §).
• A respectable way of life, checked with Kronofogden (the enforcement authority), Polisen (the police) and Säkerhetspolisen (the security service).
• A fee, not refunded on refusal. Migrationsverket sets the amount on its Medborgarskap för vuxna page.

If your partner's permit is one of the blocking types, your route is different. You can apply without a PUT if you have välgrundade utsikter. Migrationsverket states that after at least ten years of hemvist the requirement of prospects does not apply (Medborgarskap för vuxna). Migrationsverket assesses the prospects case by case, so check with them rather than plan around it.

A realistic timeline

Waiting time comes on top. See citizenship processing time.

Where to go next

• What each citizenship requirement means: Swedish citizenship requirements.
• The 8-year rule in detail: the 8-year hemvist rule.
• Choosing between a PUT and citizenship: permanent residence or Swedish citizenship.
• Keeping another passport: dual citizenship rules.
• The partner permit itself: sambo visa requirements.
• All citizenship topics: Citizenship & PR.