Lost or changing your job on a Swedish work permit: your permit and your income

Work permit holders: who this article covers

This article is for people who hold an arbetstillstånd as an employee and have lost, or are about to change, the job it was granted for.

It is not for:

• EU/EEA citizens. Arbetsförmedlingen (the Swedish Public Employment Service): "If you are a citizen of a country within the EU/EEA or Switzerland, you do not need to apply for a permit to work in Sweden". The permit rules below do not apply to you. Start with joining an a-kassa as a foreign worker.
• Students on a study permit. See studying in Sweden as a non-EU citizen.
• Permanent residents. See permanent residence or Swedish citizenship.
• Family-permit holders. See the sambo visa requirements.
• Sole traders. See F-skatt registration for sole traders.
• EU Blue Card holders. Migrationsverket: "Du som har eller har ansökt om ett EU-blåkort ska anmäla till Migrationsverket om anställningen upphör, om du bytt anställning eller något som påverkar villkoren för tillståndet förändras." (If you hold or have applied for an EU Blue Card, you must notify Migrationsverket if the job ends, you change job, or anything affecting the permit's conditions changes.) You notify by letter to Migrationsverket, Box 3100, 903 03 Umeå; see Migrationsverket's page.

If you have not yet got a work permit, read the permits section first.

Prerequisites: what must be true before any step applies

• You hold a valid arbetstillstånd as an employee. In the first two years it is tied to one employer and one occupation; after two years' total permit time it is tied to the occupation only.
• You know the date your permit ends. Everything below runs against that date.
• For a-kassa you also need to be at least 20, registered with Arbetsförmedlingen, able to work and free to take a job, and to meet the inkomstvillkor (income condition).
• Your membership time in an a-kassa sets the percentage you are paid: 80, 60 or 50 percent.

The two systems in brief

Two separate bodies of rules apply. Lagen om anställningsskydd (LAS, the Employment Protection Act) sets the notice rules between you and your employer. Arbetslöshetsförsäkringen (the unemployment insurance) is paid by the a-kassor on an income condition and a membership level. For the income condition in detail, see the SEK 120,000 a-kassa requirement.

Permit: what happens when the job ends

Migrationsverket, the Swedish Migration Agency, states: "Om du avslutar din anställning i förtid, till exempel för att du blir uppsagd eller för att du själv säger upp dig, uppfyller du inte längre kraven för det arbetstillstånd du har fått." (If you end your employment early, for example because you are dismissed or resign, you no longer meet the requirements of your work permit.) It adds that you can still stay in Sweden for three months after your last working day to look for new work.

Three points follow from the source:

1. The three months count from your last working day ("sista arbetsdag"), not from the day you get your uppsägning (notice of termination). Migrationsverket does not define "sista arbetsdag" on that page. If you are sent home during your notice period, confirm with Migrationsverket which date it counts.
2. The permit must still be valid. The three months apply "förutsatt att ditt arbetstillstånd fortfarande är giltigt under den perioden" (provided your work permit is still valid during that period). If the permit ends sooner, you must leave when it ends.
3. Revocation is possible, not automatic. Utlänningslagen (the Aliens Act, 2005:716) 7 kap. 3 § says a residence permit "får återkallas" (may be revoked) if the employment has ended. The exception: within three months you have a new job covered by the permit, or you have applied for a new work permit for a new job and the application is then granted.

Under 7 kap. 4 § your ties to Sweden are weighed in that assessment.

Migrationsverket on the deadline: "Om du inte hittar ett nytt arbete inom tre månader eller om ditt arbetstillstånd slutar gälla innan dess, och du inte har rätt att vistas i Sverige på någon annan grund, måste du lämna landet." (If you find no new job within three months, or your permit ends before then, and you have no other right to stay, you must leave the country.)

A worked timeline

The dates below are an illustration, not a quote from any authority.

In case A the three-month limit comes first. In case B the permit ends first, so you must leave on 28 February unless you have applied for a new permit before then.

Employer change: what needs a new permit

Your permit is tied either to an employer and an occupation, or to an occupation only. Utlänningslagen 6 kap. 2 a §: "Ett arbetstillstånd enligt 2 § första stycket ska knytas till en viss arbetsgivare och avse ett visst slag av arbete. Efter en sammanlagd tillståndstid om två år ska tillståndet knytas endast till ett visst slag av arbete." (A work permit is tied to a particular employer and a particular kind of work. After two years' total permit time it is tied only to a kind of work.) Migrationsverket: "Du kan se hur ditt tillstånd är begränsat både i beslutet om tillstånd och på ditt uppehållstillståndskort." (Your permit decision and your residence-permit card show which kind you have.)

While the permit is tied to employer and occupation, Migrationsverket says: "Om du får en ny anställning hos en annan arbetsgivare, eller om du byter yrke eller får helt nya arbetsuppgifter, behöver du ansöka om ett nytt arbetstillstånd." Once it is tied to the occupation only: "Om du får en ny anställning inom samma yrke som ditt arbetstillstånd är begränsat till, behöver du inte ansöka om ett nytt arbetstillstånd."

On the third row, Migrationsverket's page for employers says employers "inom vissa branscher" (in certain sectors) can be required to notify. That duty is set when the permit is decided, and Migrationsverket tells the employer. It does not say a new permit is needed.

The rules for the new application:

• Apply before your current permit ends. You may start work at the new employer once you have submitted the application, before the decision, provided you applied before the earlier permit ran out.
• The new employer starts the application in Migrationsverket's e-service and you complete your part afterwards.
• Salary: the monthly salary must be at least SEK 34,470. That is 90 percent of the median salary of SEK 38,300, which applies from 16 June 2026 per Migrationsverket's page on the salary requirement. The salary must also be in line with the collective agreement or occupational practice.
• You can apply from inside Sweden when you change occupation or employer.
• The job must have been advertised. Migrationsverket: "Tänk på att din nya arbetsgivare måste ha annonserat ut tjänsten i Sverige och inom EU/EES och Schweiz innan du påbörjar din anställning." (The new employer must have advertised the job in Sweden and in the EU/EEA and Switzerland before you start.)
• A new organisationsnummer counts as a new employer. Migrationsverket: "Detsamma gäller om din arbetsgivare byter organisationsnummer, eftersom det räknas som att du byter arbetsgivare." (The same applies if your employer changes its company registration number, because that counts as changing employer.)
• Insurance. If the job lasts at most one year you need comprehensive health insurance ("en heltäckande sjukförsäkring"), and the employer must have taken out health, life, occupational-injury and occupational-pension insurance, per Migrationsverket's application page. See the permits section.

Income: pay during notice, then a-kassa

Salary during uppsägningstiden. If your employer dismisses you, LAS 11 § gives a minimum notice period of one month, rising to six months for ten years' service. LAS 12 § says you keep your salary and benefits during that period, even if you get no tasks. The employer needs sakliga skäl (objective grounds). To challenge the dismissal, you must tell the employer within two weeks (LAS 40 §).

Collective agreements. A kollektivavtal (collective agreement) may change some LAS rules, for example the sections on turordning and re-hire priority (22 and 25-27 §§). Check what your own agreement says.

Severance. A-kassa is not paid for the time a severance payment or damages equal to salary covers (lag 2024:506, 2 kap. 17 §).

A-kassa conditions. Under lag 2024:506 (the unemployment insurance act), 2 kap. 1 §, you must "1. är arbetsför och oförhindrad att ta ett arbete, 2. är anmäld som arbetssökande hos Arbetsförmedlingen, och 3. i övrigt står till arbetsmarknadens förfogande" (be able to work and free to take a job, be registered as a jobseeker with Arbetsförmedlingen, and otherwise be available to the labour market). Under 2 kap. 2 § the minimum age is 20.

The income condition. There are two ways to meet it:

• SEK 120,000 in total within the ramtid (the twelve months before the month you apply for), and at least SEK 11,000 in at least four of those months (3 kap. 2 § and 3 kap. 12 §; amounts in förordning 2024:1350 3–4 §§).
• If the total is not met, at least four consecutive months at the monthly amount. 3 kap. 3 § says: "under minst fyra sammanhängande månader inom ramtiden" (for at least four consecutive months within the ramtid). That route gives a benefit period (ersättningsperiod) of 66 days (4 kap. 5 §).

The level. The ersättningsnivå (benefit level) is 80, 60 or 50 percent depending on how long you have been a member (5 kap. 4–6 §§). Stay in your a-kassa after the job ends: you must still be a member in the month you apply for, or you drop to 50 percent. The full conditions are in the a-kassa guide. Two unpaid waiting days (karenstid) come first (4 kap. 3 §).

If you resign. If you leave a job without a valid reason, you are disqualified for 45 ersättningsdagar (benefit days; 7 kap. 4 §). Ask your a-kassa whether your reason counts before you resign.

Does a-kassa pay a permit holder? The official sources are silent

Here is what is confirmed and what is not.

• Confirmed: you do not need to be a Swedish citizen to join an a-kassa. Sveriges a-kassor: "Det räcker att du har ett samordningsnummer." (A samordningsnummer, the coordination number, is enough.)
• Confirmed: lag 2024:506 contains no condition on uppehållstillstånd or arbetstillstånd.
• Not confirmed: whether a permit that has stopped being valid, or a stay limited to three months, affects payment. Arbetsförmedlingen, IAF and Sveriges a-kassor do not say. The law's general condition that you "i övrigt står till arbetsmarknadens förfogande" (are otherwise available to the labour market) is where a fund would weigh a lapsed permit; no official page states how it applies.

The decision rule: do not rely on a-kassa until your own a-kassa confirms in writing that it will pay you. Budget for salary during uppsägningstiden plus savings. Your right to stay is three months, while a benefit period can run 66 to 300 days.

Steps: what to do, in order, from the day the job ends

1. Write down three dates: your last working day, your permit's end date, and the day three months after your last working day. Whichever of the permit end date and the three-month date comes first is your deadline.
2. Keep the notice letter. It dates the dismissal, and a challenge has a two-week deadline (one month from the end of employment if the notice letter did not tell you how to challenge it, LAS 40 §).
3. Register with Arbetsförmedlingen on day one and say you want to claim a-kassa. Arbetsförmedlingen: "Börja med att skriva in dig på Arbetsförmedlingen första dagen du är arbetslös och ange att du vill söka ersättning från a-kassan." (Start by registering with Arbetsförmedlingen on your first day without work and say you want to claim a-kassa.)
4. Ask your own a-kassa in writing whether it pays a permit holder in your situation. It takes the claim, answers questions and pays.
5. Look for a new employer who can meet the salary requirement, and have them start the permit application inside your three months and before your permit ends. If your permit is tied to the occupation only and the new job is in the same occupation, no new application is needed.
6. Submit before the deadline. Your right to start the new job comes with the submission, not the decision.
7. If a claim is refused, see appealing an a-kassa denial or appealing a rejected decision.

For the membership levels, see income-related a-kassa vs Alfa-kassan. For the wider topic, see work rights and a-kassa.