Sweden · Employment
Swedish Work Permit (Arbetstillstånd)
Reformed 1 June 2026: the salary requirement rose to 90% of the Swedish median salary. With the median set at SEK 38,300 as of 16 June 2026, the floor is SEK 34,470/month. This is a moving target — it resets whenever Statistics Sweden publishes a new median.
Sweden has raised its salary floor twice in three years — 80% of median in November 2023, 90% from June 2026 — and pegging it to a published median means it moves without further legislation. A package that clears the bar today can fail at extension without anything changing on your side.
Qualifying routes
90% of the median salary; recalculated when the median changes
named exemptions: IT/technical roles, healthcare staff, agriculture/forestry, food processing, and employees of tech/life-science start-ups under 5 years old with under 100 employees
The facts
- Qualifying figure
- 34.5k SEK
- Total landed cost
- SEK 2,200 application fee. The binding constraint is the salary floor, not the fee.
- Timeline
- 1–12 months — certified employers are much faster; standard cases have historically been slow
- Physical presence
- Genuine employment and residence in Sweden
- Family
- spouse or cohabiting partner with full work rightschildren under 21
- Permanent residency
- 4 years of work permit within the last 7
- Citizenship
- 8 years from 6 June 2026
- Language test
- See citizenship entry — phased from August 2026
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- job offer meeting the salary floor and collective agreement termscomprehensive health insurance for stays of a year or lessemployer advertising and vetting requirements
- The floor is a moving target pegged to the published median — it can rise without legislation. Build headroom into any package.
- Transitional rule: permits granted before 1 June 2026 can use the old 80% rule (SEK 29,680) for extensions filed between 1 June and 1 December 2026. From 2 December 2026 everyone meets the new bar.
- Also new from 1 June 2026: mandatory comprehensive health insurance for stays of a year or less, ICT and seasonal salaries must match collective agreements, and employers are vetted for misconduct.
- Forest berry pickers and personal assistants are now excluded from standard work permits entirely.
- The 100%-of-median proposal was floated but never enacted — do not plan around it, but do not assume 90% is the end of the road either.