Sweden visitor’s residence permit (stays over 90 days)

Migrationsverket grants visitor’s permits only for the purposes it lists, each with its own ceiling. Visiting a sibling, child or grandchild: up to six months, or nine on special grounds. A parent who no longer works and visits a child: up to one year. Visiting a friend or partner: only in exceptional cases and for up to six months. Tourism: up to six months. Medical treatment, exchange studies without admission to a Swedish institution, unpaid traineeships and volunteering, including the European Solidarity Corps: up to one year. Missionaries can get up to three years.

You must show at least SEK 700 for each day of the planned stay, so a six-month visit needs roughly SEK 126,000, through bank statements, payslips, an employment or pension certificate, or a guarantor’s undertaking with their ID and income proof. Individual medical travel insurance valid in Sweden for the whole stay is required; Migrationsverket recommends at least €30,000 of cover valid throughout Schengen.

Apply through the Migrationsverket e-service (age 18+, email, Visa or Mastercard) or on paper, then visit a Swedish embassy or consulate-general for the passport check and fingerprints. The fee is SEK 1,500 for adults and SEK 750 for children.

Someone already in Sweden on a Schengen visa who needs to stay beyond 90 days applies for a visitor’s permit by post to Migrationsverket, Box 1430, 171 27 Solna, and then books an in-person visit. Do not apply if another application is pending, because that can lead to rejection. Processing from inside Sweden is slower, with 75 per cent of cases decided within four months.

A refusal can be appealed in writing to Migrationsverket within the deadline in the decision, usually three weeks; if the agency does not change its decision it forwards the appeal to a Migration Court. The fee is not refunded.