New rules for Swedish employee visa

Are you going to apply for an employee visa in Sweden in the coming days?

Then, it's important to be aware about the basic requirements you must comply with and the new maintenance requirement that will come into force on November 1, 2023. Here's a short guide to a successful employee visa application:

1. To make sure everything is clear and in order, please ensure that you and your employer both sign an employment contract. If the contract is in a language other than English or Swedish, please remember to provide a translated version, along with a copy of the original document. Before your employment agreement was finalized, your employer needed to post the job opening in Sweden, the EU/EEA, and Switzerland for a minimum of ten days. This ensures that both Swedish workers and citizens from the EU/EEA/Switzerland had a chance to apply for the position before it was offered to individuals from outside EU/EEA.

2. A valid passport will allow the Swedish Migration Agency to make a decision. First, you can submit a copy of the document in your online application, and later on you may need to show your passport in original at a Swedish embassy or consulate-general in the country where you live.

3. When you start working, it's great to have an employer who provides insurance that takes care of your health, life, employment, and retirement needs.

4. Finally, the new maintenance requirement. Currently, you need to earn at least SEK 13,000 per month. However, starting from November 1st, 2023 the new rule will be that you should earn at least 80% of the applicable median salary in Sweden at the time you submit the visa application. This translates for this year to a minimum of SEK 27,360 per month. It's important to note that your salary should also align with the collective agreements or industry standards for your profession. So, if your industry's agreement sets a higher salary than the new requirement, you'll need to meet that higher threshold.

Which rules apply regarding the maintenance requirement if you've already applied for an employee visa or plan to apply before November 1st, 2023? In this case, you'll need to ensure that your salary meets the new maintenance requirement. The specific salary amount in SEK that you need to meet will be based on the median salary at the time you submitted your application.

As you can see, it is important to start planning early and make sure that you meet all of the requirements for an employee visa. The application process can be complex, but it is worth it to be able to live and work in Sweden. See you soon!