Parents of children under 18 years of age
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Förälder till barn under 18 år as of 2025-02-24[2] Page name on Migrationsverket's Swedish site. |
|---|---|
| Official name (English) | Parents of children under 18 years of age as of 2025-04-16[1] Page name on Migrationsverket's English site. |
| Legal basis | Utlanningslag (2005:716) 5 kap. 3 § forsta stycket 4 och 3 a § forsta stycket 3 och 4 (Lag 2026:1142) as of 2026-08-22[3][4] Three provisions for three situations. 3 § forsta stycket 4 is mandatory and narrow – a parent of an unmarried foreign child who is a refugee or subsidiary-protection beneficiary and arrived in Sweden separated from both parents. 3 a § forsta stycket 3 is facultative and covers a parent who is the child's guardian and will live with a child resident in Sweden. 3 a § forsta stycket 4 covers a parent who will exercise contact 'som inte ar av begransad omfattning' with a child resident here. The two 3 a § limbs are shut off by the fourth paragraph where the sponsor holds a time-limited protection permit. |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-08-22[4] |
Who can apply
| Criminal-record condition | Not established from a qualifying source[4] |
|---|
Permit terms
| Initial duration | up to 2 years as of 2026-08-22[1][4] 'You can be granted a residence permit for a maximum of two years, but never for longer than your passport is valid' – 5 kap. 3 g §. |
|---|---|
| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-08-22[4] 5 kap. 3 g § tredje stycket. |
| Renewal duration | 2 years as of 2026-08-22[4] |
| Work rights | full as of 2025-04-16[1] The page carries a 'Can I work or study with this permit?' section; permits on ties carry both rights. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Yes as of 2026-08-22[4] Utlanningslag 5 kap. 3 g § fjarde stycket (Lag 2026:1142): a permanent permit may be granted when the current permit expires if the holder has had a time-limited permit for at least three years and the conditions in 3 § or 3 a § and the special requirements in 5 kap. 7 § – self-support and no doubt as to expected vandel – are met. The fifth paragraph shuts this off where the sponsor holds a time-limited permit under 2 b § or 6 § or 12 kap. 18 §, or refugee or subsidiary-protection status. |
|---|---|
| Years to permanent residence on this route | 3 as of 2026-08-22[4] |
Requirements
| Who can sponsor | citizen, permanent resident, temporary permit holder as of 2026-08-22[1][4] The sponsor is the child. Migrationsverket's two sub-pages split by the child's own status: a parent of an unaccompanied minor with protection status, and a parent of a child with a permit to live in Sweden. The route requires either that parent and child lived together abroad immediately before the child moved, and that the application be made as soon as possible after the child was granted a permanent or protection permit, or that the parent is the child's guardian living with them, or that contact will be exercised. |
|---|---|
| Eligible relations | parent as of 2026-08-22[1][4] |
| Sponsor income requirement | Not applicable[4] Utlanningslag 5 kap. 3 c § forsta stycket: 'Kraven i 3 b § galler inte om anknytningspersonen ar ett barn.' The sponsor here is by definition a child, so the maintenance and housing test does not apply to this route at all. This is the one family route in the record where that is true, and it is worth a reader knowing. |
| Sponsor accommodation requirement | No as of 2026-08-22[4] Same exemption – 5 kap. 3 c § forsta stycket disapplies the whole of 3 b §. |
| Pre-entry language test | No as of 2026-08-22[4] None. |
Process
| Where to apply from | from abroad only as of 2025-04-16[1] The general rule for ties applications; Migrationsverket carries the same EU/EEA and in-country-switch exceptions as on se-family-partner. |
|---|---|
| Observed processing time | Recorded at the source, but not reducible to a single value[1] |
| Fees | |
| Quota |
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Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Not established from a qualifying source[1] |
|---|
Your next step
Read the requirements above considering your own situation: the income multiple, the absence limits, who you can bring. Check the country record for the reference figure those amounts are calculated from, and for anything that has changed recently.
The next step is your own case. That assessment is legal work. Create profile for our assistance in this.
Profile benefits
- A 30-minute call with our consultant, who reads your profile first.
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Verification
| Sources cited | 4 |
|---|---|
| of which official (tier 1) | 4 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2025-02-24 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-08-22 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-22 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Parents of children living in Sweden
Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2025-04-16 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [2] Bo med partner, barn eller annan slakting (Swedish-language hub)
Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2025-02-24 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [3] SFSR amendment register for Utlanningslag (2005:716)
Regeringskansliet · gazette · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [4] Utlanningslag (2005:716), consolidated text, amended up to and including SFS 2026:1451
Sveriges riksdag / Regeringskansliet · statute · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-22