Live with a partner
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Bo med partner as of 2025-02-24[3] Page name on Migrationsverket's Swedish site. |
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| Official name (English) | Live with a partner as of 2025-02-25[1] Page name on Migrationsverket's English site. |
| Legal basis | Utlanningslag (2005:716) 5 kap. 3 § forsta stycket 1 och 3 a § forsta stycket 1 (Lag 2026:1142) as of 2026-08-22[4][6] Two provisions and the difference between them matters. 3 § forsta stycket 1 is mandatory – 'Uppehallstillstand SKA … ges till en utlanning som ar make eller sambo till nagon som ar bosatt eller som har beviljats uppehallstillstand for bosattning i Sverige'. 3 a § forsta stycket 1 is facultative – 'Uppehallstillstand FAR … ges till en utlanning som har for avsikt att inga aktenskap eller inleda ett samboforhallande', and only if the relationship appears serious and no special grounds tell against it. Amendment search against the SFSR register: 3 § and 3 a § were both last amended by Lag 2026:1142, in force 12 July 2026. |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-08-22[6] |
Who can apply
| Minimum age | 21 as of 2026-08-22[1][6] 'You must both be over 21 years old. Exceptions can only be made on special grounds, for example if you have children together.' The statutory shape is a refusal ground rather than a condition: 5 kap. 17 a § andra stycket 3 lets a permit be refused if either spouse or cohabitant is under 21. The age applies to both of them, which the field can hold for only one. |
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| Criminal-record condition | Not established from a qualifying source[6] |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | up to 2 years as of 2026-08-22[1][6] 5 kap. 3 g § andra stycket: a permit on ties to someone settled in Sweden or holding a long-term-resident permit under 2 b § 'ska vara tidsbegransat och galla i tva ar'. Where the sponsor holds a time-limited protection permit, the first paragraph makes the family permit run for the same period as the sponsor's instead. Migrationsverket states the ceiling: 'a maximum of two years, but never for longer than your passport is valid.' |
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| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-08-22[1][6] 5 kap. 3 g § tredje stycket: a new time-limited permit also runs two years, never longer than the sponsor's, and may be granted on the same ground 'endast om forhallandet bestar' – only if the relationship continues. |
| Renewal duration | 2 years as of 2026-08-22[6] |
| Work rights | full as of 2025-02-25[1] 'If you are granted a residence permit in Sweden, you will also have the right to work and study.' |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Yes as of 2026-08-22[6] 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. |
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| Years to permanent residence on this route | 3 as of 2026-08-22[6] Three years on this route against the country default of four within seven – 5 kap. 3 g § fjarde stycket. |
Requirements
| Who can sponsor | citizen, permanent resident, temporary permit holder as of 2026-08-22[1][6] Migrationsverket lists the sponsor's qualifying statuses closed: Swedish citizenship, Nordic citizenship, permanent residence permit, permanent residence card, permanent right of residence, permanent residence status, or a time-limited permit as a refugee or subsidiary-protection beneficiary or on exceptionally distressing circumstances. 'Nordic citizenship' and the four permanent EU-law statuses have no separate enum values and are folded into citizen and permanent_resident; temporary_permit_holder carries the protection cases, which 5 kap. 3 § tredje stycket admits only where the sponsor has 'valgrundade utsikter att beviljas varaktigt uppehallstillstand'. A sponsor holding an ordinary work or study permit is NOT on this list – their family uses se-family-accompanying-worker or se-family-accompanying-student instead. |
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| Eligible relations | spouse, registered partner, unmarried partner as of 2026-08-22[1][6] Married, registered or cohabiting partners, and people who intend to enter one of those relationships. The intending limb runs through 5 kap. 3 a § forsta stycket 1 and is facultative; the existing-relationship limb through 3 § forsta stycket 1 and is mandatory. |
| Sponsor income requirement | Recorded at the source, but not reducible to a single value[1][2][5][6] |
| Sponsor accommodation requirement | Yes as of 2026-08-22[1][6] 5 kap. 3 b §: 'har en bostad av tillracklig storlek och standard for sig och utlanningen'. Migrationsverket requires the tenancy agreement or ownership document with the number of rooms, and Utlanningsforordning 4 kap. 4 d § andra stycket empowers it to make rules on what counts as sufficient size and standard. Subject to the same five exemptions as the income half. |
| Sponsor waiting period | Not applicable[1][6] No qualifying period of residence is imposed on the sponsor. What Migrationsverket does test, for the 90-day fast track only, is the length of the RELATIONSHIP – at least two years' cohabitation abroad without common children, one year with – which is a processing condition rather than a waiting period and is recorded on processing_time_typical. |
| Pre-entry language test | No as of 2026-08-22[1][6] No language condition appears in 5 kap. 3, 3 a or 3 b §§ or in Migrationsverket's closed requirement list. Sweden's language requirements sit at the citizenship stage, not at family reunification. |
Process
| Where to apply from | from abroad only as of 2026-08-22[1][6] 'You must currently be located outside of Sweden.' Migrationsverket sets out the exceptions carefully: an EU/EEA citizen without right of residence may be granted the permit in Sweden; a family member of an EU/EEA citizen may, if married, cohabiting or a registered partner, or under 18 living with a parent; and a non-EU applicant already here on a valid Swedish permit – work, self-employment, studies with two completed semesters, family of a worker or student, or protection – may in exceptional cases switch without leaving. Someone here on a visa or visa-free is warned that applying can produce a refusal, removal and a re-entry ban. |
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| Observed processing time | Recorded at the source, but not reducible to a single value[1] |
| Fees |
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| Quota |
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Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Yes as of 2026-08-22[1][6] 5 kap. 3 a § andra stycket: where a permit is granted under the intending-to-marry limb, a permit for the same period is also given to the applicant's unmarried children. Migrationsverket: children under 18 are included in the principal's application; children over 18 apply separately under se-family-adult-relative. |
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| Eligible relations | minor child as of 2025-02-25[1] Only the applicant's own accompanying children under 18. Adult children are a separate route, not an inclusion. |
| Family may apply at the same time | Yes as of 2025-02-25[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.
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Verification
| Sources cited | 6 |
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| of which official (tier 1) | 6 |
| 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] Live with a partner
Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2025-02-25 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [2] Maintenance requirement for the person in Sweden
Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) · official guidance · Tier 1 · Published 2026-03-18 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [3] 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 - [4] SFSR amendment register for Utlanningslag (2005:716)
Regeringskansliet · gazette · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [5] Utlanningsforordning (2006:97), consolidated text
Sveriges riksdag · statute · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [6] Utlanningslag (2005:716), consolidated text, amended up to and including SFS 2026:1451
Sveriges riksdag / Regeringskansliet · statute · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-22