Seasonal workers
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Säsongsarbetare as of 2025-02-25[2] Page name on Migrationsverket's Swedish site. |
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| Official name (English) | Seasonal workers as of 2025-02-25[1] Page name on Migrationsverket's English site. |
| Legal basis | Utlanningslag (2005:716) 6 c kap. (Lag 2018:319, senast andrad genom Lag 2026:295) as of 2026-08-22[3][4] 6 c kap. was inserted by Lag 2018:319 transposing Directive 2014/36/EU. Amendment search against the SFSR register: last touched by 2026:295, which rewrote 2 § and 9 § with effect from 1 June 2026 – the 'minimum salary levels for seasonal work permits' in Migrationsverket's 1 June 2026 news item. Nothing later. |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-08-22[4] 6 c kap. 1 § andra stycket splits the title by length: a bare arbetstillstand for sasongsarbete for stays up to 90 days, and a combined uppehalls- och arbetstillstand above that. The enum records the longer form, which is the one a relocator meets. |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU, EEA as of 2026-08-22[1][4] 6 c kap. 4 §: not granted to someone resident within EU territory, an EES or Swiss citizen or their family member, or someone operating on behalf of a company established in another member state within the freedom to provide services. |
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| Criminal-record condition | Not established from a qualifying source[4] |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | up to 9 months as of 2026-08-22[1][4] 6 c kap. 9 § (Lag 2026:295): no longer than the employment and no longer than the passport, and the combined time on one or more seasonal permits may not exceed nine months in any twelve-month period. |
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| How the initial term is set | matches the contract |
| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-08-22[1][4] 6 c kap. 10 §: extendable up to the nine-month ceiling. 6 c kap. 8 § lets the holder keep working while an extension or a new seasonal application is pending. |
| Maximum total duration | up to 9 months as of 2026-08-22[1][4] Nine months in any rolling twelve – the defining constraint of the route. Migrationsverket: 'You may be granted one long or several consecutive short permits during this period.' |
| Work rights | employment only as of 2026-08-22[1][4] Seasonal work only: fixed-term employment in work that can be done only during part of the year for weather or natural reasons – agriculture, horticulture, hotels and restaurants, golf and ski resorts, tourism, amusement parks. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Yes as of 2026-08-22[4] Utlanningslag 5 kap. 5 § forsta stycket 5 counts a Swedish seasonal permit toward the four-of-seven-years permanent permit. Read against the nine-months-in-twelve ceiling this is close to unreachable on seasonal permits alone: it would take a decade of consecutive maximum seasons. Recorded because the statute says so, with the arithmetic stated rather than left for a reader to hit. |
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Requirements
| Job offer required | Yes as of 2026-08-22[1][4] 6 c kap. 1 §: a fixed-term contract as a seasonal worker with an employer established in Sweden, signed by both parties. |
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| Salary threshold |
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| Labour-market test | No as of 2026-08-22[4] 6 c kap. 2 § forsta stycket 5 requires only that the recruitment procedure be compatible with Sweden's EU commitments – Union preference, not a domestic shortage or availability test. |
| Employer sponsorship | Yes as of 2026-08-22[1][4] 6 c kap. 6 § lets the permit be refused for the employer's own record – sanctions for illegal employment, tax misstatement, or failure toward previous seasonal workers. 6 c kap. 3 § regulates employer-provided housing directly: the rent may not be out of proportion to the salary or the standard, may not be deducted from wages outside the Set-off Act, must be set out in writing, and the accommodation must meet general safety and health rules. |
| Job-search route | No as of 2025-02-25[1] |
Process
| Where to apply from | from abroad only as of 2026-08-22[1][4] 6 c kap. 7 §: applied for and granted before entry into the EU, not merely before entry into Sweden, and no application may be approved after entry. Two exceptions: an extension, and a new seasonal permit sought by a current holder. Migrationsverket adds the condition as a substantive requirement too – 'You must be a resident of, and currently be in, a non-EU country.' |
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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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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
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Verification
| Sources cited | 4 |
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| of which official (tier 1) | 4 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2025-02-25 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-08-22 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-22 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Seasonal workers
Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2025-02-25 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [2] Tillfalligt arbete i Sverige (Swedish-language temporary-work hub)
Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2025-02-25 · 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