Traineeships/internships within the context of higher education
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Praktik med anknytning till högre utbildning as of 2025-02-25[1] Page name on Migrationsverket's Swedish site. |
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| Official name (English) | Traineeships/internships within the context of higher education as of 2025-02-03[2] Page name on Migrationsverket's English site. |
| Legal basis | Utlanningslag (2005:716) 5 b kap. 4 § (Lag 2019:1208) as of 2026-08-22[3][5] 'En utlanning som inom tva ar fore ansokningstillfallet har fatt en examen fran hogre utbildning eller foljer ett utbildningsprogram som leder till en sadan examen och som ska praktisera i Sverige enligt ett avtal om praktik ska … beviljas ett uppehallstillstand for praktik med anknytning till hogre utbildning.' The section lists the five things the traineeship agreement must state. Not amended since 2019:1208 – SFSR register checked. |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-08-22[5] Exempt from the work-permit requirement under Utlanningsforordning 5 kap. 2 § forsta stycket 6 a. |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU, EEA as of 2026-08-22[5] 5 b kap. 10 § 1. |
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| Criminal-record condition | Not established from a qualifying source |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | up to 18 months as of 2026-08-22[2][5] 5 b kap. 4 § tredje stycket: eighteen months, or the shorter period the traineeship is to run. Migrationsverket states the same ceiling as a lifetime one – 'for one or more periods for a maximum of 18 months'. |
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| How the initial term is set | matches the contract |
| Renewable | No as of 2026-08-22[2][5] 5 b kap. 17 § allows extension only for permits under 1-3 §§; a 4 § traineeship permit is outside it. The eighteen-month ceiling may be reached across several periods, but each is a fresh grant. |
| Maximum total duration | up to 18 months as of 2025-02-03[2] |
| Work rights | own activity only as of 2026-08-22[2][5] The traineeship only, and it must be in the same field and at the same qualification level as the degree being taken or already held. An unpaid placement is not this route at all – Migrationsverket sends those to a visitor's permit – and a placement unrelated to the applicant's education goes to se-employee. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | No as of 2026-08-22[5] Not among the permit types Utlanningslag 5 kap. 5 § counts. |
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Requirements
| Job offer required | Yes as of 2026-08-22[2][5] A written traineeship agreement, whose five required contents 5 b kap. 4 § andra stycket sets out. |
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| Salary threshold |
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| Labour-market test | No as of 2026-08-22[5] None. |
| Qualification requirement | degree as of 2026-08-22[2][5] 5 b kap. 4 §: a higher-education degree obtained within the two years before application, OR current enrolment on a programme leading to one. Both branches are degree-based, so the array holds one value. |
| Employer sponsorship | Yes as of 2026-08-22[2][5] A named host unit signs the traineeship agreement; 5 b kap. 12 § lets the permit be refused for that unit's own conduct. |
| Own means requirement | Recorded at the source, but not reducible to a single value[2][5] |
| Job-search route | No as of 2025-02-03[2] |
Process
| Where to apply from | from abroad only as of 2026-08-22[2][5] 5 b kap. 15 §. Migrationsverket names the in-country exception precisely: a holder of a first-, second- or third-cycle study permit who has completed 30 higher-education credits or one doctoral semester may apply from within Sweden; one who has not met that threshold must apply from outside and wait for the decision before entering. |
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| Statutory processing time | 90 days as of 2026-08-22[4] Utlanningsforordning (2006:97) 4 a kap. 1 § (Forordning 2026:459): an application must be decided at the latest '1. 60 dagar fran det att ansokan lamnades in, om ansokan avser uppehallstillstand enligt 5 b kap. 1 eller 2 § eller utbildning pa forskarniva enligt 3 § utlanningslagen (2005:716), eller 2. 90 dagar … om ansokan avser uppehallstillstand enligt 5 b kap. 3-8 eller 19 § utlanningslagen.' The clock may be extended where the application needs completing, and the applicant must be told. This is a real statutory deadline and it is not the same thing as Migrationsverket's own service commitments or its published percentiles. |
| Observed processing time | Recorded at the source, but not reducible to a single value[2] |
| Fees |
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| Quota |
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Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Not established from a qualifying source[2][5] Not mentioned on the page. 5 b kap. 19 § grants family permits to holders of 1, 2 and 7 § permits – research and post-research – and does not name 4 §. Recorded unknown rather than false because the page is silent rather than negative. |
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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.
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Verification
| Sources cited | 5 |
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| of which official (tier 1) | 5 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2025-02-03 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-08-22 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-22 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Praktik (Swedish-language traineeship hub)
Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2025-02-25 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [2] Traineeships/internships within the context of higher education
Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2025-02-03 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [3] SFSR amendment register for Utlanningslag (2005:716)
Regeringskansliet · gazette · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [4] Utlanningsforordning (2006:97), consolidated text
Sveriges riksdag · statute · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [5] Utlanningslag (2005:716), consolidated text, amended up to and including SFS 2026:1451
Sveriges riksdag / Regeringskansliet · statute · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-22