Sweden Residence Permit from India for Work or Study: From Application to Your Card

Buddy Hive
13 min read · Oct 11, 2026

Got a job offer or a university admission in Sweden? Before you can move, you need a residence permit, and as an Indian citizen you also need the residence permit card (UT-kort, short for uppehållstillståndskort) in your hand before you travel.

This guide walks through the whole journey for people applying from India, for both a work permit and a study permit for university studies: what you need before you apply, the passport check, your trip to the embassy in Delhi, the decision, collecting your card and what to do once you land.

Steps 1 to 3 are different for workers and students, so each has its own part. From Step 4, the passport check onwards, the journey is the same for everyone.

Photo: AirTeo on Pexels

The journey at a glance

1. Job offer or admission: a job that meets the permit rules, or a final admission to full-time studies.
2. The application starts: your employer starts it for you, or as a student you start it yourself once your tuition is paid.
3. Documents and fee: you add your family if they are coming, upload documents and pay. Students also prove they can support themselves.
4. Passport check: digitally with the Freja app, or in person at the Embassy in New Delhi.
5. Trip to Delhi: fingerprints and photo for everyone who gets a card. Choose where to collect your card.
6. Waiting for a decision: from a few weeks to several months, depending on your job and how complete your case is.
7. Decision: the Migration Agency tells you a decision has been made. If it is a no, you can appeal.
8. Card is produced: about four weeks, and you get an email when it reaches the embassy.
9. Collect the card: in Delhi, through someone you authorise, or at the consulate in Chennai or Kolkata.
10. Travel and arrive: fly with your passport and card, register with Skatteverket and start work.

Steps 4 and 5 can happen while you wait for the decision, and doing them early saves time later.

Step 1: Before you apply

For work: the job offer

For a work permit, your employer in Sweden does a lot of the work. Before they apply, the job has to meet the Migration Agency's rules:

• Salary: from 1 June 2026, most first-time work permits need a salary of at least 90 percent of the Swedish median salary. Since 16 June 2026 that is SEK 34,470 a month before tax. Around twenty occupations are exempted and need 75 percent instead.
• Terms: salary, insurance and other terms must be at least as good as Swedish collective agreements or what is normal in the industry.
• Insurance: you must be covered by health, life, employment and pension insurance. Usually the employer arranges it.
• Passport: you need a valid passport for the whole application.

Agree a realistic start date with your employer. Your permit and card are tied to it, and with the steps below, moving takes at least a couple of months from the offer.

Official sources: Migration Agency: salary requirements, Migration Agency: information for employers

For studies: the admission

For a study permit at a university or university college, you need:

• A final admission to full-time studies on campus. At university, full-time means 30 credits a semester. Distance courses and conditional admissions do not count.
• Tuition paid before you apply. If your programme has a tuition fee, pay the first instalment first. The university tells the Migration Agency once it has been paid.
• Money to support yourself for the whole permit period (Step 3).
• Health insurance, but only if your studies last less than a year. It must cover medical and hospital care, emergency dental care and transport home if needed. Some universities provide it. If you study for a year or more, you register in Sweden instead and get public healthcare (Step 10).

Admission results for the autumn semester usually come out in spring. Pay your tuition and apply as soon as you have them, because the semester will not wait for your permit.

Official source: Migration Agency: study permit for higher education

Step 2: The application starts

For work: your employer starts it

Your employer logs in to the Migration Agency's e-service and fills in the job details. To do this, they need your name, date of birth, citizenship and email address.

You then get an email with a link to complete your part. The application is not registered until you submit your part, so do it quickly. Check your spam folder if the email does not arrive.

Official sources: Migration Agency: apply for a work permit, Migration Agency: information for employers

For studies: you start it yourself

There is no employer step. Once your tuition is paid, you apply yourself in the Migration Agency's e-service. In the application you also name the Swedish embassy where you want to be seen, which for Indians is New Delhi.

Official source: Migration Agency: how the study permit works

Step 3: Documents and fee

In the e-service you fill in your personal details, upload documents and pay. Everyone needs:

• A scan or photo of your passport pages showing your personal details, signature and validity.
• A card from Visa or Mastercard to pay the fee online.
• Documents for any family members you include. Marriage and birth certificates are the usual ones.
• Documents in English or Swedish. Anything else needs a certified translation, uploaded with the original.

The fees, which are not refunded if the application is rejected:

• Work permit: SEK 2,200. Adult family members pay SEK 1,500 each and children SEK 750.
• Study permit: SEK 1,500. Children pay SEK 750. Some scholarship holders, for example from the Swedish Institute, pay nothing.

Official sources: Migration Agency: apply for a work permit, Migration Agency: study permit for higher education

For studies: proving you can support yourself

Students have to show they have enough money for the whole permit period. For applications made in 2026:

• You: at least SEK 10,656 a month. It is lower if the university gives you free housing or food.
• A partner coming with you: SEK 4,440 a month more.
• Each child coming with you: SEK 2,664 a month more.

So a one-year permit on your own means showing about SEK 128,000. You can prove it with:

• A bank statement in your own name, issued no more than four months before your permit would start. It must show your name, the bank, the date and the balance. Fixed deposits you cannot withdraw, shares, funds and credit do not count.
• A scholarship, with the amount, the period and how much is for living costs.
• A sponsor, but only a university, company or organisation. Private individuals, including parents, cannot be sponsors, so family money has to be transferred into your own account first.
• A student loan from India, with a certificate showing the amount, the period and when it is paid out.

The Migration Agency prioritises complete applications. A missing document or a blank field is one of the most common reasons for delays.

Official source: Migration Agency: study permit for higher education

Bringing your family

You can include your partner and children in your own application in the e-service. They then get their decisions at the same time as you, which is simpler than them applying later.

New rules for family members came into force on 1 October 2026. For families of work permit holders, the main changes are:

• The requirement that you can support your family is now also checked when you extend your permit, not only when you first apply. Your family members' own income may count, but not all kinds of income do.
• Family of EU Blue Card or ICT permit holders who stay for a year or less need comprehensive health insurance that covers care in Sweden.

For families of students, the money requirement stays as it was (see above). What is new is that a family member staying for a year or less needs comprehensive health insurance covering medical and hospital care in Sweden.

Some family members cannot come with you at all, for example when your permit is for seasonal work, an internship or job seeking. Check the family rules for your permit type before you apply.

Remember that every family member who gets a card, children included, needs their own fingerprints and photo in Delhi (Step 5). Plan the trip for the whole family.

Official sources: Migration Agency: new rules for families of employees, Migration Agency: new rules for families of students, Migration Agency: your work permit has been approved

Step 4: The passport check

Since November 2022 the Migration Agency has to verify your passport before it can grant a permit. There are two ways to do it.

Digital passport check with Freja

If you applied online for work or studies, you may get an email within a few days offering a digital passport check. You scan your passport with the Freja app on your phone and share it with the Migration Agency.

• You need an e-passport with a chip. Look for the chip symbol on the cover. Older Indian passports without it cannot be checked this way.
• The link in the email is valid for seven days, so do not leave it.
• Freja first verifies who you are, which can take up to 24 hours.

Freja does not save you the trip to Delhi. Indians still have to give fingerprints at the embassy (Step 5). What it does is let your case move forward straight away, so the passport check does not hold up your decision, and you can choose when to make the trip.

Official source: Migration Agency: digital passport check

In person at the Embassy in New Delhi

If you do not get the Freja offer, or your passport has no chip, the Migration Agency emails you to show your passport at the Embassy of Sweden in New Delhi. The embassy handles residence permit cases for people living in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Bhutan.

Do the passport check and your fingerprints in the same visit, so you only travel to Delhi once.

Official source: Embassy of Sweden in India: biometrics and passport checks

Step 5: Your trip to Delhi for fingerprints and photo

Your residence permit card has a chip with your fingerprints and photo. Because Indian citizens need an entry visa for Sweden, you must give them at the embassy before you travel. You cannot do it after arriving, as visa-free nationalities can.

• Where: the Embassy of Sweden in New Delhi. The embassy says biometrics for permit applications are only taken there. VFS centres in India handle short-stay Schengen visas, not residence permit biometrics.
• When: before or after the decision. Going early is usually best: once your fingerprints are in, the card is ordered automatically as soon as the permit is granted.
• Booking: no appointment is needed. Go during the embassy's biometrics hours, which at the time of writing are Monday to Friday, 08:30 to 10:30, with registration closing at 10:20.
• What to bring: the original passport you used in the application, for each person.
• At the gate: phones, bags and other belongings are not allowed inside. Check the embassy's contact page for current hours and closures before you book your trip to Delhi.

Official sources: Migration Agency: your work permit has been approved, Embassy of Sweden in India: biometrics and passport checks, Embassy notice: no prior appointment needed, Embassy of Sweden in New Delhi: hours

Decide now where to collect your card

This is the point where you can avoid a second trip to Delhi. You have three options:

• Collect it yourself in Delhi. Best if you live nearby.
• Send someone with a power of attorney. In Delhi, a person you authorise in a signed power of attorney can collect the card for you.
• Courier to a consulate. Ask for the courier at your biometrics visit and pay the fee in cash there. The embassy lists a fee of a few hundred rupees for Chennai or Kolkata. The card goes to the consulate, never to a home address. Mumbai stopped handing out cards in February 2025.

Official sources: Embassy of Sweden in India: how to receive your decision and card, Embassy notice: courier service, Embassy notice: no card collection in Mumbai

Step 6: Waiting for the decision

How long you wait depends mostly on the type of job and how complete your application is:

• Highly qualified jobs (managers and roles that need a university degree, plus EU Blue Card and research permits): the Migration Agency aims to decide complete applications within 30 days. Incomplete ones can take up to four months.
• Industries with stricter checks (such as cleaning, construction, restaurants, trade and staffing): expect it to take longer, often several months.
• Students: applications are handled in the order they arrive and you cannot ask for priority. Recently, three out of four study permit applications were decided within three months, so apply as soon as you have paid your tuition.

You can follow your case on My page on the Migration Agency's website. If they need more information, they email you or your employer. Answer fast, because the clock effectively stops until you do.

Official sources: Migration Agency: highly qualified workers, Migration Agency: study permit for higher education

Step 7: The decision

You get an email when a decision has been made. For security reasons, the decision document itself is not emailed. You can collect it at the embassy, or it goes to your representative in Sweden if you gave someone a power of attorney, such as your employer or a relocation agent.

Official source: Embassy of Sweden in India: how to receive your decision and card

If your permit is approved

Read the decision carefully. It shows the dates the permit is valid, and for work, which employer and job it is for. Study permits are given for one or two years at most, depending on the university, and never for longer than your studies or your passport.

• If you have not given your fingerprints yet, go to Delhi now (Step 5). The card is not made until you do.
• If you already gave them, the card is ordered automatically. Move on to Step 8.

Official sources: Migration Agency: your work permit has been approved, Migration Agency: study permit for higher education

If your application is rejected

The decision explains how to appeal and by when, which is often three weeks from when you were told about it. Send your appeal to the Migration Agency, not to the court. The agency first checks whether it should change its decision, and then passes the appeal on to the Migration Court.

The fee is not refunded. Read the reasons carefully: if a document was missing or the job did not meet a requirement, a new application with that fixed can sometimes be the quicker route. Ask your employer, who may have been through this before.

Official source: Migration Agency: if you want to appeal

Step 8: Your card is produced

You only get a card if your permit is for more than three months. The card is produced after the decision, but no more than six weeks before your permit starts. The embassy says it normally takes about four weeks for the card to be produced and reach New Delhi.

So if your permit starts in three months, the card will not be made straight away. Plan your move around the card date, not the decision date.

When the card arrives at the embassy, you get an automatic email at the address in your application. If you chose the courier, the card then goes on to the consulate. You are not told when it gets there, so contact the consulate before you go.

If it looks like the card will arrive after your start date, tell your employer early. They may be able to move the start date. Your permit can be revoked if you have not started work within four months of its first day. Students should tell the university if they will miss the start of term.

Official sources: Migration Agency: residence permit cards, Embassy of Sweden in India: how to receive your decision and card, Migration Agency: your work permit has been approved

Step 9: Collecting your card

• In Delhi: wait for the email, then go during collection hours, at the time of writing Monday to Friday, 11:00 to 12:00, with registration closing at 11:50. Bring your original passport, or send your representative with the signed power of attorney.
• At the consulate in Chennai or Kolkata: you have to collect it yourself, with your original passport. Representatives are not allowed. Collect it within one month, or it goes back to Delhi and will not be sent again.

When you have the card:

• Check it on the spot. Your name must match your passport exactly. Check the dates and the permit type too. If anything is wrong, raise it with the embassy before you travel.
• Look at the back. Cards that allow work have the text "får arbeta" (may work).

Now you can book your flight. The embassy advises not to book tickets until you have the card, as cards are sometimes delayed.

Official sources: Embassy of Sweden in New Delhi: hours, Embassy of Sweden in India: how to receive your decision and card

Step 10: Travelling and arriving in Sweden

At the airport, show your passport together with your residence permit card. The card on its own is not a travel document. With both, you can also travel within the Schengen area for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.

Once you are in Sweden:

• Register with Skatteverket. If your permit is valid for at least a year and you plan to live in Sweden for a year or more, register in the population register (folkbokföring) to get a personnummer. Every family member, children included, has to be registered and visit a service office in person. Bring your passports, residence permit cards and work contract or admission letter, plus marriage and birth certificates for your family. Without a personnummer you may have to pay full price for healthcare. Students on a permit for less than a year are not registered and rely on the health insurance from Step 1. Our personnummer guide covers the documents and the visit in detail.
• Start work within four months. If you have not started within four months of the permit's first day, it can be revoked.
• Keep your payslips. Save every payslip and employment certificate. You will need them when you extend your permit, and the Migration Agency can also run follow-up checks on your salary and insurance.
• Changing jobs means a new permit. Your permit is tied to the employer and job in your application. A new employer or changed duties needs a new application.

For students:

• Work at most 15 hours a week during term. This applies to bachelor's and master's students whose permit was granted on or after 11 June 2026. Work in June, July and August, internships in your programme and student union roles are exempt. Working more can get your permit withdrawn or your extension refused.
• Extend in time. Study permits run for one or two years, so most master's students extend from Sweden. Apply before your current permit runs out, and keep your credits up, since the Migration Agency checks your progress.
• After you graduate, you can apply for a permit of up to a year to look for work or start a business. You must have passed your whole programme, apply before your study permit runs out and show the same SEK 10,656 a month. Once you find a job that meets the rules in Step 1, you can apply for a work permit from inside Sweden.

Our free Sweden newcomer checklist puts the next steps in order for you: personnummer, ID card, bank account, BankID and more.

Official sources: Migration Agency: your work permit has been approved, Skatteverket: moving to Sweden from outside the EU, Migration Agency: study permit for higher education, Migration Agency: look for work after your studies, Migration Agency: work permit after studies in Sweden

Good to know about the card

• It is not an ID card. You cannot use it to prove your identity at a bank or post office. Once you have a personnummer you can apply for a Swedish ID card at Skatteverket.
• It is valid as long as your permit, but for no more than three years. A longer permit means a new card later.
• Every new card needs new fingerprints and a photo. They are only stored on the card's chip, not anywhere else. When you extend your permit in Sweden, you book a visit to a service centre and the new card is posted to your Swedish address.
• Lost or stolen card: report it to the police, then send a copy of the report to the Migration Agency. They send you a letter explaining how to book new fingerprints and a photo.

Official source: Migration Agency: residence permit cards

Useful official links

• Swedish Migration Agency: apply for a work permit as an employee
• Swedish Migration Agency: residence permit for higher education
• Swedish Migration Agency: look for work after your studies
• Swedish Migration Agency: your work permit has been approved
• Swedish Migration Agency: residence permit cards
• Swedish Migration Agency: digital passport check
• Swedish Migration Agency: salary requirements for a work permit
• Swedish Migration Agency: new rules for family members of employees
• Swedish Migration Agency: new rules for family members of students
• Swedish Migration Agency: if you want to appeal
• Embassy of Sweden in India: biometrics and passport checks
• Embassy of Sweden in India: how to receive your decision and card
• Skatteverket: moving to Sweden