You want to apply Contract or specialisation education

You want to apply for a residence permit for contract or specialisation education. If your family will be accompanying you, they can apply at the same time. The residence permit must be issued before you travel to Sweden.

  • Important to know
  • How it works
  • Apply

If you are a citizen of a country outside the EU/EEA, you will in most cases need a residence permit to study in Sweden.

Here you will find information about residence permits for people who will be studying in one of the following:

  • a contract education programme under the Ordinance (2002:760) on Contract Education at Higher Education Institutions
  • a specialisation education programme for doctors or dentists that requires such an exception as referred to in Chapter 4, Section 4 of the Patient Safety Act (2010:659).

If you will be staying in Sweden for less than three months, you should not apply for a residence permit.

These requirements must be met in order for you to be granted a residence permit.

You must have a valid passport

You must be admitted to full-time studies
You must be finally admitted to full-time studies in Sweden. You cannot be granted a residence permit for distance learning as a form of study.

You must have, or have applied for, a comprehensive health insurance policy
If you have been admitted to studies that will last less than a year, you need comprehensive health insurance. If you do not have insurance through your higher education institution, you must have or have applied for your own insurance. The insurance must be valid for the entire time you will be in Sweden and cover costs for emergency and other medical care, hospitalisation, and emergency dental care. It must also cover expenses for home transportation for medical reasons.

If your studies will last for at least one year, you should register in Sweden’s population register. This will give you access to health and medical care and dental care.

You must be able to support yourself financially
Your means of “financial maintenance” must be sufficient for the entire period for which you are applying for a residence permit. If your family is applying with you, you must be able to support them as well, if they do not have their own means of financial maintenance.

Translate documents
All submitted documents should be in Swedish or English. If you have translated your documents, the translation should be certified. You must also include a copy of the document in its original language.

Plan which embassy to visit to present your passport

You may need to present your passport at an embassy before you can receive a decision. In the application, you must therefore state which embassy you want to visit.

Not all Swedish embassies and consulates-general handle migration cases, so it is important to check which one you should contact:

You must attach copies of these documents to your application

Make sure that the information in the documents you include is clearly visible.

Correctly made copies of your passport
You can never be granted a permit for longer than your passport is valid.
Read more about what the passport copies must show

Admission decision from the higher education institution
The admission decision must state that you have been finally admitted to full-time studies in a programme or courses, as well as that you will be studying on site in Sweden.

Documents showing that you have or have applied for comprehensive health insurance
If you have been admitted to studies for less than one year and are not listed in Sweden’s population register.

Documents showing that you meet the maintenance requirement
You must attach different certificates depending on how you will be supporting yourself financially. If your family will be applying with you, your entire family’s financial maintenance must be arranged.

You must attach a bank statement, which must be issued no more than four months before the date on which you want the residence permit to take effect. For example, if you want your residence permit to start on 1 August, your bank statement must be issued no sooner than 1 April.

The following information must be included on your bank statement:

  • account holder(s)
  • bank name
  • date of issue
  • balance
  • currency.

If permission from a central bank or the equivalent is required to take out the money from your country, you must include such a permit.

You must attach a copy of the scholarship stating

  • who is the scholarship provider
  • that you are the recipient of the scholarship
  • the period for which the scholarship applies and that it is for your studies in Sweden
  • how much money you will receive
  • when the money will be paid out. If you will receive the money on an ongoing basis, information must be provided about when the payments will be made and how large the instalments will be, as well as the total amount
  • how much of the scholarship is intended to cover your living expenses.

You must attach a sponsorship letter stating

  • who is the sponsor or guarantor
  • that you are the recipient of the money
  • how much money you will receive
  • when the money will be paid out. If you will receive the money on an ongoing basis, information must be provided about when the payments will be made and how large the instalments will be, as well as the total amount
  • the period during which you are sponsored
  • how much of the money will be used for your living expenses
  • whether the sponsorship requires some form of performance on your behalf (for example, employment or that you earn a certain number of credits).

You must attach a certificate of employment with information about

  • your employer's name, contact details and company registration number
  • your salary/wages
  • duration and scope of your employment, in hours per week
  • when the job started
  • last day of employment.

If you quit the job, this must be stated in the certificate.

You must attach a certificate stating

  • who is providing the student grant or loan
  • that you are the recipient
  • the period for which the grant/loan applies
  • when it will be paid out
  • the monthly amount or total amount for the period of study
  • how much of the student grant/loan is intended for your living expenses.

Documents to attach if your family is applying with you

Correctly made copies of each family member’s passport
Your family member can never be granted a residence permit for longer than their passport is valid.
Read more about what the passport copies must show

Documents showing that the family’s financial maintenance has been arranged

Documents showing your relationship
If you are married: marriage certificate, marriage record, or similar document.
If you are cohabiting partners: documents showing that you have lived together, such as population registration certificates, a joint rental contract, or proof of the joint purchase of a home.

Correctly made copies of your child’s passport
Read more about what the passport copies must show

Birth record or birth certificate stating the names of the child’s parents

Consent that the child may move to Sweden
If a child has two parents/legal guardians and the child’s other parent/legal guardian will be remaining in their country of origin, you must attach a statement of consent from the other parent/legal guardian to the application. If you share joint custody, a copy of the other parent or legal guardian’s passport or other identity document must also be attached.
Consent for a child to settle in Sweden (217011) Pdf, 1.1 MB.

Sole custody decision
If you have sole custody of your child, you must attach a court decision to this effect. If the other parent is deceased, you must submit a death certificate.

Adoption documents, if your child is adopted

The so-called “maintenance requirement” means that you must show that you have funds (money) available through your own bank assets, scholarship, student grants or loans from your country of origin, a sponsor, or income from employment. You can combine different forms of financial maintenance.

The maintenance requirement is

  • at least SEK 10,584 per month, if you applied in 2025
  • at least SEK 10,314 per month, if you applied in 2024.

If you can show that you receive free housing and/or food through the higher education institution or an organisation that works for international exchange, the amount per month can be reduced. The monthly amount can be reduced by

  • SEK 2,940 per month for free food and SEK 4,704 per month for free housing, if you applied in 2025
  • SEK 2,865 per month for free food and SEK 4,584 per month for free housing, if you applied in 2024.

If your family applies with you, the monthly amount will be higher. In that case, it will include an additional

  • SEK 4,410 per month for a spouse or cohabiting partner
  • SEK 2,646 per month for each child.


The Swedish Migration Agency assesses your family’s overall ability to support yourselves financially.

Read more about the rules for the different forms of financial maintenance

Having “personal bank assets” means that you have money in an account that belongs to you, and from which only you and your accompanying partner (if any) can withdraw funds. Credit, funds or shares are not approved as personal bank assets. Assets in a microfinance bank are also not approved.

Locked assets, i.e., bank funds that are deposited in an account for a certain period of time, cannot be a basis for financial maintenance if they will be frozen during the permit period for which you are applying.

Scholarships, for example from national authorities, higher education institutions, organisations, foundations, or companies, can be approved as a basis for financial maintenance.

A sponsor is an actor who hosts your stay in Sweden. For example, higher education institutions and other education providers, or well-established companies and organisations, may act as sponsors.

Private individuals are not accepted as sponsors. Money from private individuals, such as relatives, must be registered as personal bank assets. Such funds must then be transferred to a bank account that is in your name and to which you have access.

If you have a job, you must be able to present a certificate of employment; an offer of employment is not enough.

Student grants or loans that you have been granted to study in Sweden. If the money has already been transferred to your account, the Swedish Migration Agency will assess these funds as personal bank assets.

Other rules apply if you are a citizen of the EU/EEA or Switzerland, or if you have long-term resident status in another EU country.

EU/EEA citizens with right of residence

If you are an EU/EEA citizen, you have the right to live in another EU/EEA country if you fulfil the requirements for right of residence through work, your own company, your studies, or by having sufficient funds to support yourself. If you have right of residence, you do not need to apply for a residence permit to live in Sweden.

EU/EEA citizens

Swiss citizens

If you are a citizen of Switzerland, you can move to Sweden to work, study, start your own business, or live on your own funds. If you want to remain in Sweden for longer than three months, you must apply for a residence permit for Swiss citizens.

You want to apply – Swiss citizens

If you have long-term resident status in another EU country

If you have long-term resident status in another EU country, you can move to Sweden to work, study or live on your own funds. If you plan to stay longer than three months, you need to apply for a residence permit for long-term residents.

You want to apply – Long-term residents in another EU country

If any of your family members also want to apply for a residence permit, they can do so at the same time as you. “Family members” are considered to include spouses, registered partners, cohabiting partners, and children under the age of 18.

If anyone in your family decides later that they want to move to Sweden to join you, they must submit their own application afterwards.

You want to apply – Family who want to apply afterwards

You can be granted a residence permit for a maximum of four years, but not for longer than your studies are supposed to last. You can never be granted a permit for longer than your passport is valid.

If you are granted a residence permit for the entire duration of your studies, the Swedish Migration Agency will add an extra two weeks to your permit period, to give you enough time to complete your studies and leave the country.

Your residence permit can be extended.

It is not possible to say exactly how long you will need to wait for a decision. There are many things that affect the waiting time, for example whether your application is complete to begin with or whether we need to request more information, or whether we need to check with other authorities when investigating your case.

Here we show statistics on how long it has taken for people who have applied for the same permit as you. The statistics are based on cases decided in the last 12 months.

There are too few decided cases for us to be able to calculate the waiting time.

Adults: SEK 1,500
Children under 18 years of age: SEK 750

You will not receive a refund if your application is rejected.

The following people pay no fee to apply:

  • students at the World Maritime University (WMU) in Malmö
  • Japanese citizens
  • students who have received a scholarship for studies in Sweden from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the EU, the Swedish Institute, or Uppsala University’s International Science Programme. The scholarship must be intended to be used for living expenses and not just cover tuition fees. The scholarship must be paid out during the period for which you are applying for a residence permit. The exception does not apply if you receive a salary, for example if you are employed as a doctoral student.

If you will be studying in Sweden for less than three months, you should not apply for a residence permit. In this case, you may need to apply for an entry visa instead.

Countries whose citizens require an entry visa for travel to Sweden External link.

You want to apply – Visiting Sweden for up to 90 days (entry visa)

If you do not need an entry visa to travel to Sweden, you can study in Sweden for up to three months without a residence permit or visa.

If you intend to visit in Sweden as part of a study programme in another country but are not admitted to a Swedish higher education institution, you must instead apply for a residence permit for visits.

You want to apply – Visiting Sweden for more than 90 days (visitor’s permit)

If you are applying for a residence permit for the first time, you must do so while you are outside Sweden, otherwise your application may be rejected. In some cases, you can apply for a residence permit while you are in Sweden with another valid Swedish residence permit.

Check the guide to see which rules apply to you when you are applying for a residence permit for contract or specialisation education.

If your application is rejected, you must leave Sweden

If you are currently in Sweden and your application is rejected, you must prepare to leave the country. If you do not leave Sweden voluntarily, you may need to regularly report to the Swedish Migration Agency in a process known as supervision, or be placed in a detention centre run by the Swedish Migration Agency. Your case may also be handed over to the police.

No. A residence permit for contract or specialisation education does not give you the right to work in Sweden.

News

2025-04-03

If you are planning to work, study or move to Sweden to live with someone, you can now visit the embassy in Islamabad

On 9 April, the Swedish Migration Agency will resume its residence and work permit activities in Pakistan. Applicants needing to submit biometric data, have their passport checked or be interviewed after submitting an application can once again do so at the embassy in Islamabad. This does not apply to those who are applying for a Schengen visa to visit Sweden for a short stay.

The Swedish Migration Agency is responsible for considering applications from people who want to live in Sweden, seek protection or become Swedish citizens. Our work is based on Swedish laws and international conventions, with a focus on legal certainty and effective reception and return.

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