Those of you who would like to work in Sweden and have a passport from an EU country automatically have uppehållsrätt, or right of residence, so you’re allowed to move to and work in Sweden as long as you want and whenever you want.

Those of you coming from outside of the EU need an arbetstillstånd (work permit), regardless of how long you will work, and an uppehållstillstånd (residence permit) if you will be working for a period of longer than three months. (You get both with the same application, though – if you need a residence permit, just check the box on the application.) Here are the requirements:
– You need a valid passport;
– The work you do has to financially support you completely;
– The job has to be full-time;
– Your wage has to add up to at least 13,000 kronor per month;
– Your employer has to have advertised the position in Sweden and the EU for at least ten days;
– The contract you sign with your employer has to follow the same guidelines of a regular Swedish working contract in the same field;
– Your employer has to allow relevant union organisations to give their opinion of the terms of employment.

You can apply on the Migrationsverket’s website (http://www.migrationsverket.se/) or via post.

You can bring along immediate family members, such as your spouse and dependent children under 21. If they are of age, they, too, can get a work permit along with their residence permit (which allows them to stay with you). They also have the opportunity to study during their stay in Sweden. The main person applying for the work permit (you in this case), though, must work full-time and therefore cannot study full-time, but can study part-time if desired.

Your own work permit will be restricted to the same position and same employer for a certain period of time, but when you apply to renew your work permit (which is only given for a maximum of two years at a time), the rules loosen a bit. After four years with the same work permit (which means since the last time you sent in a first-time work permit application) you will in most cases be given a permanent uppehållstillstånd (permanent residence permit) which does not have to be renewed and allows you most of the same opportunities of a Swedish citizen. After seven years of having a permanent residence permit with a good record, you will be eligible to apply for svenskt medborgarskap, or Swedish citizenship.

For EU-citizens, you can achieve citizenship after only five years after having claimed your right of residence.

There is much more detail available on Migrationsverket’s website (http://www.migrationsverket.se/), but I hope this gave you a good overview. 🙂 Good luck, and hope to see you here in the future!