Sweden work permit for employees from outside the EU/EEA 2026

Citizens of a country outside the EU and the EEA generally need a work permit to take up employment in Sweden, whether they are hired locally, sent by a foreign employer, employed through a staffing agency, or transferred within a group of companies. The permit is handled by the Swedish Migration Agency and is tied to a specific job and employer rather than to a profession in general.

To be granted, the job must meet several conditions at once: a signed employment contract with the employer, pay and working conditions at least on par with Swedish collective agreements or common practice in the sector, and salary at or above the required threshold, which is reviewed against the national median wage each year. The employer must also take out health, life, industrial-injury and occupational-pension insurance before the job starts, and where the job lasts a year or less, the applicant needs comprehensive health insurance covering urgent care and repatriation.

A short list of occupations, including forest berry picking and personal assistance, cannot currently qualify for a work permit, and some professions are exempt from the standard salary requirement provided they still meet a lower minimum. Applicants must hold a valid passport for the whole process.

Applications are accepted at any time once a job offer is in place; there is no fixed intake.