Language
Photo: Pexels · Pexels License

Sweden

The residence routes we hold for Sweden, each requirement as its rule states it, and what a month costs in its cities. This page assesses no one.

This page describes the destination for nobody in particular. Answer a few questions and each requirement is set against your own answers, with a monthly budget for your household. Your answers stay in the address bar of your browser; nothing is stored.

Check this for your household

Country in brief

Pros

  1. Very high institutional quality, trust and transparency.
  2. Strong, innovative economy; English universal in business.
  3. Excellent public services, childcare and schooling.
  4. EU free movement; stable rule of law.
  5. Clean environment, nature access, good digital infrastructure.

Cons

  1. Long, dark winters.
  2. High cost of living and taxes; Stockholm housing is scarce (queues for rentals).
  3. A small business faces high labour costs and strong unions.
  4. Social integration is slow; a reserved culture.
  5. The krona's weakness affects anyone with euro liabilities.

Emigrator’s assessment, 6 October 2026. Where a point names a figure, the sourced data above governs.

Routes we hold for Sweden

What each rule states, as we encoded it from the source. A money threshold that grows with the size of the household is shown for the reference household named under the costs.

EU/EEA free movement (right of residence, no registration)

Checked against the law

We read this route’s requirements in the instrument that sets them and checked every rule against it on the date shown below.

· within the limit

RequirementRule saysType
Citizen of an EU or EEA stateHolds at least one of: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakiathe European Union, the EEA EFTA states — 30 countries, as read on 7 September 2026Mandatory
A basis for staying beyond three monthsThis requirement can be met in more than one way:Conditional
Working or self-employed thereMust be Yes—
Comprehensive sickness insuranceMust be Yes—

What the authority states and we cannot test

Quoted in the authority’s own words rather than summarised. No rule of ours tests these.

  • har tillräckliga tillgångar för sin och sina familjemedlemmars försörjning och har en heltäckande sjukförsäkring för sig och familjemedlemmarna som gäller i Sverige.

    Our translation: has sufficient assets for their own and their family members' maintenance and has comprehensive sickness insurance for themselves and the family members which is valid in Sweden. — Emigrator, machine-assisted and reviewed against the source

    Stated by Sveriges riksdag, Svensk författningssamling — Utlänningslag (2005:716), 3 a kap. Uppehållsrätt för EES-medborgare m.fl., 3 a kap. 3 § punkt 4

Residence permit to run your own business

Draft — not checked by us yet

We built these rules from the country’s own sources and have not finished checking them line by line.

Never checked · limit 45 days

RequirementRule saysType
Third-country national (EU/EEA citizens use free movement)Holds none of: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakiathe European Union, the EEA EFTA states — 30 countries, as read on 7 September 2026Mandatory
Money in the bank to support the household for two years*At least €26,786.91200,000 SEK, converted at the ECB euro reference rate for the Swedish krona (0.08929 EUR/SEK, effective 10 September 2026) = €17,857.94, plus €8,928.97 for the rest of the reference household = €26,786.91Mandatory
Running the business yourself, in SwedenMust be YesConditional
Swedish or English, at conversational level or betterHolds at least one of: El Salvador, ENConditional
A first application made from outside SwedenNone of: SwedenConditional

What the authority states and we cannot test

Quoted in the authority’s own words rather than summarised. No rule of ours tests these.

  • You must have good experience in the industry and in running your own business

    Stated by Migrationsverket (Swedish Migration Agency) — Apply for a residence permit to run your own business in Sweden

  • If you have contact with, for example, many suppliers or customers in Sweden, you must have very good knowledge of Swedish.

    Stated by Migrationsverket (Swedish Migration Agency) — Apply for a residence permit to run your own business in Sweden

  • You must have established customer contacts or networks

    Stated by Migrationsverket (Swedish Migration Agency) — Apply for a residence permit to run your own business in Sweden

  • You need to have enough money to cover the expected costs and investments running the business will involve, and enough money to buy the business, if that is what you plan to do.

    Stated by Migrationsverket (Swedish Migration Agency) — Apply for a residence permit to run your own business in Sweden

A month here, for a reference household

Reference household: two adults aged 38 and 37, a one-bedroom home, no children.

Residence fees and health cover are those of EU/EEA free movement (right of residence, no registration). The low, middle and high figures are the 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles where a publisher states them; each line says who published it.

illustrative Money figures on this page are illustrative unless the figure names its publisher. The illustrative ones are arranged so the shape is right — a larger flat costs more than a smaller one, and the expensive cities are the expensive ones — and they are accurate in nothing. Do not plan on them.

CityP25P50P75
StockholmThis total does not include Building or service charge, Statutory levies and licences, Residence permit renewals and Domestic help, which nobody publishes for this city. It is the sum of what we hold, not of what the household will pay.not published€2,382not published

Its cities

Stockholm

Safety
97 / 100measured
Healthcare
96 / 100measured
Air quality
100 / 100measured

5 of 12 months between 10 and 26 °C

  1. Jan-1-3-5
  2. Feb-0-3-5
  3. Mar30-3
  4. Apr951
  5. May15116
  6. Jun191511
  7. Jul231814
  8. Aug221713
  9. Sept17139
  10. Oct1075
  11. Nov431
  12. Dec1-1-3

Each cell: average daily high, monthly mean, average daily low, in °C. These are averages of daily values over 2001–2020, not records — the hottest day is higher and is not shown.

How this country is governed

World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators, 2024, on a 0–100 scale the Bank publishes itself. They describe the country, not any city in it.

Political stability and absence of violence
76the World Bank governance score for political stability
Rule of law
87the World Bank governance score for rule of law
Control of corruption
88the World Bank governance score for control of corruption

Where this comes from

PublisherLast checked
EUR-Lex — Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States. Consolidated version of 16/06/20118 September 2026
Sveriges riksdag, Svensk författningssamling — Utlänningslag (2005:716), 3 a kap. Uppehållsrätt för EES-medborgare m.fl.13 October 2026
Migrationsverket (Swedish Migration Agency) — Apply for a residence permit to run your own business in Sweden9 September 2026
European Central Bank — Euro foreign exchange reference rates (eurofxref-daily)9 September 2026

Provenance

Rule set 1.58.0-2026-10-11 · read on 26 October 2026. Every figure on this page was computed by the engine from versioned rule files. No language model produced any number here, and translation happens only after the calculation.

Found an error or have newer information? Suggest a correction →

This is decision support, not legal advice. Confirm any route with a licensed adviser or the authority before acting.

Sweden: residence routes, requirements and monthly costs — Emigrator