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EXPLAINED: How can Brits apply for residency in Sweden post-Brexit?

Deal or no deal, the transition period following the UK's departure from the European Union will probably come to an end on December 31st. Here's what Brits need to do if they want to stay in Sweden.

Published: 25 November 2020 10:12 CET
Updated: 1 December 2020 07:50 CET

EXPLAINED: How can Brits apply for residency in Sweden post-Brexit?

A sign at the offices of Migrationsverket in Solna, Stockholm. Brits can apply online. Photo: Marcus Ericsson/TT

The end of the transition arrangement will mean that British people living in Sweden will have to apply for residency status under the new arrangements.

For Brits in Sweden, the Swedish government on November 11th passed a bill unilaterally giving British citizens and their families many of the rights that they used to have as citizens of the European Union.

That includes the right to work and access healthcare, for example, under the same rules as EU citizens.

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The government also proposes that the Migration Agency issue documents to cross-border workers (for example, those Brits who are working in southern Sweden but commuting from their home in Denmark).

Here's what you need to know in order to exercise these rights.

When can I apply for residency status?

On Tuesday, December 1st, both online and downloadable forms will be posted to this web page which British citizens can use to apply for residency status.

What do I need to send with my application?

You will need to send:

A copy of your passport or national ID card.
Documents that show that you had a right of residence before 31 December 2020 and that you still have it thereafter.

Do I need to be in Sweden to apply?

No you don't. You only only need to fulfil the criteria. You can apply from the UK, or a third country.

What documents are sufficient to prove my right of residency?

If you do not already have permanent residency and a residence card issued by the Swedish Migration Agency, you will need:

a certificate of employment if you are an employee
a letter of admission to an educational programme if you are a student
a corporate tax certificate and registration certificate for the company if you are a sole proprietor
a statement of pension benefits if you are a pensioner
a bank statement if you plan on living off your capital

Other possible ways of proving a right of residency will be detailed on the form when it is published.

File photo: Bench Accounting/Unsplash

What if I already have permanent residency?

If you have previously applied for and received a document from the Migration Agency confirming that you have permanent residency, then you only need to send in a copy of your passport or national ID card.

This doesn't apply, however, if you have lived for more than five years in Sweden and believe you have the right of permanent residency under the EU law which automatically grants permanent residency to those who have lived in a country for more than five years.

If you have never confirmed this right with the agency, you need to apply for residency after December 1st like everyone else.

If you have 'permanent uppehållstillstånd' (i.e. the Swedish national immigration status, independent of EU law) you do not need not apply at all.

How do I apply for my family to stay in Sweden with me?

Family members of British citizens are also eligible to apply for this status, including for example children and partners. You can apply for them to stay in the same form. You will need:

copies of every family member’s passport or national ID card
documents that show the family relationship, for example a marriage certificate if you are spouses or a corresponding document if you are registered partners
joint accounts, insurance policies, bills or the like if you are cohabiting without being married or registered partners
birth certificates for children
adoption documents if the child is adopted
documents that show that any children over the age of 21 are dependent on the parent for their means of support
other documents that show that you are related to each other if you are not parents and children
an authorisation if you are a representative for all family members who are over 18.

Who counts as a family member?

To count as a family member (and thus get residency because of your relationship to a British citizen, even if you yourself don't fulfil criteria for Swedish residency) you need to be a husband, wife, registered or live-in partner, or an unmarried child who is under the age of 21.

What happens if my residency isn't processed by December 31st?

Nothing. As long as you have sent in the application, and have received a certificate saying that you have submitted an application, you will retain the same rights you had as a European Union citizen and can continue to live and work in Sweden until your residency application is accepted or rejected.

How long will it take for my residency to be processed?

The processing won't even start until next January, so expect it to take months at the very least.

When do I lose my right to live in Sweden?

If you fail to even apply for residency, you will lose your right to live in Sweden on September 30th, 2021. But if you apply before that date, you can stay until your application has been processed and a decision made.

It might be possible to apply after that date, but you will need to give a good reason why you didn't apply in time.

If you have permanent residency, you can continue to work in Sweden even after this date. If you have temporary residency, you will need to apply for a work permit.

The difference between sambo and marriage in Sweden

Can family members come to Sweden even after the transition period ends?

Yes. If you are under 21 and have a parent in Sweden, or are over 21 and financially dependent on a family member in Sweden, you can still apply for residency after the end of the transition period. You must apply no later than three months after you arrive in Sweden.

Can babies born or adopted after the transition period also become residents?

Yes, so long as both parents are British citizens, or one is British and the other is a Swedish citizen. If only one of the parents is a British citizen, they must have sole or joint custody of the child.

What if I'm a British citizen commuting to work in Sweden?

From December 1st, there will be an application form here for those needing a card showing their status as a cross-border worker.

Together with your application, you need to send proof that you:

live in another country, such as a housing contract or equivalent civic registration
work or are a sole proprietor in Sweden, which is verified in the same way as in an application for residence status
lived in another country and worked in Sweden at the end of the transition period
and a copy of your passport or national ID card.

Family members of British citizens are also eligible to apply for this status.

Member comments

Anonymous - 26 November 2020 at 10:15 CET

Please can someone advise me which annual health insurance is acceptable to the Skatteverket when starting the process of applying for a personnummer? I am a British citizen. Thank you.
Anonymous - 4 December 2020 at 19:36 CET

If you have an S1 then there is no need to obtain annual health insurance. Otherwise you may need private insurance for SEK10m – and this is difficult – I tried without success. After days of reading web pages and email exchanges with migrationsverket and skatteverket I managed to apply for a PN and residence in the space of a couple of hours today thanks to help from staff in MV and SV.

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'I feel exiled': How Brits in Europe are locked abroad with foreign partners

Europe is home to hundreds of thousands of British nationals, many of whom have foreign partners and children. But if they want to move to the UK to live and work it will soon become more difficult.

When it comes to getting a partner visa, the UK has some of the strictest rules in Europe. In addition to hefty fees and a healthcare surcharge, the Home Office requires British citizens and long-term residents who bring their foreign partner to the UK to have a minimum income showing they can support them without relying on the social security system.

The minimum income up until now was set at £18,600 (€21,700), or £22,400 (€26,100) if the couple had one child, plus another £2,400 (€2,800) for each other child.

But these income requirements will rise steeply from April 11th 2024.

How it works: What Brits in Europe should know about UK’s new minimum income rules

From this date the minimum a British national or long-term resident will need to earn if they want to return home will increase to £29,000 (€33,800) and up to £38,000 (€44,313) by spring 2025, although there will no longer be an additional amount for accompanying children.

Alternatively, families need to prove they have at least £62,500 (€72,884) in cash, which from 11 April will increase to £88,500 (€103,207).

‘Family life has been destroyed’

To put this in context the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford suggests that around 50 percent of UK employees earn less than the £29,000 threshold and 70 percent less than £38,700. The Observatory also says that while the number of people affected by the policy is small compared to the overall UK immigration (family visas represent 5 percent of all entry visas), the impacts on concerned families can be “very significant”.

The Migration Observatory notes that other European countries apply income thresholds to sponsor foreign partners. Spain, for instance, requires sponsors to have an annual income equal to the social security salary. In Denmark, sponsors must not have claimed social benefits in the three years before the application. But in Spain and the US, the partner’s foreign income also counts towards the threshold.

So what does this mean for mixed British and international families living in Europe who might want or even need to return to the UK to live?

Campaigners have complained that many Britons with foreign partners have simply been “locked abroad” or families have been separated while they try to meet the minimum income or savings requirement.

Reunite Families UK, a non-profit organisation supporting people affected by the UK spouse visa rules, says this policy causes distress, especially for children.

Some 65 percent of respondents in research carried out by the group said that their child received a diagnosis of a mental health condition due to the separation of their parents.

“Since its introduction, this policy has destroyed the family life of countless people and children,” Matteo Besana, Advocacy and Campaigns Manager at Reunite Families UK said.

“Women have been forced to become single parents to their children and live away from their partner and the father of their children only because they didn’t meet the threshold.

“As shown by our research on the mental health impact of the policy, these are scars that, particularly for children, will be carried for the rest of their lives,” Besana said.

The people most likely to be affected are women, who tend to earn less or not work because they took on caring responsibilities. Also heavily impacted are people under 30 and over 50 years of age, people living outside London and the Southeast of England where wages are higher, and those belonging to specific ethnicities, according to the Migration Observatory.

The Local spoke to two British women, in Italy and Sweden, struggling to return to the UK with their families because of these rules.

More savings needed

Sarah Douglas, who has been living in Italy since 2007, was planning to return to Scotland with her Italian husband and three children.

“It was always our long-term goal to move back to the UK after we had our children and once we’d have saved enough to buy a home in the UK,” she said.

“In hindsight, we should have gone after the Brexit referendum, but in the beginning it wasn’t clear what the final deal would be and I naively assumed that situations like mine would be taken into account and we would have the right to return… Once it did become clear, we were in the middle of the pandemic and it wasn’t the time to move,” she said.

Having stayed home to take care of the children, Sarah will find it hard to land a job near her family in Scotland that meets the minimum income required to sponsor a foreign partner for a UK visa.

Her husband, a computer programmer, has been trying to get an employment visa, “but most of them state that you must already have permission to work in the UK,” Sarah says. And applying for British citizenship is not an option for a non-UK resident spouse.

‘People need to be aware’

Sarah and her husband are trying to save as much as they can, an alternative to the income requirement, but the amount they need is rising to almost £90,000, meaning it may be a long time before they have enough to move home.

While the aim of the UK’s policy is to ensure families moving to the UK are not a burden on the taxpayer, the reality is that people arriving on a family visa are not able to claim any benefits from the UK government.

“They should judge the overall financial viability of the family unit, rather than just the earning potential of the sponsoring partner,” Sarah says.

“We could live well with my husband’s salary and he could work remotely. We are stable and financially secure, but because I don’t earn any money, they say we are not able to support ourselves.”

Sarah says that most of the British public are unaware of the minimum income requirement.

“People think if you are married, your husband is allowed to come to the UK, but when I say no, it doesn’t work like that, they are really surprised. A lot of people are not aware of how this could affect them,” she said.

Looking for a job from abroad

Another British women who lives in Sweden with her South African husband and two children and plans to move to the UK told The Local how the minimum income requirement had put them in a “precarious and stressful situation”.

The woman, who preferred to remain anonymous said: “After having the two children, I was very fortunate to find a research position and do my PhD, which is a salaried position in Scandinavia, and now that I finished, we are looking to leave.

“But I need a job in the UK to sponsor my husband, and as a new graduate with limited work experience, it is not easy. It is even more difficult when you are not in the country and I missed out on opportunities because they wanted an immediate start. I really don’t want to move without my whole family,” she said.

She says the UK’s policy is “gendered and geographically discriminatory” because it makes life harder for women and also harder for anyone who is planning to move to a part of the country that isn’t in London, where salaries are higher.

“I feel exiled from my country and separated from my family there,” she said.

Her husband, she argues, has his own company and could continue working remotely from the UK, earning well above the requirement. He would also pay taxes and national insurance while having to pay the healthcare surcharge, a form of double taxation, she argues. But that would not entitle him to a visa.

“Our house is on the market now. We have booked removal companies for the 6th of June. The dog is booked for his transport. I just think this policy is so out of touch with the modern world,” she said.

Reunite Families UK has called on the government to recognise the right for British or settled citizens to bring their close family members to the UK and scrap the minimum income requirement. Alternatively, the group says the rules should take into consideration the earning potential of both partners and consider “the best interests of children”.

A petition on the UK parliament website asks the government to reconsider the minimum income policy. If it reaches 100,000 signatures, it will have to be debated in parliament.

This article has been produced by Europe Street news.

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