How I applied to become a Swedish citizen!

I have officially been living in Sweden for FIVE years and today I applied to become a Swedish citizen. I’ll walk you through the steps that I took to apply for Swedish citizenship and once I have my decision, I’ll be sure to update this post with how long it took.

Update! A decision was reached and I am officially a Swedish citizen!

First, a little disclaimer: I am not an expert on the Swedish citizenship application process and there are multiple ways to gain citizenship, including being a refugee, being born abroad to a Swedish parent, marrying a Sweden, and living and working in Sweden as a resident. I will only my sharing my experience and situation today. Should you have any questions, I’d recommend you look at Migrationsverkets (the Migration Agency’s) website. You can read up on all of the requirements (including the latest changes, which this post won’t reflect), and apply directly through their site.

Now, let’s dive into the process!

Requirements to Apply

The first thing I did was go to the Migration Agency’s website and research the current requirements to become a citizen based on my situation. For reference, I am an American (a non-EU and non-Nordic citizen), I moved here with my American partner on a sambo (domestic partnership) visa, and have needed to reapply for my residency visa every two years until I became a Permanent Resident at year four of living in Sweden.

At the time of my application (October 18th, 2023), I needed to:

• have reached the age of 18
• be able to verify my identity – I used BankID
• have met the requirements for habitual residence, which means that I must have lived in Sweden a certain amount of time – five years at the time of my application
• have lived an orderly life in Sweden – no crimes!
• have a permanent residence permit (a temporary residence permit does not apply), or have the right of residence or a residence card (for those who are EU citizens or a close relative of an EU citizen), or have residence status – I became a permanent resident after four years of living here

The Application Process

Once I satisfied these requirements, I logged into Migrationsverket and began the application. It is in Swedish, so I kept Goole Translate nearby to help ensure I knew exactly what the questions were asking. The questions centered around:

• Where I was born and which other passports I currently hold
• When I moved to Sweden
• Where I have worked in Sweden and for how long
• If I live with a partner and our relationship status (married, sambo, etc.)
• If my partner is Swedish, or if my partner is currently applying for citizenship was well
• If I have children and if I will submit their citizenship applications, too
• My total annual income for every year I have lived in Sweden

I then reviewed my entire application before e-signing and paying the fee of 1,500SEK (~$135USD) for adults and 175SEK (~$16USD) for children. The whole process took about 20 minutes, including looking up my annual income. It was easy-peasy!

Waiting for the Decision

You can follow your case by logging into the Migration Agency’s website and selecting My Page. The decision will be sent to your officially registered address, so be sure to keep that updated if you move. The Swedish Tax Agency (Skatterverket) will also be notified.

The day after submitting my application, I received a message from the Migration Agency asking me to submit my passport and residency card. We took this as a great sign because it meant that we had been assigned a case officer. Also, multiple friends of ours said they received their decision soon after submitting their passport.

We sent our documents via registered mail and they arrived the next day at the Migration Agency. They processed our documents and returned our passports to us the same day they received them. The Migration Agency kept our residency cards because they become inactive if your application is approved. If it is rejected, they are returned to you.

The Decision

I was without my passport for about one week total. Then I waited for another two weeks before receiving this message from the Migration Agency:

About a week after receiving the message above, I received an official brevis (document/letter) in the mail stating that I had been granted Swedish citizenship.

The whole process took just under four weeks after submitting my application! It was really smooth and easy. I know that many don’t have this experience, but I am grateful that it was so quick in my case.

Applying for a Swedish Passport or National ID Card

After receiving your decision, you can apply for a Swedish passport through the police or through a Swedish Embassy, if you are abroad. I was able to book an appointment for the morning following when I received my brevis. Bring a vaild photo ID with you (Swedish passport, Swedish ID card, Swedish driver’s license) and a copy of your brevis in case their system has not yet updated saying you have received your Swedish citizenship (this happened to my partner).

I took a photograph and provided biometrics (fingerprints and height). The cost was 400 SEK (~$35 USD) each for a Swedish passport and a Swedish National ID. They said it would be ready in a week. Again, a very smooth and efficient process!

• October 5th, 2018 was the day my American partner and I moved to Sweden with our cat, Clea!
• The current processing time for Swedish citizenship applications is 33 months! Yikes!
• A Swedish language requirement was not part of the application for us, but this will be changing in the coming years, so keep an eye on it!
• The Swedish passport is valid for 5 years (3 for infants).

• One of the questions you will be asked is your total annual income for every year you have lived in Sweden. This can be easily found on your tax forms, so keep those handy during the application.
• You can also pre-fill out the form before you are able to submit it, but the system will only keep the form for 14 days. Since our five year mark of being residents was during the workweek, I filled out my form over the prior weekend, so all I had to do was login, pull up my application, pay the fee, and press submit before heading to work for the day.
• The most important tip I can offer you is to not apply before your five years AS A RESIDENT in Sweden. While my partner and I moved to Sweden on October 5th, 2018, we did not receive our official residency paperwork until the 18th of October, 2018. So October 18th, not 5th, was the date we became active in the Swedish population registry and so started the clock on our five years. If we had submitted our paperwork on October 5th, 2023, we might have been rejected!
• Once your application has been in the queue for six months, you can formally request the Migration Agency to conclude your case. You can do that via the e-services on their website.

• Apply for citi­zenship – for adults