Swedish citizenship for student
Hi, I'm writing to you in English since my Swedish is not as fluent yet. I am a non-EU PhD student in Sweden for the past almost 6 years, heading towards finishing soon hopefully. I have been paying taxes during my PhD and am considered an employee, as are all PhD students, though we get yearly 'student' visas from Migrationsverket. In July 2014, a new regulation was passed by the Swedish Parliament, that allows non-EU PhD students who have been studying/paying taxes for 48 months, to be granted permanent residence in Sweden, like it is granted to other foreign employees in Sweden. So I got PUT last year. This year, I complete 6 years of legal, tax-paid stay in Sweden. I fulfill other requirements on the MV website. I wish to apply for Swedish citizenship. Is it possible? Thank you in advance for your perusal.
Lawline svarar
Hi,
thank you for your question.
The Swedish Citizenship Act, Lagen (2001:82) om svenskt medborgarskap, MedbL, contains provisions regarding how to become a citizen of Sweden. You can apply for citizenship if you can verify your identity, have a permanent residence in Sweden and have been residing in Sweden for at least five years. The law also requires a honest way of living, i.e. that you have not committed any crimes during the past few years. This follows from 11 § MedbL (Swedish Citizenship Act). The fee for applying for citizenship is 1500 SEK.
Migrationsverket (The Swedish Migration Agency) has a homepage which contains information and forms regarding citizenship, see here.
My conclusion is that you, at least from the given information, seem to fulfil the requirements for Swedish citizenship.
Kind regards,
