Self employment in Sweden
So, here’s the deal. There isn’t a Sweden self employment visa, however, there are other ways. Number one being applying for a job and get a work permit, or get someone in Sweden to start a business for you.
Work Permits
Work permits were the second most popular permit applied for permits during January – October of 2018. As with most other permit categories, work permit applications have on average been increasing during the past four years. After the large influx of asylum seekers during the end of 2015 and during 2016 we have seen that the Migration Agency has become stricter and more thorough when reviewing applications.
If you are currently in Sweden or planning on moving there shortly, it is therefore essential that you are aware of these requirements in order to avoid any unnecessary additional requests for information or rejections. As processing times have become quite lengthy, a request for additional information is definitely something you want to avoid as it can set your application back an additional 1-2 months.
If you are applying for an extension you can be set back 4 months or more in some cases. Unfortunately these requests can be difficult to avoid as the Migration Agency’s requirements and regulations are not always very clear and easy to understand.
There are several types of permits in Sweden that permit work. The most common are:
– Work permit
– Student permit
– Visiting researcher
– ICT permit
– Dependent permit
– EU Blue cards
Aside from the above permits, there are some other applications that allow work in certain cases. These are:
– Asylum seekers that have been granted AT-UND
– Spouses to EU citizens who have applied for a residence card in Sweden
Get someone in Sweden to start a business for you
There are Swedish people that are willing to start a private limited company for you, but under their name. They can hand over the company to you later on when you come to Sweden. The process is easy, but it takes at least a year to get you to Sweden and 2-3 more years for you to take over the company after you get your permanent residency. You will also need a lot of money or income.
Your business need to have steady income and enough to cover your salary, insurances and such for at least 1 -2 years. The Migration Office will look at your business’ financial situation for the past year. Therefore, it will take at least 1 year before your business can hire you. You can have your business invoice you so to generate income, but that will cost you hundreds of thousands krona. As well as, it isn’t most legal and ethical way to do it.
However, if your business can generate that much income in a year, then you will be fine. If it takes longer for you to get that much income, or you want to save some money and effort then we suggest you to apply for a work permit instead. Find and apply for a job in Sweden, work there for 4 years till you get your permanent residency, then you can start your self employment journey.
Otherwise, you can find a company that could register a company for you. They can potentially give you an empty company that they registered and set up. However, it doesn’t mean you can skip any the steps mentioned above. Also remember Sweden doesn’t really have policies for startups. Meaning you will have to pay a lot of tax and fill in a lot of forms since there is so much regulations.