NextSpring

Admission and Paid Fees Make the Student Permit a Shall, and One Year of Job-Hunting Follows the Degree

Answer

The general rule applies to you

No exception is recorded for citizens of Denmark on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.

147 exceptions recorded across 54 countries · none match Denmark to Sweden · Residency as a student

A student permit in Sweden is not discretionary. Chapter 5 b, section 3 of the Aliens Act says a foreigner admitted to full-time studies at a higher-education institution in Sweden shall be granted a residence permit for higher-education studies, provided the tuition fees charged by the institution have been paid and none of the refusal grounds applies. The permit runs for at least a year or for the shorter period the studies last. The general conditions in section 9 ask for sufficient means for the stay and for the return journey, health insurance for a stay of a year or less, no threat to public order, security or health, and a guardian's consent for anyone under eighteen. After the degree, section 8 gives a further year to look for work or to examine starting a business, on a completed programme of at least two semesters and a diploma. The amount of money a student must show is not in the Act or the Ordinance: Migrationsverket publishes it, and it changes each year.

Verified with official sourceMonitor - can change2026-10-10

At a glance

Is the permit discretionary
No - the Act says shall be granted

Chapter 5 b, section 3 of the Aliens Act uses ska beviljas, subject to the refusal grounds in sections 9 to 12.

Length
At least one year, or the shorter time the studies last

Chapter 5 b, section 3, second paragraph of the Aliens Act. Two years where a Union or multilateral mobility programme applies.

Money a student must show
10,656 kronor a month for an application made in 2026

Migrationsverket's maintenance requirement page. Neither the Aliens Act nor the Aliens Ordinance states a sum.

After graduation
One year to look for work or examine starting a business

Chapter 5 b, section 8 of the Aliens Act, on a completed higher-education programme of at least two semesters and a diploma.

After a doctorate
At least one year and at most a year and six months

Chapter 5 b, section 8, third paragraph of the Aliens Act, which also drops the two-semester condition.

Who cannot use this route
EEA and Swiss nationals and their family members

Chapter 5 b, section 10, point 1 of the Aliens Act. They have a right of residence instead and need no permit.

Time as a student and permanent residence
Not counted towards long-term resident status

Chapter 5 a, section 1, third paragraph of the Aliens Act excludes stays for temporary reasons or for studies from the five-year count.

Requirements

  • Admission to full-time studies at a Swedish higher-education institution
  • Payment of the tuition fees the institution charges
  • Sufficient means for the permit period and for the return journey
  • Comprehensive health insurance valid in Sweden, for a stay of a year or less
  • A guardian's consent if you are under eighteen

What applies to you

Nothing changes for a citizen of Denmark

We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.

What the law says

Text layer - verbatim verifiedUtlänningslag (2005:716) · 5 b kap. 3 §
«En utlänning som har antagits till en utbildning på heltid vid en läroanstalt för högre utbildning i Sverige ska, om utlänningen har betalat de avgifter som tas ut för studierna vid läroanstalten och inte något annat följer av 9-12 §§, beviljas ett uppehållstillstånd för studier inom högre utbildning.»

Admission plus paid fees makes the permit mandatory, which is a different thing from the permissive form most of chapter 5 uses.

Read it at the source
About this source

The Swedish parliament's public database of the Svensk författningssamling, serving every Act and ordinance as a single consolidated page at a stable address of the form /sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/<slug>_sfs-YYYY-NNN/. Each record prints the SFS number, the department responsible, the date of issue and an Ändrad line naming the last amending SFS incorporated, and each amended section carries in its own body the Act that gave it its present wording. Provisions not yet in force are printed alongside the current text and marked /Träder i kraft I:<date>/, and repealed sections are kept in place reading Har upphävts genom lag (YYYY:NNN), so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Transitional provisions are printed at the foot under Övergångsbestämmelser, but only for those amending Acts that have them.

Standing: Maintains the text in force

Cannot be cited for: The Ändrad line names the last amendment incorporated. It is not a sweep date and must not be recorded as a consolidation cut-off: it says nothing about when the page was last checked against the statute book. The consolidations are unofficial - the authentic text is the Svensk författningssamling as published by the Government Offices - and riksdagen prints a link to the Government Offices' own full text beside each record. An amending Act's own entry-into-force date is usually not on the page at all: where the Act has no transitional provisions, the date has to be read in the SFS as published. Where a section exists in several future versions the page prints them all, so an article number alone does not identify the text in force. The site is a Next.js application serving the whole statute inside the initial HTML; the extraction service returns nothing at all for some of the larger documents, which has to be met with a direct fetch rather than read as an absence.

We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verifiedUtlänningslag (2005:716) · 5 b kap. 9 §, punkt 1
«visa att han eller hon kommer att ha tillräckliga medel för sitt uppehälle under tillståndstiden och för att täcka kostnaderna för sin återresa»

Our translation - not official

show that he or she will have sufficient means for his or her maintenance during the permit period and to cover the costs of the return journey

The means test, which covers the return journey as well as the stay and names no amount.

Read it at the source
About this source

The Swedish parliament's public database of the Svensk författningssamling, serving every Act and ordinance as a single consolidated page at a stable address of the form /sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/<slug>_sfs-YYYY-NNN/. Each record prints the SFS number, the department responsible, the date of issue and an Ändrad line naming the last amending SFS incorporated, and each amended section carries in its own body the Act that gave it its present wording. Provisions not yet in force are printed alongside the current text and marked /Träder i kraft I:<date>/, and repealed sections are kept in place reading Har upphävts genom lag (YYYY:NNN), so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Transitional provisions are printed at the foot under Övergångsbestämmelser, but only for those amending Acts that have them.

Standing: Maintains the text in force

Cannot be cited for: The Ändrad line names the last amendment incorporated. It is not a sweep date and must not be recorded as a consolidation cut-off: it says nothing about when the page was last checked against the statute book. The consolidations are unofficial - the authentic text is the Svensk författningssamling as published by the Government Offices - and riksdagen prints a link to the Government Offices' own full text beside each record. An amending Act's own entry-into-force date is usually not on the page at all: where the Act has no transitional provisions, the date has to be read in the SFS as published. Where a section exists in several future versions the page prints them all, so an article number alone does not identify the text in force. The site is a Next.js application serving the whole statute inside the initial HTML; the extraction service returns nothing at all for some of the larger documents, which has to be met with a direct fetch rather than read as an absence.

We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verifiedUtlänningslag (2005:716) · 5 b kap. 8 §
«En utlänning som vid ansökningstillfället har ett uppehållstillstånd enligt 3 § ska beviljas ett uppehållstillstånd för en tid av ett år efter slutförda studier»

Our translation - not official

A foreigner who at the time of the application holds a residence permit under section 3 shall be granted a residence permit for a period of one year after completed studies

The year after graduation, and it is a shall rather than a may.

Read it at the source
About this source

The Swedish parliament's public database of the Svensk författningssamling, serving every Act and ordinance as a single consolidated page at a stable address of the form /sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/<slug>_sfs-YYYY-NNN/. Each record prints the SFS number, the department responsible, the date of issue and an Ändrad line naming the last amending SFS incorporated, and each amended section carries in its own body the Act that gave it its present wording. Provisions not yet in force are printed alongside the current text and marked /Träder i kraft I:<date>/, and repealed sections are kept in place reading Har upphävts genom lag (YYYY:NNN), so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Transitional provisions are printed at the foot under Övergångsbestämmelser, but only for those amending Acts that have them.

Standing: Maintains the text in force

Cannot be cited for: The Ändrad line names the last amendment incorporated. It is not a sweep date and must not be recorded as a consolidation cut-off: it says nothing about when the page was last checked against the statute book. The consolidations are unofficial - the authentic text is the Svensk författningssamling as published by the Government Offices - and riksdagen prints a link to the Government Offices' own full text beside each record. An amending Act's own entry-into-force date is usually not on the page at all: where the Act has no transitional provisions, the date has to be read in the SFS as published. Where a section exists in several future versions the page prints them all, so an article number alone does not identify the text in force. The site is a Next.js application serving the whole statute inside the initial HTML; the extraction service returns nothing at all for some of the larger documents, which has to be met with a direct fetch rather than read as an absence.

We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verifiedUtlänningslag (2005:716) · 5 a kap. 1 §, tredje stycket
«Vid beräkningen av vistelsetiden ska vistelse i Sverige av tillfälliga skäl eller för studier inte räknas.»

Our translation - not official

In calculating the period of residence, a stay in Sweden for temporary reasons or for studies shall not be counted.

Years spent studying do not count towards long-term resident status. A student who stays on starts the five years from the day the ground changes.

Read it at the source
About this source

The Swedish parliament's public database of the Svensk författningssamling, serving every Act and ordinance as a single consolidated page at a stable address of the form /sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/<slug>_sfs-YYYY-NNN/. Each record prints the SFS number, the department responsible, the date of issue and an Ändrad line naming the last amending SFS incorporated, and each amended section carries in its own body the Act that gave it its present wording. Provisions not yet in force are printed alongside the current text and marked /Träder i kraft I:<date>/, and repealed sections are kept in place reading Har upphävts genom lag (YYYY:NNN), so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Transitional provisions are printed at the foot under Övergångsbestämmelser, but only for those amending Acts that have them.

Standing: Maintains the text in force

Cannot be cited for: The Ändrad line names the last amendment incorporated. It is not a sweep date and must not be recorded as a consolidation cut-off: it says nothing about when the page was last checked against the statute book. The consolidations are unofficial - the authentic text is the Svensk författningssamling as published by the Government Offices - and riksdagen prints a link to the Government Offices' own full text beside each record. An amending Act's own entry-into-force date is usually not on the page at all: where the Act has no transitional provisions, the date has to be read in the SFS as published. Where a section exists in several future versions the page prints them all, so an article number alone does not identify the text in force. The site is a Next.js application serving the whole statute inside the initial HTML; the extraction service returns nothing at all for some of the larger documents, which has to be met with a direct fetch rather than read as an absence.

We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verifiedMigrationsverket, agency guidance · Migrationsverket, Försörjningskrav studera huvudsökande
«minst 10 656 kronor per månad, om du har ansökt 2026»

The agency's monthly figure for 2026 applications. The same page gives 10,584 kronor for 2025, which is how a reader can see it moves.

Read it at the source
About this source

The Swedish Migration Agency, which decides residence permits, work permits, visas and citizenship. Its site publishes, per application category, the conditions it applies, the documents it asks for, the fee, and the monetary thresholds that the Aliens Act and the Aliens Ordinance leave to it - the maintenance figure for students, the salary figure corresponding to the statutory percentage of the median wage, and the capital a self-employed applicant must hold. It carries a dated news archive that is the quickest way to learn an amending Act's commencement date, and a complete sitemap at /sitemap.xml.

Standing: Applies the rule

Cannot be cited for: It is the agency describing the law it applies, not the law. Where a page states a requirement that no instrument states - the 200,000 kronor a self-employed applicant must hold, the 51 per cent shareholding, the 700 kronor a day for a visitor - that is the agency's practice and must be cited as the agency's, never as the Aliens Act's. Its figures are dated by the year of application and move annually, so a figure quoted without its year is already wrong. The agency publishes no page at all for the self-support ground in chapter 5, section 5, third paragraph of the Aliens Act: its application menu has no category for it, which is a fact about the agency's presentation and not about the provision. News items are announcements rather than instruments and corroborate a date at best.

We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source

Practical notes

The tuition-fee condition is in the permit rule itself, so a permit cannot precede payment. Which students are charged fees is decided by Swedish higher-education law, which this record does not reach.

The monthly figure is Migrationsverket's and is dated by the year of application on its own page. It is not in the Aliens Act or the Aliens Ordinance.

Sources2 · all accessed 2026-10-10
  • consolidates
    Utlänningslag (2005:716), consolidated text as amended to SFS 2026:1752

    Sveriges riksdag, Dokument och lagar

    About this source

    The Swedish parliament's public database of the Svensk författningssamling, serving every Act and ordinance as a single consolidated page at a stable address of the form /sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/<slug>_sfs-YYYY-NNN/. Each record prints the SFS number, the department responsible, the date of issue and an Ändrad line naming the last amending SFS incorporated, and each amended section carries in its own body the Act that gave it its present wording. Provisions not yet in force are printed alongside the current text and marked /Träder i kraft I:<date>/, and repealed sections are kept in place reading Har upphävts genom lag (YYYY:NNN), so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Transitional provisions are printed at the foot under Övergångsbestämmelser, but only for those amending Acts that have them.

    Standing: Maintains the text in force

    Cannot be cited for: The Ändrad line names the last amendment incorporated. It is not a sweep date and must not be recorded as a consolidation cut-off: it says nothing about when the page was last checked against the statute book. The consolidations are unofficial - the authentic text is the Svensk författningssamling as published by the Government Offices - and riksdagen prints a link to the Government Offices' own full text beside each record. An amending Act's own entry-into-force date is usually not on the page at all: where the Act has no transitional provisions, the date has to be read in the SFS as published. Where a section exists in several future versions the page prints them all, so an article number alone does not identify the text in force. The site is a Next.js application serving the whole statute inside the initial HTML; the extraction service returns nothing at all for some of the larger documents, which has to be met with a direct fetch rather than read as an absence.

    We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source

  • administers
    Försörjningskrav studera huvudsökande

    Migrationsverket

    About this source

    The Swedish Migration Agency, which decides residence permits, work permits, visas and citizenship. Its site publishes, per application category, the conditions it applies, the documents it asks for, the fee, and the monetary thresholds that the Aliens Act and the Aliens Ordinance leave to it - the maintenance figure for students, the salary figure corresponding to the statutory percentage of the median wage, and the capital a self-employed applicant must hold. It carries a dated news archive that is the quickest way to learn an amending Act's commencement date, and a complete sitemap at /sitemap.xml.

    Standing: Applies the rule

    Cannot be cited for: It is the agency describing the law it applies, not the law. Where a page states a requirement that no instrument states - the 200,000 kronor a self-employed applicant must hold, the 51 per cent shareholding, the 700 kronor a day for a visitor - that is the agency's practice and must be cited as the agency's, never as the Aliens Act's. Its figures are dated by the year of application and move annually, so a figure quoted without its year is already wrong. The agency publishes no page at all for the self-support ground in chapter 5, section 5, third paragraph of the Aliens Act: its application menu has no category for it, which is a fact about the agency's presentation and not about the provision. News items are announcements rather than instruments and corroborate a date at best.

    We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source