As a Swedish citizen, you’ll have some rights that come with the citizenship. You’ll get the right to vote in Sweden’s parliamentary elections and in the EU elections. You’re also allowed to work within certain professional groups that require you to have a Swedish citizenship. For example, you need to be a Swedish citizen in order to be elected as a politician in the Swedish Riksdag or to work as a police officer in Sweden. With a citizenship, it’ll also be easier for you to both live and work in other EU countries if you want to.

Sweden allows you to have dual citizenship. This means that you can keep your previous citizenship while becoming a Swedish citizen. It also means that you can keep your Swedish citizenship if you move to another country and want to apply for citizenship there. The advantage of dual citizenship is that you have the opportunity to work and live in both countries, you’re entitled to benefits and have the right to own and inherit real estate and land in both countries.

The process of applying

In order to apply for Swedish citizenship, you have to meet certain requirements:

• You have to be at least 18 years old. However, parents can apply for citizenship for children who are younger than 18.
• You have to have a valid identification document, i.e. passport or ID card.
• You have to have lived in Sweden for a certain number of years. How many years that is depends on what kind of residence permit you’ve had during your time in Sweden.
• You have to have a permanent residence permit, right of residence, residence card or residence status.

It’s also to your advantage if your life in Sweden has been an orderly one. This means, among other things, that you’re debt-free and that you haven’t committed any crimes in Sweden.

If you meet the requirements, you can submit an application for Swedish citizenship to the Swedish Migration Agency. The application looks slightly different depending on your age and where you’ve previously been a citizen. Once you’ve completed your application you just need to submit it. Sometimes the Swedish Migration Agency can contact you and ask you for additional information. Otherwise, all you have to do is wait for their response.

The processing time for a citizenship application is long. If you don’t want to wait, you can submit a request to conclude a case. This will give the Swedish Migration Agency four weeks to come to a conclusion. You can submit this request six months after you’ve submitted your original application at the earliest. Also you can only submit this request once. So it’s very important that you go through your application meticulously, either by yourself or together with a lawyer, to ensure that it’s complete.