A reader complains that she is unable to apply for permanent residence after five years in Sweden, while her younger sister, who arrived at exactly the same time is close to citizenship. The solution would be to end the ‘clock reset’ when changing permit type.
My story
I came to Sweden five years ago via family reunification when I was 19 years old. As I approached 21, I was frantically looking for a job and I managed to land one: the company was willing to sponsor me and we went through the process. However, the Swedish Migration Agency took over a year to make the extension decision, so I was effectively in limbo until 2023.
I finally got my work permit in June 2023 and I have now extended it again in 2025. In total, I have been in Sweden for five and a half years, with just over three years on a family reunification permit, and the rest on work permit.
So while it is a “success story”, as I avoided being deported, it still feels terrible for a few reasons.
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The PR ‘reset’
Although I have legally lived in Sweden for over five years, while working and paying taxes the entire time, I am unable to apply for permanent residence. The reason for this is that my visa basis changed, which essentially wiped off the three years I spent on family reunification (while working).
In theory, if I was let go from my job and unable to find a new one, I would be deported back to my home country despite having spent a significant number of years in Sweden while paying tax. As you can imagine, this is quite a nerve-wracking experience.
Those of us who had our PR clock “reset” are facing significant extensions on the required stay for PR and citizenship. In my case, that would mean another two years to permanent residence (unless they move the goal post again), and another four for citizenship (if the eight year citizenship extension passes).
That would mean… eleven years in total (including the three and half year “reset”) of stay for citizenship. This is more than double the current requirements, and 30 percent more than the future recommendation.
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My sister’s story
My sister had a completely different experience, despite also being here on family reunification. Because she came to Sweden at a younger age (15), she managed to apply for EU Long-Term Residence after five years, because she never had to change to a work permit. She was then automatically granted a permanent residence and is now in the process of getting a citizenship.
So, while we both had similar circumstances, her process turned out to be much simpler because she did not need to change work permit types.
Two sisters from the same household, but one is forced to continuously fight to stay for eleven years, while the other one can follow the “usual” process. And the only difference is that I had to change the basis for my visa.
I want to make it clear that I am not against the country extending the ‘length of stay’ requirement for citizenship or adding more expectations. What does sting is the “clock reset”.
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The country is effectively saying that any contributions during time on another visa are worthless. This does not only affect family reunification, but also any combination of two visas. For example, an academic researcher’s time will reset if they swap to a sambo visa.
I understand that the current government is hesitant to make any changes that might appear lenient towards residence permits. However, I do believe that if more people were aware of the “reset”, a consensus could be reached.
Sweden wants to be more in alignment with the Nordics when it comes to visas, and Norway, for example, includes all of the time you legally stayed in the country, regardless of the type of visa. I think this is a decent compromise between requiring more “commitment” from prospective citizens and maintaining fairness, while addressing some of the gaps in the law.