A Swedish Residence Permit

Today was a milestone day. After ten days (or more) of preparing my residence application, I was finally able to slip the application, several other forms, photographs proving Tapi and I know each other, passport photos, essays, receipts and a cover letter into the $30 FedEx envelop guaranteeing delivery by 10:30am tomorrow at the Swedish Embassy. The simply act of mailing these documents proved to be a heady experience making me feel almost as if I have one foot in the US and another in Sweden. I spent the rest of the afternoon feeling rather dizzy.

Before a person can move to Sweden, a residence permit must be obtained from Sweden’s Migrationsverket. The application and it’s accompanying forms may be downloaded from the Swedish Embassy in Washington D.C. and a personal interview will be conducted. There are several ways a person can obtain a residence permit. You can do so if you are someone who will be working in Sweden as an employee, if you are a student, starting a business, an au pair, or if you are a spouse, cohabitant or child of a primary applicant. My permit is based on a family or personal connection so there’s a special app for that.

Once I filled out the application form, I also had to fill out a Family Details Appendix and an additional form #T91 because I’m planning on living/marrying a Swedish citizen. These forms ask such information as my name, address, passport info, names of my children, my parents and of course information on Tapi and on our relationship. Filling out the forms were pretty straight forward and easy. The hardest part was trying to boil down the history of our relationship into four paragraphs but other than that it was a fairly enjoyable experience… as far as paperwork is concerned. Also included in my package were photos of Tapi and I at various locations and at various times. Receipts proving that we’ve met and been together and a copy of one of my monster cell phone bills showing our communications.

Now that I’ve submitted my paperwork, the next step will be for me to attend a personal interview at the Swedish Embassy in Boston. The Migrationsverket will also interview Tapi in Sweden. An application fee of $220 is required and then hopefully a happy decision will be made and I’m off to my new home.