Study Abroad in Sweden: Sweden will make it easier for international students to apply for resident permits

Foreign researchers and students studying at Swedish institutions might soon be able to apply for resident permits without first stopping by the Swedish embassy to show identification.

This comes after a lot of complaints and chaos by the applicants. The applicants were upset due to the delay in the process. High Commission and Embassies stated the sudden increase in applications as the major reason for delays. 

Earlier international students and researchers were asked to visit a Swedish embassy or general consulate to present their passports as identification to obtain a resident permit. It was the traditional process that every Embassy follows for verification.

Now the new regulations say that there is no requirement to physically present your passport. 

The Education Minister Mats Persson described as having “disproportionate repercussions,” have generated complaints from numerous universities. An American researcher on the west coast must fly to Washington, DC, to present their passport.

The Migration Agency has been tasked with coming up with solutions to this problem, and Migration Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard has suggested that this could include mobile teams from the Migration Agency visiting certain cities close to large universities abroad to provide resident permits.

For example in Canada and the United States, where many applicants to Sweden come from, where applicants from visa-free countries can present their passports for checks.

According to Persson, the government wants to have this problem resolved prior to the impending admissions for the upcoming fall semester. Sweden’s National Audit Office criticised the Migration Agency for the way it handled passports, which led to the introduction of new passport regulations.

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