Sweden work permit salary check
Type the monthly pay in your job offer to see whether it reaches the salary requirement for a Swedish work permit: SEK 34,470 for most jobs, SEK 28,725 for exempt occupations and groups.
Most jobs
SEK 34,470 a month
90% of the Swedish median salary. That is SEK 413,640 a year.
Exempt occupations and groups
SEK 28,725 a month
75% of the Swedish median salary. That is SEK 344,700 a year.
Only if your occupation is on the Government’s list, or you belong to an exempt group.
What the requirement is
From 1 June 2026 the salary must be at least 90 per cent of the median salary in Sweden at the time of the application. The median is SEK 38,300 since 16 June 2026, so the requirement is SEK 34,470 a month. It applies to people applying for a work permit for the first time who get their decision on or after 1 June 2026, and to extensions of a permit that was decided after that date.
The figure is a floor. The Migration Agency also asks that the monthly salary is in line with collective agreements or common practice in the profession or industry.
Who needs 75 per cent instead
For some occupations and groups of applicants the salary must reach 75 per cent of the median, which is SEK 28,725 a month. The Migration Agency names these groups:
- People who hold a residence permit as a student or researcher in Sweden when they apply for a work permit for the first time.
- People who hold a residence permit with or after temporary protection under the EU Temporary Protection Directive.
- Doctors, dentists and nurses with foreign qualifications who are in the process of obtaining Swedish professional certification.
- People employed by certain tech or life science companies. The company must be in a start-up phase, be less than five years old and have fewer than one hundred employees.
The first two groups are exempt for two years or, if their permit is valid for longer, until the permit expires.
The Government’s list of occupations has 27 occupational groups. The employer states which occupation the job is.
The 27 exempt occupational groups
- Engineers and technicians in chemistry and chemical engineering
- Laboratory engineers
- IT operations technicians
- IT support technicians
- Systems administrators
- Network and systems technicians, etc
- Assistant nurses in home care, home healthcare and elderly care homes
- Assistant nurses in habilitation services
- Assistant nurses in healthcare and specialist wards
- Assistant nurses in outpatient reception services
- Childcare assistants
- Ambulance care assistants
- Care assistants
- Breeders and caretakers of farm animals
- Other animal breeders and animal caretakers
- Crop growers and animal breeders, mixed farming
- Forestry workers
- Welders and gas cutters
- Structural steel erectors and heavy sheet metal workers
- Maintenance mechanics and machine repairers
- Electrical distribution technicians
- Butchers and meat cutters, etc.
- Machine operators in meat and fish processing industries
- Other machine operators in the food industry, etc.
- Other operations technicians and process monitoring operators
- Drivers of agricultural and forestry machinery
- Berry pickers and planters, etc.
Two occupations no longer qualify for a work permit, whatever the salary: personal assistants and forest berry pickers. In the group of berry pickers and planters the exemption therefore covers the other roles only. If you extend a permit later, check that the occupation is still on the list: when it is not, the full requirement applies.
If the application went in before 16 June 2026
The Migration Agency uses the median salary on the day it received the application. For applications received from 17 June 2025 to 15 June 2026 the two figures are SEK 33,390 and SEK 27,825 a month. Choose that period in the check above.
Extensions have a six-month transitional period. People who already hold a permit granted under the earlier rules and apply to extend it between 1 June and 1 December 2026 do not need to meet the new salary requirement. They must meet the previous maintenance requirement instead.
The steps of an application are in the guide to finding a job in Sweden as a foreigner.
Common questions
What is the minimum salary for a Swedish work permit in 2026?
SEK 34,470 a month for applications the Migration Agency receives from 16 June 2026. That is 90 per cent of the Swedish median salary of SEK 38,300. Occupations on the Government’s exempt list and the exempt groups of applicants need 75 per cent, which is SEK 28,725.
When does the figure change?
Statistics Sweden updates the median salary every year, and the Migration Agency applies the new figure from the day it is published. The current one came in on 16 June 2026 and the one before it on 17 June 2025.
Is reaching the figure enough?
No. The Migration Agency says the monthly salary must also be in line with collective agreements or common practice in the profession or industry, so a job that normally pays more has to pay more.
Sources
Every figure on this page was read on these official pages on 15 November 2026.