New Swedish citizenship requirements 2026 — what changes 6 June

On 6 June 2026 Sweden's tightened citizenship requirements take effect. The residency requirement rises from five to eight years, a new income requirement is introduced, the conduct review is sharpened and the citizenship test becomes a knowledge requirement. There are no transitional rules — every case not decided before 6 June is assessed under the new framework. This guide walks through what changes, which groups are particularly affected and how to prepare — based on the government's bill and the Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) information.

Four major changes

The most important tightenings in proposition 2025/26:175:

• Residency requirement (hemvist): the default rule rises from 5 to 8 years of permanent residence in Sweden.
• Income requirement: an annual income equivalent to at least three "income base amounts" (about SEK 20,000 per month before tax), with no more than six months of social assistance combined over the past three years.
• Honorable conduct: a tougher conduct review for anyone convicted of or suspected of serious crime. The requirement applies from age 15.
• Knowledge requirement (the citizenship test): applicants between 16 and 66 must demonstrate basic knowledge of Swedish society — and later also of the Swedish language.

Residency: eight years as default

The default residency requirement rises from five to eight years. The statute sets out several important exceptions — the year that applies to you depends on your category:

| Residency time | Applies to | |---|---| | 2 years | Nordic citizens (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway); former Swedish citizens | | 5 years | Stateless persons | | 7 years | Refugees; spouses or cohabitants of a Swedish citizen; applicants under 21 at the time of application | | 8 years | Everyone else (default rule) |

Migrationsverket counts residency time from the date you received your residence permit and have actually been living in Sweden. Short trips abroad don't normally break residency, but longer absences can.

The income requirement in detail

The income requirement is new for 2026 and applies on top of the other requirements. Two conditions:

• Income — at least three "income base amounts" per year (about SEK 20,000 per month before tax) from employment or your own business.
• Social assistance — you may not have received social assistance for more than six months combined over the past three years.

Who is exempt?

The law lists four exemptions from the income requirement:

• Pensioners — those entitled to income-based old-age pension, guarantee pension or elderly maintenance support.
• Full-time university or higher vocational students — in programmes leading to a degree, with passing study results.
• Upper secondary students — full-time studies.
• Reasonableness exception — when it cannot reasonably be expected that the applicant meets the requirement (for example permanent disability).

Honorable conduct: tougher review

The statute requires that the applicant "has had and is expected to continue to have an honorable and respectable way of life". This is a tightened requirement compared with the previous regime.

The law expressly states that citizenship may not be granted to anyone who "is reasonably suspected of or convicted of a crime for which the heaviest prescribed penalty is four years' imprisonment or more, or for repeated crime that is not minor or long ago in time". In practice this means:

• Serious individual offences with a prescribed maximum of four years' imprisonment or more bar citizenship.
• Repeated offending is assessed by its severity and how recent it is relative to the application.

The requirement applies to everyone from age 15, meaning even minor applicants between 15 and 17 are covered.

The identity requirement

The applicant must have proved their identity. This is not a new requirement, but it is now more formally tied to the others. Migrationsverket assesses on a case-by-case basis what documents are required for identity to be considered proved — passports, ID documents and other certificates may be requested.

For people who cannot prove their identity in the usual way (for example stateless persons or applicants from countries without functioning civil registration), there is a possibility in some cases to make the stated identity "probable" — but the default rule is still that identity must be proved.

The citizenship test — the new knowledge requirement

Applicants between 16 and 66 (in legal terms: the requirement does not apply to anyone who has turned 67) must demonstrate basic knowledge of Swedish society. The first civics test is held by the Swedish Council for Higher Education (UHR) on 15 August 2026 in Stockholm. The Swedish language test (reading and listening) is introduced by 1 October 2027 at the latest.

You can meet the knowledge requirement through:

• A passing grade on the citizenship test at UHR.
• Swedish school transcripts from compulsory school, upper secondary school or komvux.
• A passing grade on SFI course D.
• Equivalent passing courses from a Swedish folkhögskola.

Read on in the complete guide to the citizenship test 2026 and the full requirements picture for 2026.

Do you have a pending application?

Migrationsverket has confirmed that the reform is introduced without transitional rules for the income, residency and conduct requirements. Every case not decided before 6 June 2026 is assessed under the new rules. There is, however, one specific exception in the bill for those who have already passed an earlier knowledge test under the previous wording — that result can be credited. In practical terms this means:

• You can become subject to the new income requirement even if you applied before the reform.
• The raised residency requirement affects you if you haven't yet reached eight years (or the lower threshold that applies to you).
• You may need to take the citizenship test or demonstrate the knowledge another way.

If you're planning an application: check your category in the residency table above, verify that the income requirement is met, and start preparing for the test in good time.

How to prepare

Three concrete things to do now:

1. Calculate your residency time with the new thresholds. Are you in one of the exception categories, or does the default 8-year rule apply?
2. Stabilise your income. The income requirement is a rolling review of the past three years — start documenting payslips, tax returns and any periods without social assistance.
3. Practise for the citizenship test. Start with practice questions on medborgaretest.se to see where your knowledge holds up, and fill the gaps in good time before your application is decided.

The reform is in place. The applicant who plans and prepares methodically has plenty of margin to clear the transition without friction.

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Sources: Migrationsverket – New rules for Swedish citizenship from 6 June 2026; Proposition 2025/26:175 – Tightened requirements for Swedish citizenship; Government bill referral "Tightened requirements for Swedish citizenship" (Feb 2026); UHR – About the citizenship test.