Changing employer on a work permit in 2026: what to file first

The second offer is better: same field, 6 000 kr more, three months’ notice to work out. The fear is that accepting it resets something, or leaves you without status for a few weeks. It does not, provided you file in the right order. That order is the whole article.

A new employer always means a new application

A Swedish work permit is granted for a named employer during the first 24 months, and for an occupation after that. In both cases, moving to a different company means a new work permit application. There is no form for merely telling Migrationsverket that you have changed jobs.

The new employer starts an offer of employment in the e-service, exactly as for a first permit. You complete the application, pay 2 200 kr and submit. The case is then assessed against the rules that apply on the day it is decided: the salary floor, the ten-day advertisement in Sweden and the EU, and the four insurances from your first day.

People are often told that after two years the permit follows the occupation and take that to mean no paperwork. It means the permit does not fall because you leave the company. You still apply, because the terms of employment are new and the decision has to cover them.

The order of operations, and when you may start

This is where the notice period matters. If the new application reaches Migrationsverket before your current permit expires, you are allowed to work for the new employer while the case is processed. You do not wait for the decision.

So the order is: sign the contract, have the employer start the offer, complete and pay the application, and only then hand in your notice. Doing it the other way round is what turns a routine move into six weeks without an income.

Two conditions come with it. The application must be complete, with the signed contract, the insurance confirmation and the advertisement reference. And the job must be in Sweden on Swedish terms; a remote contract with a company abroad is not a Swedish work permit case.

A worked example. Bilal’s permit runs to 31 March 2027. He signs a new contract on 5 October 2026 at 36 000 kr a month, the employer starts the offer on 7 October, and the application is filed and paid on 9 October. He resigns on 10 October, works his three months, and starts the new job on 12 January 2027 with the decision still pending. Nothing about that sequence is risky. Had he resigned first and filed in April, he would have been outside his permit.

If you are let go: the three-month window

Losing the job does not end the permit, but it starts a clock. The long-standing rule is that you have three months from the day your employment ends to find new work and file a new application. During those months you may stay in Sweden and look.

Be exact about the date. The clock runs from the last day of employment, not from the day you were told, and not from the day you cleared your desk. Ask for the termination date in writing and keep the letter. Because this rule sits next to several that changed in June 2026, read Migrationsverket’s current page on work permits before you rely on the exact number of days.

Do not wait for a better offer to become a signed offer. File as soon as a contract exists. If the three months pass without an application, Migrationsverket can revoke the permit, and it does.

Changing occupation, and what all this does to your PUT count

Moving from a developer role to a sales role is a change of occupation, not only of employer. In the first 24 months that is a new case in every sense. After 24 months it is still a new application, and Migrationsverket looks at whether the new role stands on its own: advertised, paid at collective-agreement level, above the salary floor.

For employees, Migrationsverket specifies qualifying work and permits for four of the previous seven years, with permit conditions met. Its employee page describes applying for permanent residence with an extension. Check the exact route; a 44-of-48-month shortcut does not establish eligibility.

So keep every decision letter, from the first permit onwards. At the permanent residence application you attach all of them, and a missing year is much harder to reconstruct in 2029 than to file away today.

What we do not know yet

The June 2026 reform gave Migrationsverket wider grounds to refuse applications because of the employer rather than the applicant: unpaid taxes, earlier violations, sanctions. How strictly that is being applied to small companies is not yet visible in published statistics.

The practical answer is a question to ask before you sign: has this company sponsored work permits before, and is it registered for employer contributions? A serious employer will answer in a sentence. A refusal on the employer’s side costs you the fee and the months.