If you want to move to Ireland from Sweden you will not be required to apply for a visa, as both Ireland and Sweden are member states of the European Union (EU), which guarantees the free movement of persons from one country to another. However, this right is limited to persons who have their permanent residency in Sweden or they are Swedish nationals.
All other categories of persons can be required to provide an additional set of documents if they move to Ireland and they may also need to comply with more complex immigration procedures, and that also includes the obligation to obtain a visa. If you need further information, our immigration lawyer in Ireland can be of assistance.
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What are the residency rights for Swedish moving to Ireland?
Persons who will move to Ireland from Sweden benefit from certain residency rights, which are not applicable to persons who arrive from non-EU states or from states outside the European Economic Area (EEA). For instance, Swedish persons can arrive here without a visa and stay in Ireland for a period of 90 days without applying for any type of immigration document, such as a residence permit.
This means that they are entitled to short-term residency, without any form of restriction. In the case in which the person will move to Ireland for a period longer than 3 months (or 90 days), then the right to reside in Ireland will be granted if certain conditions are met.
Here, we mention that the person who will move to Ireland from Sweden must provide evidence on searching for a job in this country or provide evidence on an active employment contract signed here. If this does not apply, the person can provide evidence on having sufficient financial resources to move to Ireland and stay here alone or with other family members; the financial resources must also take into consideration the costs associated with sickness insurance.
The person can also immigrate to Ireland from Sweden for study purposes or for vocational training (we refer here to living in this country for the right to residency for stays that have a duration of over three months). Please mind that in the case in which you have close family members who do not live in Sweden or who are not Swedish nationals and they relocate to Ireland for the purpose of living with you, they will have to comply with other rules.
First, they may have the obligation to apply for a visa and arrive in this country only after they have obtained a visa issued for a specific purpose (in this case, family reunification visas can be requested, if the family member will not arrive here for other reasons except for staying with you). This is required when the family member comes from countries outside the EU, the EEA, Switzerland or the United Kingdom (UK).
If the family member is outside any of these countries or structures, the visa will be necessary, as well as the obligation to apply for a residence permit upon the arrival in Ireland. This is an obligation in order to successfully relocate to Ireland.
If the family member is the partner, in order to have the right to residency in Ireland, the foreigner will have to apply for a Long Stay (Join a Family Member) D visa.
The application is completed by submitting the required documents and forms. The application is made online and it is also necessary to pay a processing fee. There are certain visa exemptions for specific third party nationals.
Our immigration lawyers can present the countries which are included in this category. Our lawyers can also assist with in-depth information on the procedure to acquire Irish citizenship, for those who plan to remain here on an indefinite basis.
Citizenship can be acquired by naturalization, by birth or by descendance and for each category, there are specific rules to comply with.
What is the data on non-Irish persons living in Ireland?
Persons who want to move to Ireland from Sweden should know that, although the non-Irish population living in Ireland is rather large and diverse compared to the size of the Irish population, the Swedish nationals represent only a very small fraction of the non-Irish community. Below, you can find few data on the expat society living in Ireland:
- in 2016, Ireland had a total of 535,475 foreigners living in this country, according to the data of the Central Statistics Office;
- 12 nationalities accounted for the largest share of non-Irish foreigners, which represented 73,6% of all foreigners living here (and arriving here from countries such as Germany, Brazil, India, Romania or the UK);
- in the 2016 Census, those who arrived here from Sweden accounted for 1,591 persons;
- the largest number of foreigners can be found in Dublin, the capital city of the country where most foreigners opt to relocate to Ireland, which accounted for 91,876 persons in 2016;
- on the opposite side, the lowest number of foreigners can be found in Leitrim (only 3,526 persons).
Although those who move to Ireland from Sweden do not generally need to obtain a visa, this can be required even if Sweden is a visa-free country for Ireland, in the situation in which the person arriving from Sweden is a refugee or a stateless person.
In this case, one can immigrate to Ireland if the person is a holder of a 1951 Convention Travel Document or of a 1954 Convention Travel Document. Our immigration lawyer in Ireland can offer more details on the requirements applicable in this case, so do not hesitate to contact our team for advice.
