Sweden Visa Documents to Notarise From Australia

For most Swedish residence permits applied for from Australia, you may not need a notary at all. The Swedish Migration Agency, Migrationsverket, asks for documents in Swedish or English, uploaded as copies, with originals shown in person when it wants to see them. An Australian birth certificate, marriage certificate or employment contract in English generally goes in as it is.

Key takeaways

• Migrationsverket is the receiving authority for Swedish residence permits. Its current page for your permit governs, and your caseworker's request outranks anything written here.
• The application pages reviewed ask for copies, not notarised copies, and do not mention an apostille.
• Where you attend the embassy or give identity evidence, you bring the original documents. That is how Sweden checks them.
• A notary is most likely needed for a recognition body in a regulated profession, a sworn statement Sweden accepts, or a power of attorney.
• Apostilles for Sweden, when a Swedish body wants one, are covered on our apostille for Sweden page. This page is about the permit pack.

What does this page cover?

This page covers the three permits Australians most often ask about: the working holiday permit, a permit to live with a partner, and a work permit. It is about applications to Migrationsverket. Swedish banks, courts, registries and businesses set their own document rules. Those are covered in the separate apostille page for Sweden, which deals with marriage records, civil status and property. The Department of Home Affairs plays no part here. Its rule that a copy certified by an authorised person usually suffices applies to Australian visas, not Swedish ones, so advice written for an Australian visa does not carry across.

Swedish permit rules change, and work permit conditions have changed in recent years. Read the current Migrationsverket page for your exact permit before you prepare anything, and note the date you read it.

What does Migrationsverket ask for, in its own terms?

Three points recur across the application pages.

Swedish or English. Migrationsverket says submitted documents should be in Swedish or English. If you translate a document, the translation should be certified, and you include a copy of the original-language document with it. For an Australian applicant, translation usually arises only for documents issued in a third country, in a third language.

Copies, made properly. The pages ask for correctly made copies of your passport and copies of your other documents. They do not ask for copies certified by a notary. They do not mention an apostille or legalisation. That silence is not a promise. If your caseworker asks for something more, follow the caseworker. But do not assume Sweden works like the countries where every document needs an apostille.

Originals when you attend. Where you are called to the embassy or a consulate-general, you bring your passport and the originals of the documents you sent in. That is how the original gets checked. A notary is not part of that step, and cannot replace it.

What does the working holiday permit need?

Australia has a youth exchange arrangement with Sweden. Migrationsverket describes a permit for a limited period for Australians within an age range. Check the current age limits and length on its page, because both are set by the arrangement and can change.

Evidence of funds is the main document. Migrationsverket sets a minimum amount of money and explains what bank evidence it accepts. It also sets a health insurance requirement, and its page has a note specific to Australian citizens. Read the current page for both rather than relying on a figure from a forum.

A first application is made from outside Sweden. You also prove your identity, either by presenting your passport at a Swedish embassy or consulate-general, or through a digital passport check where Migrationsverket offers one.

None of this involves a notary. A bank statement printed or downloaded from your bank is what is being asked for. A notarised copy of it adds cost and nothing else. See working holiday visa documents for how other countries compare.

What does a partner permit need?

This is the permit where people most often expect a notary, because it turns on a relationship certificate. On the pages reviewed, Migrationsverket asks for:

• a copy of your marriage certificate or equivalent, issued by the country of which you are a citizen;
• if the marriage is registered in your country of origin, documents showing that;
• if you are not married, evidence that you are unmarried and have lived together;
• documents from your partner in Sweden about housing and income.

You are then interviewed at the embassy or consulate-general named in your application. You bring your passport and the originals of what you sent.

For a couple married in Australia, that means an Australian marriage certificate in English, uploaded as a copy, with the original taken to the interview. Order the standard certificate from the state or territory registry. The decorative certificate handed over on the day is not a registry document. DFAT will not legalise a ceremonial or commemorative marriage certificate either, so it is a dead end if a Swedish body later wants an apostille.

Married outside Australia?

The certificate comes from the country where you married. Any question about authenticating it belongs to that country, not to an Australian notary. An Australian notary cannot vouch for a foreign registry's document.

Evidence that you are unmarried

Australia has no national register that issues a "single status" certificate. Marriages are registered by each state and territory. If you are asked for evidence that you are unmarried, ask Migrationsverket what it will accept from an Australian before you arrange anything. Options people consider include a "no record of marriage" search from a registry, or a declaration sworn before a notary. The notary witnesses your statement. The notary does not verify that it is true.

A Commonwealth statutory declaration is made for Australian purposes. If a Swedish body wants a sworn statement, ask whether it wants one made before a notary. See partner visa documents for the Australian side of relationship evidence.

What does a work permit need?

Migrationsverket's employee pages centre on the job offer and the employment contract, signed by both parties. They also set salary and insurance conditions, which have been revised in recent years, so check the current figures on the page. The pages reviewed did not ask for certified copies of degrees for an ordinary work permit.

Qualifications do matter in regulated professions. Health care is the obvious example. A separate Swedish body decides whether you may practise, and that body sets its own document rules, which may include certified copies. Find out which body assesses you and what it wants before certifying anything.

If that body wants your Australian degree in certified form for use abroad, remember DFAT's rule. DFAT apostilles an original once the university has verified it. It apostilles a notarised copy only if the notary's certificate states that the original was verified with the issuing institution. A plain true-copy certificate is not enough for DFAT. See skilled migration documents.

Permit	Main documents	Notary usually needed?
Working holiday	Passport, bank evidence of funds, insurance	No
Living with a partner	Copy of the registry marriage certificate, partner's housing and income documents	No, on the pages reviewed
Proof of being unmarried	Whatever Migrationsverket says it accepts from Australia	Possibly, if a sworn declaration is accepted
Ordinary work permit	Job offer and signed employment contract	No
Regulated profession	Whatever the recognition body specifies	Possibly, if it asks for certified copies

What about translations?

Australian documents are already in English, which Migrationsverket accepts. Translation arises for documents from a third country, such as a marriage certificate issued elsewhere in another language. Migrationsverket asks for the translation to be certified and for a copy of the original-language document to go with it.

Before you commission a translation in Australia, ask whether one made by a NAATI-certified translator will be accepted. If it will, the translation should carry the translator's details and credential on every page. See NAATI translation with a notary.

Where might an Australian notary still fit?

• A sworn statement, if Migrationsverket or a Swedish recognition body asks for one and accepts one made in Australia.
• Certified copies for a recognition body that asks for them, rather than for Migrationsverket itself.
• A power of attorney, so that someone in Sweden can sign a lease or deal with a bank before you arrive. Ask the Swedish landlord or bank what form it accepts. See powers of attorney and declarations.

A Justice of the Peace is not an alternative for these. A JP certifies documents for Australian use, and a JP certification cannot be apostilled.

If any of these is going to Sweden with an apostille, the chain is short. Sweden is a party to the Apostille Convention, in force for Sweden since 1 May 1999 as of our last check; confirm it on the HCCH status table on the day. The notary signs, DFAT apostilles, and no Swedish embassy step follows.

How should you prepare, in order?

1. Open the current Migrationsverket page for your exact permit and save its document list, with the date you read it.
2. Order registry certificates, such as a standard marriage certificate, from the state or territory registry.
3. Check the language of every document. Anything not in English or Swedish needs a certified translation.
4. Ask about single status evidence before arranging any declaration, if your permit needs it.
5. Find out whether your job needs recognition in Sweden, and if so, what form that body wants your documents in.
6. Only then pay for certification, and only for documents a Swedish body has actually asked to see certified.

The most common waste is the last step done first: paying for notarised copies and apostilles "to be safe" before anyone in Sweden has asked for them.

Here is an illustration, not a real case

A Melbourne physiotherapist is moving to Gothenburg to live with her Swedish partner. For the partner permit, she uploads a copy of their Victorian marriage certificate, ordered from the registry, and takes the original to her embassy interview. Nothing needs certifying. To work, she needs recognition from the Swedish body for her profession. It asks for certified copies of her degree. She asks whether it wants a notarised copy with an apostille, and it does. She arranges the university's verification, a notary certifies the degree copy with the statement DFAT requires, and DFAT apostilles it.

In short

Swedish residence permits from Australia are built on uploaded copies in English, with originals shown in person. The permit pages reviewed ask for no notary or apostille. Use a notary only where a recognition body, a caseworker, a bank or a landlord asks for something specific, and ask that body for its exact requirement first.

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