I know it’s a long shot to get an answer here since it seems like most people are Swedish, but I will try anyway.
I have been working in Sweden as a software engineer for more than 2 years now and I have gotten a second work permit with the profession “IT Konsult”. I am considering to start my own (limited) company to do freelancing IT consultancy - thanks for the instructive article “Employee vs Freelancer” @Anna .
However, I have concerns about being able to renew my residence permit once again after two years and eventually get the permanent residency.
So this is a shoutout to anyone who started their own company with a non-permenant work permit, or anyone who knows any information or referral to get help about this topic (other than migrationsverket since I contacted them and I’m still waiting for their response):
Do I have to change my work permit type to “self-employed” or is it fine to keep my “IT Konsult” work permit since at the end of the day I will be employed as an IT consultant in my own company.
Is there anything with owning a company that affects the renewal of the work permit? other than having the right insurances and paying the taxes correctly
I have no experience so I’m just sharing thoughts hoping for someone smarter than me to add to this thread.
I suggest calling bolagsverket at phonenumber 0771 670 670 according to their website and asking them directly since not understanding this clearly will have big effects for you. I’m unsure if you can dial 0771 by +46 771 or if you need to call from a swedish phone.
I’m also assuming you have to check this from two countries. Your home countries have policies around permits and visa as well. its not just the Swedish government.
I dont think Skatteverket.se has much do with work-permits but I would verify that with them too directly.
phone-number from abroad + 46 8 564 851 60 according to Skatteverket.se
while talking to them I would also ask for requirements and process for getting a swedish person-number since it sounds like you are looking for a permanent stay.
I found below links that might help. Again I’m a newbie in these matters. Best of luck to you.
@ImmigrantFreelancer thank you so much and great question and you are always welcome to ask anything in this forum! I, too, unfortunately have very limitied knowledge in this area, but the answer from @Ric sounds like a good start to me. Some of the Swedish government institutions are better than others, from my experience, and Bolagsverket and Skatteverket are some of the better, I think. They are quite quick in answering questions. Best of luck to you and keep on rocking it as an IT consultant and I wish that you are able to do the transition to self-employment soon as I think that you won’t regret it!
You have to find someone who knows about migration law. Based on my quick Google understanding (and general insight) however, the short answers to your questions should be Yes and Yes. Running your own business is (and should be) assessed differently than being employed. In the former case, you’re your own “sponsor” with regards to ensuring you contribute to society (which, in essence, is what MigV try to assess in various bureaucratic manners).
I got a reply from Migrationsverkt and they confirmed that there are no restrictions for opening a company as long as one can keep the same “main occupation” as the one the work permit was issued for. This reply is specific for the second work permit which is not linked to a specific company and only restricts you in terms of the occupation.
So for anyone wondering about this in the future, the recap is that if you have a second work permit - more than 2 years in Sweden - and want to open a company, you can do so as long as at the end of the day you are employed in your own company with the same job title as the one you have been granted a permit for.
Update: after several calls with Migrationsverket, it turns out that it is not possible to do this while being on a non-permanent residence permit. One can open a company of their own (must own at least 50%) and one can change jobs to any other company as long as they keep the same profession they have been granted the permit for. However, for some god knows reason, it is not possible to combine the two and be an employee of your own company. For this they advised me to apply for a different work permit for entrepreneurs with the possibility of having to go back to my home country while waiting for the processing time. It is rather strange and illogical, but it is what it is. I will have to wait until I hopefully get the permanent residency in order to do the move.
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and great question and you are always welcome to ask anything in this forum! I, too, unfortunately have very limitied knowledge in this area, but the answer from