Disclaimer: This article was translated with the help of artificial intelligence. For the most accurate information, please refer to the original Ukrainian version.

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Recently, I have had consultations almost every day regarding what will happen after the Directive ends. For some reason, many people believe that on March 5, 2027, Ukrainians will have to be at train stations with their suitcases. This is not the case. This post provides a very brief overview; if you are interested in a more detailed analysis, please see the PDF file below.

What is this permit?

When the Directive expires (March 4, 2027), it does not mean everyone must pack their bags. Since 2003, the Aliens Act (utlänningslagen) has contained a provision (Chapter 21, Section 6, second paragraph) stating that if a voluntary return program is launched, participants can receive a residence permit after temporary protection for a period of up to two years. Participation in the program is voluntary.

What is included in this permit?

Based on information I have gathered from the Migration Agency's budget documents and the law:

1. The right to work and study is maintained.
2. Those already registered in the population register (folkbokförd) remain registered.
3. Those in the establishment program (etableringsprogrammet) via Arbetsförmedlingen can remain.
4. The housing situation remains unchanged: municipal, Migration Agency, or private housing is preserved.
5. The possibility to apply for other types of permits from within Sweden (if Prop. 2025/26:146 is passed).
6. The possibility to apply for a status declaration (statusförklaring — subsidiary protection).
7. The right to CSN (student aid) is maintained.

The government has instructed the Migration Agency to develop a voluntary return program by September 25, 2026. The Migration Agency is already requesting funds for this. Their forecast: out of approximately 47,000 Ukrainians with temporary protection, 46,000 will transition to this permit, and only about 1,000 will apply for asylum. The Migration Agency also predicts up to 20,000 applications for status declarations during 2027–2028 and is requesting 140 additional employees per year to process them.

Personnummer for those arriving after September 5, 2025

Currently, Skatteverket generally does not register those who received their Directive permit after September 5, 2025. The reason: the law (Lag 2024:691, Section 5) requires 12 months of cumulative permit duration and at least 6 months remaining. If your permit started in September 2025, 12 months is September 2026, and the Directive ends in March 2027. This leaves less than 6 months, so the condition is not met. However, this same law counts the cumulative duration of all permits, and "residence permit after temporary protection" (uppehållstillstånd efter tillfälligt skydd) is explicitly mentioned in it. This means if a two-year post-temporary protection permit is added to your Directive permit, the total duration increases, and the condition for folkbokföring is fulfilled.

The Migration Agency confirms this in its budget document: they assume that everyone (samtliga) with a residence permit after temporary protection will be registered in the population register by May 2028. They specifically note that municipal placement and folkbokföring will also cover those who register after March 4, 2027.

Please note that this is the author's analysis based on the law and budget documents and is not legal advice. It is not yet known exactly how the transition from the Directive to the post-Directive permit will be formatted. However, the mechanism itself is in the law, the Migration Agency is planning resources for it, and this provides time until 2029 to transition to another type of permit. This is not a panacea, but it is time. Will there be other opportunities for Ukrainians under temporary protection to stay in Sweden? I don't know; so far, there are no prerequisites.

If you want to understand in more detail where this permit came from, what the Directive says, what the government wrote in 2001, and how the transition mechanism to other permits under Prop. 2025/26:146 works, read the long-read in the file below 👇

Author's text, edited and formatted with AI. This post is for informational purposes only.

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The Empower HUB project is implemented by HUG and partners. Co-funded by the European Union through the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF).

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