from Probationary PR to PUT

Congratulations, you've got your PR status, and have arrived in Sweden, ready to start your new life in this strange new world of wonderful summers and frigid and overly long winter months. Be sure to get your personnummer from Skatterverket ASAP. Bring all legal documents, such as marriage certs etc and you'll get one in a jiffy.

Aside 1: Our marriage cert issued by ROMM not ROM. Although the lady at the counter could clearly understand English, she was looking for a certain logo on our cert to be reflected on the ROMM homepage in order to verify our claim. It was a near miss - I spotted the logo she was referring to, very small, somewhere on the receipt of the marriage booking (which was incidentally made and paid online!). So to be safe, bring everything with you! 

Aside 2: Think about what name you want to use. The Swedish system has problems with us folks with patronymic names, that means you Salim bin Salim, and you, Devi d/o Rajesh Kumar. My DH has always had a surname, I did not. So what they did was they made "bte, Abdul X"  my middle name and "Abdul X" my unmarried surname, which was then easily changed to Myname Abdul X Myhusbandssurname. 
My suggestion to use Marlina AbdulWahabsdotter was quite summarily dismissed - despite it being a very good reflection of medieval Nordic surname conventions. Unfortunately though, this results in my dad's name being part of a dual-surname surname... and my dad does not have a short name. Sigh. This name will haunt you - from every class you sign up for, to every subsequent package you collect from the nearest postombud from now until forever. 

As all SG-passport holders know, it has to be renewed every 5 years. This isn't much of an issue if you stay in SG and don't travel, then you can just renew it just before you go off on holiday. But it is vital for you as an overseas resident to ensure that your passport is up-to-date, because your PR pass is in your passport, and it's only valid as long as your passport is. Sure you can just go around with your bank-issued leg (legitimation). But if anyone asks to see your passport, and it's expired well... Jimmy or, more likely, one of his cronies will kick you out with glee, I should imagine...

Because we had an established relationship (again, this also applies if you're not legally married to your mate), my probationary PR status lasts for 3 years. If they're not sure, this is 5 years. Before the date on your PR pass runs out, you will be sent a letter to remind you and your partner to present yourselves to the local Migrationsverket office. This is not a quick process. Take the day off work and reschedule your dentist appointment. Even if you're given a time, Migrationsverket is so crowded that you may be seen an hour after your given appointment time - just like the vet's office. And then the whole interview can take anything from 20 mins to an hour. Plus 10 minutes more before you get your passport back. Plus, no one in Sweden takes air-conditioning seriously in the summer, and that goes for MV as well.

By this time, ideally you'd have been learning to speak Swedish for 3 years (eller man borde ha gjort det!). Brush up on your Swedish prior to the interview. The interviewer I had could obviously speak English, but they can prolong your interview or make you work for it harder if you can't manage to hold a conversation in Swedish. This interview is much less cosy and much less intimate compared to the one at the SG embassy. For one thing, there were several standing booths, all in simulateneous operation - just like the old POSB tellers and safety perspex/glass. And for another, there were CROWDS of people from all over the world in a waiting room that's probably meant for half the amount that do show up. Take a queue ticket.

This briefer interview is just to make sure that your r'ship is real and still intact.First they talk to both of you, then individual interviews are made. DH was first, me second. I was asked the address of my DH's workplace - which I didn't know, at the time. I told the interviewer that I knew how to get there, I just didn't know the address. He looked really worried at first when I told him I didn't know, but relaxed visibly as soon as I told him where it was... next he asked what my future plans were... he was a nice, cheerful fellow. I could hear a Thai woman and her interviewer, both sides speaking quite loudly, a couple of booths down from me...  I've heard that they ask really silly questions like your partner's favourite foods and so on, but I didn't get questions like that...

Anyway, so after the interview, he took a (very unglam! as one would say in sg)picture of me, and issued my Permanent Uppenhålltillstånd. Hurrah.

A couple of years later, my passport ran out of validity, and I had to get a new one done via the embassy in Denmark. I took both the cancelled passport and the new one down to Migrationsverket, and they issued an updated PUT without a fuss. There was a bit of a queue though, but it's nice to be able to drop-in without an appointment.

Remember, if you're not a legitimate couple, you may have to wait 5 years before getting PUT. And if they figure you're faking it, they might not give you a PUT, which means you'll be shoved out of Sweden in a hurry.

A little later down the road, you have to consider things like: Do I want Swedish citizenship? and perhaps more problematic than that: Should I give up my SG citizenship? Because, at present, SG does not allow dual-citizenship. (Suspenseful music cue.)

How I Got My Swedish PR

I've been asked, several times, about the process of applying for Swedish Permanent Residency Permit (locally known as Permanent Uppenhålltillstånd, or PUT). The Swedish Embassy in Singapore is in town, it used to be in the PUB building, currently it's at Triple 1 Somerset.

When I applied for Swedish PR back in 2006 - and the rules haven't changed very much since then - from start to finish, it took around 3 months. I applied in early March, and received confirmation mid May. By this time, my relationship with the DH was quite well established, since we were planning to have the wedding in June 2006. The Swedish Consulate was most emphatic about the fact that I had to wait for the local consul to give me my probationary PR. They told me if I went to Sweden before I was granted PR I could run into trouble. And actually, I was a little concerned, since their website mentioned 3-6 month processing time. However, since I am a good SG citizen with no previous criminal past etc, the whole thing went like clockwork. And now they've made it all so much simpler by allowing people to submit their applications online!

I've now learnt that Swedish PR is quite relaxed compared to many asian countries. For one thing, you don't have to be married before you apply; if you have a BF/GF and can prove your relationship (a shared address; shared custody of children, even outside of marriage, etc), then you may apply for SPR. Assuming you have the requisite Swede to back your claim, of course! ;) And unlike Australia, there was no need for rigorous health checks. (Although my own GP tried to push me to take Hepatitis shots. Which I refused to do mainly because I thought she was being unreasonably pushy about.)

They have a list of things you have to bring with you along with the application, which I won't go into detail here. But for sure, you need your local passport and birth certificate. You AND your sambo/mate each have to write a letter detailing your intimate relationship eg how you met, when you've met, how long the relationship has been, etc. Basically, they want to be sure that your alibis tally.

One good tip I received from the receptionist: renew your SG passport before you apply. Because the PR will last only as long as your passport. And unless you're blessed enough to be able to afford coming back every now and then, you will save yourself some hassle of renewing your passport via Denmark (the nearest Singapore consulate, since the office in Stockholm was deactivated) so quickly.

So, first stage
You gather all your documents and hand it in at the counter. They will want to see your passport and/or IC, but they won't hold it for now. Expect to pay the fee upfront. (they will charge the SG equivalent. Apparently they now demand cash payment if you go the paper route.).

Second stage
Part 1: Wait for them to set up an appointment.
I don't remember if I was given a date straightaway or was sent a letter/email. But the interview, for me, was set around 2-3 weeks after I first sent in my application. Meanwhile, I renewed my passport - which, as you know, is a grueling time-waster if you go to I.C.A.

Part 2: The interview.
You will be shown into a small room with 2 or 3 chairs. The interviewers (1 Swede, 1 local) will be seated opposite, and you will be separated by a very large perspex/glass wall. There are "talky holes", just like the old POSB counters. And, just like a bank, there is a slot on the table-top where you can pass over slim items over. So you can see/hear them very clearly, but you can't physically touch them, and vice versa. And then you will chit-chat for an hour or until they're happy and you're dry in the mouth. I brought some pictures to my show-and-tell; I assumed I wouldn't get them back, and I didn't.

Part 3: Wait for their decision. This is the hardest part of the process. Be patient.
The most annoying thing about this process is that all-important decision of whether you were given SwePR or not is given NOT TO YOU in Singapore but to your Swedish sambo/mate. Whom they fully expect to be IN SWEDEN, with a Swedish address. And it will be gobbledygook to you because it is all in Swedish anyway (unless you've been learning Swedish before getting there).

But of course the local consulate will give you a call or send you an email once your application is approved (or not).

Part 4: Go forth with your passport. I remember that they kept my passport for some time, for processing. Once you have the probationary PR, you can legally live and work there. You don't even have to go straightaway, we left for Sweden a month after I received my PR.

Next: Now that you've got your SwePR, what's next? And why do I keep saying probationary PR?!