Non-Immigrant Visa
Visa Applications by Non-Nordic Citizens
Applying for a visa:
Applicants for nonimmigrant visas must be interviewed in person. In order to receive an appointment, please click here to Book an Appointment.
Applicants should provide documents establishing an applicant's strong ties to Sweden or to their country of residence, such as:
• business ownership and registration papers for a company, as well as the latest tax declaration (skatt declaration);
• an old passport or an official notification letter from the Swedish government which demonstrates when the applicant first received a Swedish residence permit;
• a recently dated personbevis issued by the Swedish tax authority, including certification of marriage, spouse's name, and the names of all children. Also: personbevis of all immediate family members (i.e., spouse, children, parents), regardless of whether or not they intend to travel;
• ownership papers for a house or apartment;
• old passports which contain previously issued U.S. visas
Applicants who are unable to demonstrate sufficiently strong ties to Sweden or to their country of residence will not be issued a visa.
Applicants from certain countries whose applications are approved may be required to pay an additional visa issuance/reciprocity fee. Please note that this issuance fee, unlike the processing fee, is not to be paid in advance by bankgiro. Applicants should consult the U.S. Department of State's visa reciprocity fee table - http://travel.state.gov/visa/index.html for more information.
We strongly urge visa applicants not to purchase plane tickets or make any other nonrefundable travel arrangements until a visa has been issued; visa applicants should never assume that a visa application will be automatically approved or that there will be no delay in processing.
Applicants Not Resident in Sweden
An applicant for a temporary visa who neither resides nor works in Sweden, or who will shortly cease residing or working in Sweden, may apply for a visa. However, individuals who are applying for a visa at a Consular Section far from the consular district with jurisdiction over their home country should be aware that they may have difficulty demonstrating permanent ties to their home country; a consular officer in Sweden will in many cases find it difficult to make a favorable determination as he or she will likely be unfamiliar with the social and economic conditions, language, and official documents of the applicant's home country. In such cases the applicant may consider instead submitting his or her visa application at a U.S. Consular Section in the applicant's home country or at a U.S. Consular Section with routine responsibility for processing applications from the applicant's home country.
Similarly, non-Swedish researchers and scholars completing their research or studies at Swedish institutions and who now wish to continue their work in the United States as exchange visitors (i.e., J-visa holders) should be aware that it will be very difficult for them to demonstrate strong and binding ties to Sweden, given the cessation of their studies or employment in Sweden, and thus very difficult to obtain a visa at the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm. Such applicants should consider applying for a visa in their home country or in a country to which they retain strong and binding ties.
PLEASE NOTE:
All persons from those countries designated as 'state sponsors of terrorism' will be subject to an additional review before a visa can be issued. The countries subject to review are Iran, Libya, Syria, Sudan, North Korea, and Cuba. Applicants who are born in or who are citizens of those countries can expect a delay of usually two to eight weeks before a visa can be issued, however this process could take even longer. For more information please see special processing
In addition, a limited number of applicants are subject to special security screening procedures, which affect about 2% of all visa applicants worldwide. We do not discuss the specific criteria used for selecting applications for security review. Applicants selected for security review will be informed of the need for additional screening at the interview and can expect delays of normally two to eight weeks before a visa can be issued. In some cases, delays could be even longer.
We strongly recommend that applicants not purchase airplane tickets or make nonrefundable travel arrangements until they have actually received their visa; visa applicants should never assume their application would be automatically approved.