How to Check If Your Swedish Employer Has the Mandatory Insurances for Your Work Permit

To verify that your Swedish employer has the four mandatory insurances required for your work permit, request a Försäkringsbesked (insurance statement) annually from your HR contact, and cross-check the activation date against your first day of employment. Do not assume the insurance is in place because you have a signed contract. Insurance must be active from Day 1 of employment, not from when HR gets around to registering you — and Migrationsverket checks this at extension time.

The four insurances are: AGS (supplementary health/sick pay), TGL (life insurance), TFA (workplace injury), and Tjänstepension (occupational pension, typically ITP for white-collar workers). All four must be maintained continuously throughout your permit period. A gap in any one of them — even a single month due to a provider switch or an administrative delay — is a compliance failure that can surface as a revocation trigger at your extension or permanent residency application.

Why the Employee Needs to Do This

Your employer is legally responsible for setting up and maintaining these insurances. But Migrationsverket audits the worker's permit at renewal — and if they find a gap, the worker is the one who faces consequences. The employer may be fined, but you may be deported. This structural asymmetry is the reason the "competence expulsion" crisis has affected hundreds of skilled professionals — including developers at major tech companies and healthcare workers with spotless employment records.

The employer compliance audit is not an adversarial act. It is a routine verification, equivalent to checking your payslip for accuracy. Most employers will cooperate immediately when asked. An employer who cannot or will not provide insurance documentation is itself a compliance signal.

The Four Insurances: What to Check

1. Tjänstepension (Occupational Pension) — ITP Plan

For white-collar workers, pension contributions flow through Collectum under the ITP scheme. The employer must be registered with Collectum and must contribute at least 4.5% of your gross salary from the start of employment.

How to verify:

• Ask HR for the Collectum registration certificate for your employment
• Once you have a personnummer, log in to Collectum's digital member portal (collectum.se) to view your account balance and contribution history
• Request the most recent annual Collectum statement showing contribution amounts and dates

Red flag: Contributions that start two to four weeks after your employment start date. This is a common problem when HR sets up the registration reactively.

For blue-collar workers, pension flows through Fora rather than Collectum. Ask HR which scheme applies to your employment classification.

2. TGL (Group Life Insurance)

TGL provides a lump-sum payout to your dependants in the event of your death during employment. For employers covered by Alecta or a comparable provider, TGL is bundled with the collective agreement.

How to verify:

• Request the TGL policy number and the registration date from HR
• Confirm the coverage amount matches the union standard Basic Sum for your employment category
• For employers without a collective agreement, request the specific private policy document

Red flag: TGL registered under the company's name but with your employee start date missing or listed as later than your contract start date.

3. TFA (Workplace Injury Insurance)

TFA covers medical costs and lost income resulting from workplace accidents or accidents during your commute. Coverage must begin from your first day of work.

How to verify:

• Request the TFA policy confirmation from AFA Försäkring (the primary administrator for collective agreement employers) or from the private insurer if your employer does not have a collective agreement
• Confirm that the "insured from" date on the policy matches your contract start date
• Check whether your employer is registered with Fora (for collective agreement blue-collar employers) — Fora administers TFA for this group

Red flag: TFA coverage listed as starting from the first of the month following employment, rather than from the contract start date itself. This one-month gap is common and creates a compliance problem.

4. AGS (Supplementary Sick Pay)

AGS supplements the Swedish state sickness benefit from Day 15 of illness onwards. For collective agreement employers, AFA Försäkring administers AGS. For non-collective agreement employers, equivalent private health insurance coverage must be demonstrated.

How to verify:

• Request the AFA Försäkring registration certificate showing your employee start date
• If your employer does not have a collective agreement, request the private health insurance policy with equivalent terms and a Försäkringsintyg issued by the insurer

Red flag: Any employer who says "we don't need AGS because we have private health insurance" without being able to produce a formal Försäkringsintyg. The certificate is the document Migrationsverket requests — verbal assurances do not satisfy the requirement.

The Verification Checklist in Practice

This is the sequence to follow:

Step 1: Request the Försäkringsbesked Email your HR contact: "I'm preparing my documents for my permit extension and need to verify our insurance compliance. Can you send me the Försäkringsbesked showing all four mandatory insurances — AGS, TGL, TFA, and Tjänstepension — with their activation dates?"

A cooperative HR team will send this within a few working days. Keep a copy for your records.

Step 2: Cross-check activation dates The activation date for each insurance should be on or before your first day of work as stated in your employment contract. Any date after your first working day creates a gap that needs documentation.

Step 3: Verify Collectum registration if white-collar Log in to collectum.se with your personnummer. Your account should show the employer name, your registration date, and contribution history. If your name does not appear or the registration date is later than your start date, contact HR immediately.

Step 4: Request AFA Försäkring registration confirmation If your employer has a collective agreement, ask for the AFA employer registration number. You can cross-reference this at afaforsakring.se by checking whether contributions have been reported under your personnummer.

Step 5: Document everything Save all insurance documents with dates visible. For your extension application, you may be asked to produce the Försäkringsintyg. Having dated documentation is also essential if you need to contest a revocation decision — it shifts the burden of proof onto the employer, not you.

Timing: Do This at Least Six Months Before Extension

Do not wait until you file the extension application to check. The extension timeline with Migrationsverket can take one to four months depending on your Category (A through D). By the time you receive a request for additional documentation, the window for correcting an employer-side issue may have closed.

Six months before permit expiry is the minimum. Three months is the dangerous zone. Do the verification at the 12-month mark (one year before expiry) to allow maximum correction time.

What Happens If You Find a Gap

If you discover that insurance coverage was late to start or lapsed during your employment, take the following steps:

1. Notify HR in writing (email, so you have a record) and ask for a formal correction
2. Request a corrected Försäkringsbesked showing the coverage dates or, where possible, a retroactive registration
3. Ask HR to obtain a letter from the insurer confirming that the gap has been rectified and that there was no actual period of uninsured employment
4. Consult an immigration lawyer if the gap is significant (more than a few weeks) or if HR is unresponsive — at this stage, a formal legal opinion on how Migrationsverket is likely to treat the gap is worth the investment

Since July 2022, Migrationsverket has been legally directed to allow correction of "minor errors" rather than immediately revoking permits. However, what qualifies as a minor error is not clearly defined, and the decision-maker has discretion. Documentation of proactive correction strengthens your position significantly.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should I verify employer insurance compliance?

At minimum: annually, ideally around the same month each year. The Försäkringsbesked request should become a routine annual check, like reviewing your salary for accuracy. If your employer undergoes any administrative change — switching insurance providers, restructuring, being acquired — do an additional check immediately.

My employer doesn't have a collective agreement. Does that mean they don't need these insurances?

No. Employers without a collective agreement must still provide equivalent private insurance covering the same four categories. They must produce a Försäkringsintyg (Certificate of Insurance) issued by a licensed insurer. The burden of proof is higher because there is no central registry (Collectum, Fora, AFA) to cross-check against — the document must come directly from the insurer.

Can Migrationsverket find an insurance gap even if my employer says everything is compliant?

Yes. Migrationsverket can request documentation directly from insurers during the extension review, not just from the employer. Discrepancies between what the employer certifies and what the insurer records show have led to revocations. Independent verification through Collectum and AFA is the only way to be certain.

What is the difference between the Försäkringsbesked and the Försäkringsintyg?

The Försäkringsbesked is the insurance statement — the document your employer or insurer produces showing which policies are in place and when they were activated. The Försäkringsintyg is the formal Certificate of Insurance — a more formal document specifically confirming compliance with the work permit requirements. Both may be needed; the Försäkringsbesked is used for your own verification, and the Försäkringsintyg is the document typically submitted to Migrationsverket.

Is my employer legally required to give me these documents if I ask?

In practice, any legitimate employer operating within Swedish labor law standards will provide these documents on request. Employees have a right to know the terms of their employment benefits, which include insurance. If an employer refuses, this is a significant compliance red flag and should be escalated — either through your trade union (if you are a union member) or through a consultation with a lawyer.

The Sweden Work Permit Guide includes the full employer compliance audit checklist with specific provider names, activation-date verification steps, and a quarterly review schedule — alongside the salary threshold calculator, extension timing strategy, and PUT readiness scorecard.

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