After some period of stay in Scandinavia as a student, worker, visitor or whatever reasons, you may begin thinking about possibilities of remaining back for some time.

Sometimes, people make the naïve mistake of just sitting back with expired immigration documents hoping that the authorities will understand it. No way! You either extend the stay legally, leave or wait and face deportation.

To extend the time of your visa, residence permit, work permit, internship permit, pastoral permit or whichever, it must be done the correct way.

In case you do not check the requirements well, the timelines within which applications should be made and to which authorities, you will likely get into run ins with the host government authorities.

Residence status in Scandinavia

At the time of making your initial application for immigration, much of the attention is on that specific one. Not much time is always available to spare for reading other chances available to you change your residence status upon expiry of the one you are pursuing at the moment.

There are various statuses that immigrants to Scandinavia can have. Again, the laws of each country and that of the European Union that allow immigrants to change statuses as long as they meet the requirements.

You can apply to stay or change residence in Scandinavia across the major areas including You want to apply to a short stay visa, EU/EEA or Nordic citizen, Family reunification or accompanying, asylum, work, work, Au pair or PhD researcher.

Provided that you are legally within the Scandinavia, it is possible to apply for a change of residence status. There is also the possibility under the United Nations law that you be allowed an extension of residence or a change. This residence allowed by the UN laws is mostly on humanitarian grounds.

Things consider when applying to extend residence period or getting a new status

Most people who have immigrated to new countries will tell you that the initial idea was to only go for the specific activity. Or ins some instances, the initial activity may have just been a part of a bigger plan to stay longer. In either case, it is important to know what things to consider.

Legal Residence

For the authorities in Scandinavia to process an application for you to extend residence, you must first be in the country legally. although this requirement may be waived on special cases, they will have to prove that your residence in the region was legal to begin with.

People often live in the illusion that they can be smuggled to Scandinavia or follow illegal processes to enter. Yes, you ,may enter but to be integrated, you will still have to go back to the same system that you tried to cheat.

In the event that you entered the region legally, your documents must still be valid as at the time you apply to extend residence. Once you have lived more than the period in the visa or residence permit, any applications to extend would ordinarily be rejected.

Time of applying to extend residence in Scandinavia

As an immigrant, there is always no time to waste. Any smart immigrant will tell you the importance of timing of applications because it is a strategy which will make or break the possibility of success.

It is not smart at all to just think that having the valid documents and being makes you stand a chance for extension of residence.

In most cases, applications for extension must be within the last three months of residence permit period or can be shorter in cases of a visa holder.

The aspect of timely application for residence permit extension can also be tricky because you cannot make it so early. The procedure is such that an applicant is prevented from cheating the system. The condition necessitating extension must therefore be compelling and reasonable.

Validity of the immigration documents

It is a no brainer that to travel out of your country, you need two important documents; a valid passport and an authorisation from the country to which you are moving. These documents must have all the required details to be acceptable.

When applying for an extension of residence, the passport should still be valid for that period you intend to stay.

As a practice, if by chance you qualify for extension of your stay in Scandinavian country, it can only be done up to the period within which your foreign passport is valid.

When to start thinking about extension of residence as an immigrant

Application for extension of residence permit in Scandinavia can be for different reasons. But it is a good practice to think about extending the residence way ahead of time. First, because there are deadlines for sending in such application and secondly, it makes you mentally prepared.

Assuming that you have already thought that you will wish to stay in Scandinavia longer than the period allowed by the documents given in the first case, start planning ways to extend it.

The processes involved, costs and timelines for making an application for extending residence permit in Scandinavia requires early planning. With a proper plan and correct documents, there are high chances of being granted an extension of residence permit.

Who is likely to extend residence permit in Scandinavia?

The Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Sweden and Norway all practice social system. This means that the government is the big brother who redistributes wealth to make sure that each person gets.

As a result of the social system, people who are allowed to extend their residence must be able to live by the expected social standards. Again, the person must be able to contribute their fair share in terms of taxes to the government.

In most cases, people with unique skills and knowledge sets are allowed to stay longer in Scandinavia.

There are some jobs in Scandinavia that always have sacristy of workers. Anyone with the required knowledge and skills in such jobs may be lucky to get an extension of residence.