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Doctoral position

A doctoral position is considered employment and can be included in the income requirement. However, pursuing a doctorate also means you are a student, which means you must end or interrupt your research studies to be eligible for compensation. The same rules apply to licentiate theses.

Doctoral position with salary counts toward the income requirement

A doctoral position with salary is considered regular employment and can therefore be included in the income requirement.

Education grants

Education grants from universities are never considered salary. If you simultaneously receive regular salary for teaching hours or other work, that income can of course be included in the income requirement if you earn at least 11,000 SEK per month.

Scholarships are not considered employment

If your research studies are funded by a scholarship, the money cannot be included in the income requirement. Time spent with a scholarship during the study period is considered studies and is therefore disregarded if conducted full-time.

When is a doctoral candidate considered unemployed

A doctoral candidate is considered unemployed when the studies and dissertation are completed. If not completed, you may still be considered unemployed, but only if you have definitively discontinued your doctoral education.

How the doctoral studies have been funded has no bearing on our assessment of whether you are unemployed or not.

No compensation during interruption of dissertation work

You cannot receive unemployment compensation during a study break, regardless of whether the break is long or short. Therefore, you are not eligible for unemployment compensation during either voluntary or involuntary interruptions in your dissertation work.

If only the dissertation defense remains

  • Once the dissertation work is completed, you may be eligible for compensation even if the actual defense is still pending.

  • When you can verify that the dissertation work is finished and the manuscript is complete, the studies are considered concluded—even if minor editorial changes remain, such as those requested by the publisher.

  • In the monthly application, you must indicate that you are unavailable for work on the day of the dissertation defense.

What should I submit?

  • The form Ansökan om ersättning (Apply for compensation) in Mina sidor.

  • A certificate verifying the scope of the work and the reason it ended.

  • The form Studieintyg (Study certificate) in Mina sidor.