I'm Malaysian and recently I have applied for a residence permit to move to live with my Swedish partner in Sweden, we are not married, everything was submitted and currently waiting for the result. My question is: Do I get to travel to Sweden before this residence permit has been approved or yet made a decision on? I tried to call the Sweden embassy in my country's capital city - Kuala Lumpur, the answer was: I am not able to travel to Sweden as my residence permit is on an ongoing process and the immigration in Sweden would notice if my name appeared on the system showing I am currently applying for a residence permit and they would forbid me from entering Sweden. I wasn't sure if the receptionist understood what I was talking about so I figured I'd ask the question here just to make sure. I appreciate any answers or suggestions.
1 Answer
Your embassy understood the question.
When you apply for a short term visa (or the effective equivalent on entry to a country), one of the most important questions the official has to answer is "Is this person likely to leave the country at the end of the trip, or do they have any reason to overstay". By applying for a residence permit you have told Sweden (in the most uncertain terms) that you very much have a reason to stay in the country and not return to Malaysia. As such they will almost certainly deny you a tourist visa at the border.
Your only option is to wait until the application is decided.