Since 2010, family member immigration in Sweden is subject to a maintenancerequirement. This means that a person living in Sweden, the sponsor(s),must be able to support themselves and the members of their family who areapplying for residence permits. The maintenance requirement can be regardedas an instrument that, along with other regulations, determines who can andshould belong to the nation as an imagined community. Through the requirement, certain behaviours and choices of the sponsor that relate to employmentare rewarded while other behaviours and choices are disqualified. In mostcases involving the maintenance requirement, the sponsors have previouslyimmigrated themselves. Therefore, in addition to the requirement, manysponsors are, or have been, subject to other “integration” laws and policies. Thisarticle examines how the maintenance requirement is applied in the Swedishmigration courts. The results are compared with ideas about the economicfuture of newly arrived individuals, as expressed in the Swedish government’spolicy on introduction for newly arrived individuals. I identify discrepancies inideas about “acceptable” behaviours and choices of newly arrived individuals.While the government’s introduction policy is characterized by neoliberalideals of flexibility, adaptability, capacity for self-improvement and learning,such behaviours are disqualified in the courts’ application of the maintenancerequirement. By forcing newly arrived individuals that want to reunite withtheir families to take on certain behaviours, the maintenance requirement canreinforce power imbalances in the labour market, as well as social and economic inequalities.