In this article I analyse longitudinal patterns of relative poverty among the foreign-born in Sweden, with data drawn from the register-based LINDA dataset. The descriptive statistics suggest that immigrants stay in poverty longer than poor natives do, just as they more often fall back into poverty. Poverty transitions are more frequently associated with employment transition among immigrants than among natives, while other trigger events are more prevalent among natives who experience poverty transition. Conditional transition rates of all the events associated with poverty exits and entries are more favourable for natives. The multivariate analysis shows that poverty is stickier among immigrants even after controlling for the observable characteristics, but the degree of disadvantage relative to natives varies greatly by immigrant group. Longer duration of stay and living with a Swedish-born adult are both beneficial in the context of poverty dynamics.