The first 90 days

Non-EU only: get your permit before you travel

If you come from outside the EU/EEA you apply to Migrationsverket for a permit: work, job seeking or family ties. For work the salary must be at least 90% of the median wage (from 16 June 2026: 34,470 kr a month) and follow the collective agreement or industry practice. The work-permit application costs 2,200 kr, non-refundable. EU/EEA citizens do not need to apply to Migrationsverket.

Gather your family certificates and ID documents

If you move with a partner or children, bring the marriage certificate (or civil-registry extract, or divorce judgment) and the children’s birth certificates. Bring all identity documents in original. Ask Skatteverket whether your certificates need to be legalised or translated.

Cover healthcare until you are registered: EHIC or private insurance

EU/EEA/Swiss citizens: bring your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC); with it you pay the normal patient fee for urgent and necessary care. If you come from outside the EU and are not yet registered you pay the full cost of care, unless an agreement with your country applies: take out private insurance. To get subsidised care you must be folkbokförd; a permit alone is not enough.

Start your housing search and watch out for scams

In the big cities waits for housing run to years, so starting early matters. Never pay in advance before you have seen the flat and the contract is signed; a landlord “abroad” asking for a deposit is a scam signal. Insist on a written contract and check that whoever sublets really is the tenant. If you are scammed: bank first, then the police on 114 14.

Notify your move with “Flytta till Sverige”

If you plan to stay at least a year you will in most cases have to be folkbokförd. You do it in Skatteverket’s online service “Flytta till Sverige”. EU/EEA citizens show their right of residence (work, own business or sufficient means). Non-EU citizens show a valid Swedish permit card; a permit from another EU country is not enough.

Book your identity check at a servicekontor

You and the family members moving with you must go in person to a servicekontor, booking at one of the listed offices. Skatteverket’s identity checks take place at servicekontor run by Statens servicecenter. Bring all identity documents in original.

Staying under a year? Apply for a samordningsnummer

If you stay under a year and need a number (for example to work or pay tax) you can apply yourself: the online service “Samordningsnummer” or form SKV 7540. You must do an identity check in person at a servicekontor, which you book. It is valid for 5 years. It is not a personnummer and gives no right to residence-based benefits. If you stay a year or more, notify your move instead.

Get your housing contract in writing

Registration requires the full address where you sleep, so you need somewhere to live in the first week. If you sublet, the sublet must be approved by the landlord or the Hyresnämnden. For lets from private individuals a new law applies from 1 July 2026: the rent must be reasonable compared with similar homes, otherwise you turn to the Hyresnämnden.

Wait for your personnummer (about 5 weeks)

It takes about 5 weeks before the case is assigned to a caseworker; the decision arrives by letter. The personnummer comes with the first registration and is the key to almost everything else: a full bank account, BankID, a vårdcentral.

Open a bank account: you have a right to a basic account

If you are resident in Sweden or elsewhere in the EEA you have a right to a basic payment account (betalkonto). The bank must decide within ten banking days of a complete application and may refuse only in certain cases; if it refuses it must tell you in writing, free of charge. Many banks ask for a personnummer and a Swedish ID document for a full account. Complaints: ARN. Free advice: Konsumenternas Bank- och finansbyrå, 0200-22 58 00.

Set up BankID and Swish

BankID is issued by your bank: in practice you need a personnummer, to be a customer of the bank and an accepted ID document (usually Swedish); ask the bank whether it accepts your passport. Swish is activated through your bank and needs BankID on the same phone. With only a samordningsnummer it is harder. An alternative to check: Freja eID.

ID card: mind the change from 1 December 2026

Today Skatteverket issues an ID card to people who are folkbokförd: 400 kr, paid before the visit, ready in about two weeks; it is not a travel document. From 1 December 2026 the Police issue a special ID card to registered residents who are not Swedish citizens, without a travel function. The government proposes closing Skatteverket’s ID-card service from 1 March 2027: this is a proposal, not yet law.

Choose a vårdcentral through 1177

Once you have a personnummer, choose your vårdcentral and register (listning) on 1177.se. 1177 is also the 24-hour health advice line; the emergency number is 112. The region sets patient fees: in Region Stockholm an outpatient visit costs 275 kr, free for ages 0–17; the high-cost cap (högkostnadsskydd) is 1,450 kr in 12 months, then a frikort.

Apply for SFI through your kommun

SFI (svenska för invandrare) is the Swedish course run by the kommun, free of charge by law. You have a right from the second half of the year you turn 16, if you live in Sweden and lack basic Swedish. A personnummer is not required. From 1 January 2026 the right lasts 3 years from first admission, with 6-month extensions for particular reasons.

Check your Försäkringskassan benefits

What counts is where you live or work, not citizenship. Barnbidrag (1,250 kr per child a month) is automatic for those living in Sweden with their children; other benefits, such as föräldrapenning and bostadsbidrag, you apply for at Försäkringskassan. New: from 1 January 2027 certain residence-based benefits require 5 years of residence in Sweden in the last 15, or living here with a certain work income, with exceptions; those who settled before 1 January 2027 follow the old rules.

If you are job hunting: Arbetsförmedlingen, and join an a-kassa early

Register with Arbetsförmedlingen as a job seeker; it is also needed for the a-kassa. Join an a-kassa early: since 1 October 2025 the benefit is income-based and reaches 80% only if you were a member for the whole reference period (60% with at least the last 6 months, otherwise 50%).

Check that your permit and right of residence are in order

EU/EEA citizens: after 3 months the right of residence requires work, a business, study or sufficient means; after 5 years it becomes permanent. Non-EU: watch your permit’s expiry date; from 12 July 2026 a permanent residence permit is no longer granted as a general rule. Non-EU family members of an EU citizen who stay more than 3 months apply to Migrationsverket for a residence card (uppehållskort).