Moving to Sweden

The processing time for decisions is longer than usual right now

We are able to process most cases within four weeks, but yours might take up to 18 weeks if it involves further investigation, or if we require any additional information. Current processing times are generally longer than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected our operations in several ways. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by these delays.

If you have moved to Sweden from abroad and are planning to live in Sweden for one year or more, you are generally required to be registered in the Swedish Population Register. When you have been registered you will be given a Swedish personal identity number and be registered as living in a building with an address. Your civil status and any relationship to your spouse, children or parent will be registered.

Arriving in Sweden: wait seven days before visiting a service centre

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, you must wait seven days before visiting one of the Swedish Tax Agency’s service centres to register as a resident in Sweden.

The Public Health Agency of Sweden (“Folkhälsomyndigheten”) recommends that people arriving in Sweden should stay at home and avoid close contact with others for the first seven days. This means that if you are moving to Sweden, you should wait seven days before visiting a Swedish Tax Agency service centre, which you are required to do.

However, you can use our e-service “Move to Sweden external link ” to complete a registration form, which you can print out and send in to the Swedish Tax Agency in advance. We can also post the form to you if you prefer. Your registration will be recorded on the date when we receive your completed form. You should then follow up with a personal visit to a service centre after seven days.

In order to be registered in the Swedish Population Register (folkbokförd) you need to notify the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) that you have moved to Sweden. This can be done by visiting one of our service offices (servicekontor).

» Find your nearest service office (in Swedish)

Latest information regarding Brexit

You can find the official information regarding British people moving to and living in Sweden, including EU Exit guidance, registering, residency and healthcare if you follow the following link.

Guidance – Living in Sweden

You can also sign up for government email alerts on Brexit.

Prepare for your visit

To ensure that your visit to the service office goes as quickly and as smoothly as possible, you should use our Move to Sweden service before you visit us. This applies both to you and to any children you may have. Use this service to submit your personal data and answer questions on your planned stay in Sweden. Once you have gone through all of the steps in the service, you will come through to a number of pages. Print these pages and bring them to the service office, along with other required documents.

The Move to Sweden service is still under development, which means that we are constantly reviewing it and improving it with the help of comments and feedback from our users.

Move to Sweden

Let the guide Flytta help you when you’re about to move to Sweden to work

This guide is intended for anyone who is thinking about moving to Sweden for work and who is living in a country outside the EU or EEA. If you answer the questions on the website you will receive your own personal guide for how to go about things and what you have to do when you’ve received a job offer. The guide will take you the whole way up to actually living and working in Sweden.

To the guide Flytta

Bring the following documents

The required documents to bring to the service office depend on your citizenship or if you move with or move in with a family member.

Choose the alternative that best applies to you

» You are a Swedish citizen

» You are a citizen of a Nordic country

» You are a citizen of a EU or EEA country

» You are a citizen of a non-EU or EEA country or stateless

» You belong to a family that lives in or are moving to Sweden

The film describes how to fill in the notification

Seeking asylum in Sweden

To be registered in the Swedish Population Register you must have a residence permit (uppehållstillstånd). You can apply for a residence permit at the Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket).

For more information about asylum application and residence permit we ask you to contact the Swedish Migration Agency.

» To the Swedish Migration Agency's website external link, opens in new window

To be registered

When you are registered in the Swedish Population Register you will receive a Swedish personal identity number (personnummer). The Swedish Tax Agency will register the following information:

which building and address you live at
where you were born and your citizenship
your civil status and any relationship to your spouse, children or parent.

Population registration certificate

Some authorities or organisations may request that you present a population registration certificate (personbevis) when you make an application to them.

A population registration certificate is an extract from the population register showing what information is registered about you, such as your name, address and civil status. You can order a population registration certificate when you are registered as a Swedish citizen, and when you have received a personal identity number.

Order a population registration certificate

Children under 18

If a child under the age of 18 is planning to move to Sweden, all the guardians need to fill out an application. If one of the guardians is abroad, he or she needs to provide written consent for the move to Sweden.

Children over the age of 16 can fill out their own application without their guardians' written consent.

If you have income from another country

Please remember that when you move to Sweden and become registered in the Swedish Population Register, you may also be obliged to pay tax in Sweden on income that you receive from another country. Please contact the Swedish Tax Agency if you have such income.

» Paying taxes – for individuals

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