Now, about four months down the line, I thought it a good time to offer a round-up of what I have learned during the move here and initial weeks of settling down to life in Sweden.
1. I think the most important tip I can give is to learn the language. I know that everyone says this over and over again, but the importance of being able to join in a conversation and not be left standing around like Billy-No-Mates cannot be overestimated. If you are able to, sign up for language classes before you leave, as this will give you a good grounding for your arrival. This is one piece of advice that I did follow – although I did not stick with it so well after I got here – but it certainly helped that when I arrived I could handle the basics of conversation.
2. Sort out immigration issues as early as possible – even if you have the easier time of it as a citizen of an EU country. If you are, you can apply online before you arrive, and then you can make one more tick on your checklist. Once Migrationsverket have approved your application, you are on the road to beginning your new life in Sweden, because then you can…
3. …register at Skatteverket for your personnummer (folkbokföring). Nothing, and I mean nothing, can happen in Sweden for you until your have these magical 10 digits. So get thee to a Skatteverket office with your papers and apply for this as early as you can.
4. The first door that opens when you have a personnummer is the ability to order “personbevis” on the e-tjänster area of the Skatteverket website. These documents are sent to you through the post and allow you to set up a pension, apply to SFI language school, or order an ID card…
5. …which is the next step. I went to Nordea to apply for mine, taking a friendly Swedish citizen (my boyfriend) to vouch for me. Unfortunately, you will need to get yourself back down to a Skatteverket office beforehand for your “sponsor” to pick up their special personbevis for this purpose. About four weeks afterwards you will have your shiny new ID card. My biggest piece of advice here is to use a photo of yourself that you like – you show the ID to so many people in so many places that you really want not to be embarrassed by it.
6. The final piece in the admin puzzle is to register with Försakringskassan, the state health insurance providers. The best way to do this is to phone them up, give them your personummer and ask them to send you an application form. Of all the processes and forms when I arrived, this was proved the most challenging. But now, five phone calls and two submitted applications later, I am registered. I think that means –crossing my fingers and toes – that I have now signed up, applied and registered for everything that I need for my life in Sweden. But hey, you never know…
Now that you have reached this stage, it’s time to take the SFI personbevis that you applied for and, if you live in Stockholm, to get yourself down to Hornsgatan on Söder for the SFI placement test. SFI stands for Svenska För Invandrare (Swedish For Immigrants) and is a free language course offered by the Swedish government. The classes, teachers and times vary by location, by all accounts, but it is free, making it a good place to catch up with your Swedish after practising on all those application forms.
Of course, some stages of the process will be easier than other, and some were simpler for me because I come from an EU country. I heard horror stories about immigration from my Australian friends living in Denmark, but Sweden does not seem to provide the challenges for newcomers. Or perhaps I am just blissfully unaware of how challenging it can be? Has anyone had a dramatically different experience?
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