Sweden does not hand you a stack of forms on arrival. It does something quieter: almost everything runs through one number, and that number comes from one agency. Get the order right and the rest, bank, digital ID, healthcare, school places, follows sensibly. Get it wrong and you spend a winter unable to open an account because you have no number, and unable to get a number quickly because you have no account.
This guide is the moving to Sweden sequence for an EU or EEA citizen, with the traps along the way.
What does moving to Sweden actually involve?
Sweden is in the EU and outside the euro. You will earn and spend kronor (SEK). As an EU citizen you need no visa and no residence permit: you hold a right of residence (uppehållsrätt), which you prove when you register.
The central step is registration in the folkbokföring, the population register, kept by the Skatteverket, the Tax Agency. The Tax Agency says that if you plan to live in Sweden for a year or more, you are generally required to be registered. Registration is what produces your personnummer, the personal identity number that nearly every service asks for.
Where do you start before you leave?
Start with your proof of right of residence, because the Tax Agency asks for it. If you are going to work, that means a signed employment contract. If you will be self-employed, it means evidence of a real business. If you are retired or living on savings, it means proof of enough money for at least a year, plus health insurance that works in Sweden.
That last point is easy to miss. Swedish law on foreigners asks people who are not working to have sufficient means and comprehensive health insurance for themselves and their family. The Tax Agency's pages do not list that insurance among the documents, so bring it anyway. The details are in residence in Sweden for EU citizens.
Also keep your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) valid. It is your cover in the gap before you are registered.
What is the order of paperwork in Sweden?
- Notify your move to the Tax Agency with the online service Flytta till Sverige (moving to Sweden), available in English. You can submit up to 14 days before you move. Each family member files their own.
- Book your identity check at a statligt servicecenter, a government service centre, and bring your original passport or ID card.
- Wait for the decision. The Tax Agency gives about five weeks before a case officer takes the file. Once you are registered, you receive your personnummer.
- Notify Försäkringskassan, the Social Insurance Agency, with its e-service or form 5456. It decides if you are insured in Sweden and so entitled to benefits such as child allowance or housing allowance.
- Open a bank account, then order BankID. See bank account in Sweden.
- Sort out healthcare, school and housing with your region and municipality.
The Tax Agency mentions no fee for registration.
Moving to Sweden with a job offer: what if you start before you have a number?
You can ask for a samordningsnummer, a coordination number, if you will stay less than a year and can show a link to Sweden and a need for the number. You apply online or on form SKV 7540, then attend an identity check in person. It stays active for five years. You can spot one on paper: 60 is added to the day of birth.
It is not a substitute for registration. It identifies you, but it does not put you in the register. For the full explanation read the Swedish personal number guide.
If you are unsure which route fits your case, Moovy can go through your situation (EU citizen, Brit, Swiss national, worker, retiree) and give you the order of steps and the documents to bring, with sources, so that you arrive prepared.
What about the weeks between arrival and your number?
Plan for friction. Without a personnummer, a regular bank account is hard to get, BankID depends on a bank, and many landlords ask for the number. The practical answers are: keep your home bank account (SEPA transfers work), use Freja+ for online identification if you qualify, and use the service centres, where staff speak Swedish and English and can help with online services.
Your healthcare cover in the gap is the EHIC. It gives access to public care on the same financial terms as residents, not to private care.
What are the common mistakes?
- Arriving without a signed contract or proof of means. Without solid proof of your right of residence, registration is refused.
- Registering when you should not. If you will stay less than a year, you are not supposed to register; the coordination number exists for that.
- Forgetting family members. Everyone files their own notification.
- Underestimating the delay. Several weeks is normal.
- Sharing your BankID. Once you have it, never approve a login you did not start yourself.
Where should you live when moving to Sweden?
Where you live decides your region (healthcare, public transport) and your municipality (school, childcare, Swedish courses). Housing is the hard part: the rental queue in Stockholm averaged nine years in 2025, so most newcomers begin with a second-hand contract. See renting in Sweden and the best places to live.
What changes for British or Swiss citizens?
British citizens are third-country nationals since Brexit. Those who lived in Sweden with a right of residence before 31 December 2020 have a status issued by the Migration Agency; others follow the permit rules. Read moving to Sweden from the UK. Swiss citizens who stay more than three months apply for a residence permit from the Migration Agency; it is free of charge.
What about moving to Sweden with your family?
Each adult and child files a separate notification, and the Social Insurance Agency contacts you after registration if you arrive with children under 16. School is compulsory from the autumn of the year a child turns six, in the förskoleklass (preparatory class), and the ten years of compulsory school are free, lunch included. A child living in Sweden has the right to school even before the personnummer arrives, so contact the municipality (kommun) straight away rather than waiting. Preschool (förskola) has a capped fee, and the municipality must offer a place within four months of your request, so apply early. The full picture is in schools in Sweden for expat children.
For adults who do not speak Swedish, the municipality offers SFI (Swedish for immigrants), free of charge. EU and EEA citizens can attend even before they are in the register. Many newcomers start it in the first weeks, and not only for the language: classmates are the quickest route to your first Swedish social circle.
What should you carry in your first weeks?
Carry the originals, not copies. The identity check wants your original passport or national ID card, and the Tax Agency asks for copies of all passport pages with information when you apply. Keep your signed contract or proof of means, your EHIC, and a note of your Swedish address once you have one, because the Tax Agency needs a place to register you, and letters and cards are never sent abroad. If you work, have your employer's company number and your payslips close; if you are self-employed, keep invoices and contracts.
Small practical point: many shops and public transport systems prefer card or Swish payments to cash. Bring a bank card that works abroad for the first weeks, and plan to carry on using it until your Swedish account is open.
What should you do this week?
Count on weeks between landing and having your number, and build a bridge: contract in hand, home bank account alive, EHIC valid, identity-check appointment booked. Then work through the list above one step at a time.