You obtain your national registration number at your local tax office. You can find their address in the phone book under ‘Skatteverket’ (National Tax Board). If you intend to stay in Sweden for more than one year you are given a personal ID number consisting of your date of birth plus four control digits. If you are staying in Sweden for less than one year you will be given a ‘samordningsnummer’ (coordination number). Your personal ID number/coordination number will be needed in many different contexts in your contacts with various authorities, such as the Swedish Social Insurance Administration, and also when you open a bank account, for example.

Nordic citizens are free to settle in Sweden. No residence permit is required. 

Citizens of the EU/EEA may enter, stay, seek employment and work in Sweden for up to three months without any permits. EU/EEA citizens who are workers, business owners, providers or recipients of services or students or have sufficient funds to support themselves have the right to reside in Sweden. The ‘right to reside’ means that an EU/EEA citizen and his/her family members may stay in Sweden for more than three months without a residence permit. A person who has the right to reside must register with Migrationsverket (Swedish Migration Board) no later than three months after entering the country. 

Citizens of Switzerland and people who are not EU citizens but who have the status of being permanently resident in an EU country have the same rights, but must apply for a residence permit to be able to stay/work in Sweden for longer than three months. 

There is more information about who has the right to reside in Sweden and which documents are required to register on the Swedish Migration Board’s website.

Text last edited on: 11/2009