Moving to Sweden: the paperwork nobody warns you about

First: the identity chain

Almost everything in Sweden runs off a chain that has to be built in order, and each link takes time. If you intend to live here for a year or more, you register with the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) and receive a personnummer, the national identity number. For a shorter stay you may instead be given a samordningsnummer, a coordination number, which looks similar but does not open all the same doors.

With a personnummer you can apply for a Swedish ID card, and with that you can generally open a bank account, which is what makes BankIDpossible. BankID is the electronic identity Swedes use for essentially everything, which is why the months before you have one can feel like being locked out of the country's software.

That gap is the single practical reason our signing does not require BankID. You can create, sign and be a party to a legally binding agreement here on day one, with a foreign passport, from a different country, before any of that chain exists.

Housing: check which kind of contract you are being offered

Sweden has three quite different kinds of home and the differences matter more than they appear. A hyresrätt (rental apartment) held first-hand carries very strong, effectively indefinite protection. A bostadsrätt is an apartment you buy, though what you actually own is a share in the housing association plus the right to use the flat. And a house with land is a fastighet.

Newcomers very often start in second-hand housing, and this is where it goes wrong. A sublet normally requires the landlord's or the association's written consent, and one without that consent can be terminated at short notice through no fault of yours. Which law applies to the rent also depends on what kind of home it is. Get the contract in writing, check that consent exists, and keep both.

Work: what your employer must put in writing

A Swedish employer has to give you written information about the essential terms of your employment. The default form of employment under Swedish law is permanent (tillsvidare), not fixed-term, and much of what governs your job may come from a kollektivavtal, a sector-wide collective agreement, which can override what your individual contract says. Ask whether one applies — it affects pay, notice, holiday and, importantly, occupational pension.

Read your contract for the working time percentage (tjänstgöringsgrad), the notice period, whether there is a probationary period, and whether an occupational pension is included. Salaries in Sweden are quoted monthly and before tax.

The rule that surprises people most: living together is not marriage

If you live with a partner without being married, Swedish law calls you sambor and gives that status a specific, limited meaning. On separation, the Cohabitees Act divides only the shared home and the household goods bought for joint use — and it divides them equally, regardless of who paid. Everything else stays with whoever owns it.

More consequentially: a cohabiting partner inherits nothing.Not the flat, not the savings, not the furniture beyond that limited division. If one of you dies, the survivor can find themselves negotiating with the deceased's parents or children over a home they have paid half of. Two documents fix this, and they do different jobs — a cohabitation agreement decides the split, a will decides the inheritance. People who need one usually need both.

The rule that surprises people second most: where you live decides whose inheritance law applies

Under EU Regulation 650/2012, the default is that your entire estate is governed by the law of the country where you were habitually resident when you died. Live in Sweden long enough and that is Swedish law — including the laglott, the reserved share your children can claim whatever your will says.

The regulation also lets you expressly choose, in your will, the law of a country whose nationality you hold. That choice has to be written into the will; it does not happen because you assume it. For anyone with assets, heirs or a passport outside Sweden, this clause is often the most valuable line in the document. It is covered in our full English guide to Swedish wills.

If you are marrying, or already married

Swedish default marital property rules are broad: everything that is not made enskild egendom is split on divorce or death, regardless of who bought it or when. A prenuptial agreement (äktenskapsförord) is how you carve something out — a company, an inheritance, a property abroad. It has to be registered with the Swedish Tax Agency to take effect, and it can be made during a marriage, not only before one.

A short checklist

1. Register with Skatteverket, then ID card, then bank, then BankID. Start early; each step waits on the previous one.
2. Get any housing arrangement in writing, and check that a sublet has consent.
3. Read your employment contract for the collective agreement, notice period and pension.
4. If you live with a partner unmarried: cohabitation agreement and will. This is the one most likely to be skipped and most expensive to skip.
5. If you have assets or heirs abroad: a will with an express choice-of-law clause.
6. Decide who could act for you if you could not act for yourself, and write it down.

Where to go next

• Every document we offer, explained in English
• The Swedish words on the forms, translated
• Do I need a personnummer? Do I need BankID?
• Ask us in English — we would rather answer a question than sell the wrong document

This guide is general information about Swedish law, not advice on your particular situation. Written and reviewed by our lawyers. Last updated 26 August 2026.