BaroqueW

I didn’t translate many of my posts about Sweden so far but I think this one is quite useful, so here it is. It will help you go through the procedures necessary to get your Swedish personnummer (or civic identification number).

I arrived one year ago in August. I registered right away to Migrationsverket with a simple mail. After a few days, I received my “Bevis om registering”. Usually you get accepted but they say it in Swedish, which might not be convenient when you have just arrived and don’t speak the language pretty well. And now, here I am; it’s May and I need a personnummer to have an easier access to housing and possibly to do my exjobb/examensarbete/thesis work/internship (pick the appropriate version to your convenience).

The registration for a personnummer is quite easy. Take your passport, your “Bevis om registering” and go to the closest office of Skatteverket. I live in Stockholm, so I went to the office in Södermalm. I showed up at the right moment I think, a Tuesday morning in the end of May, around 10am. I didn’t wait at all. I was even called to the booth before I had finished filling in the form. Here is how it goes:

• Go to the helpdesk right in front of you when you enter, the one with tons of forms behind it.
• Ask for the form to get a personnummer. No need to prepare the speech in Swedish, they speak English.
• Take that form (in English) and write down your information. If you have any questions you can always ask the clerk.
• Then take a type-C ticket (or Folkbokföring ticket) at the machine. If there is plenty of people you can always take it before starting to fill in the form.
• Say hello to Mr. or Ms. Clerk and give him/her the form.
• He or she will then ask you a few more questions about the reason for your stay, its length and so on. He/she will also check you filled in the form properly.
• Don’t forget to give him/her your Bevis and your passport. Some xeroxing and you are done!

I got my personnummer in just two days via mail. Some people have to wait for up to three weeks. It depends on the period of the year (right before tax reports is a period to avoid) and also if you are European (or something similar) or not.

Coming to think of it, I am not quite sure that having a personnummer before would have helped me. KTH had an agreement with a bank (Nordea) and accomodations organizations for students are used to it. Some websites request a personnummer to pass an order. In any case, as it doesn’t take a very long time, don’t hesitate to take one! It’s 2 hours of waiting inline if you have no luck, and then 3 weeks if you are not from the EU. Or just two days, like me