29 Mar 2024
YLC Essentials: How to get a Personal Number
Essentials Personal Number

YLC Essentials: How to get a Personal Number

Mad about Sweden? Want to come and live here?  Check out our ever so popular step-by-step guide on how to obtain the three essentials: Residency, Personal Number, and ID card.

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So you’ve either relocated to Sweden or you’re about to. By now you’ve probably realized that until you obtain your Swedish Personal Number or “personnummer” you’re incredibly limited in what you are allowed to do in Sweden.

What is a personnummer? The Swedish personnummer is a unique identification number that is based on your date of birth and remains the same for your entire life. This number allows you to become part of the Swedish system and is used as your personal identification when making large purchases and signing contracts.

Without a personnummer it is impossible to do the most essential tasks like, finding a job, going to the doctor, attending school or opening a bank account. It’s frustrating, and depending on your circumstances it may or may not be a simple thing to acquire.

Each newcomer brings with them their own complicated situation when moving to Sweden. Some are transferred here for work, others for studies and many for love. While we can’t possibly provide an exact guide for every scenario we can we cover the basic steps each person must take to completing their transition into their new home.

 

1. Registering for Residency

  1. Upon arrival in Sweden you are required to register with the Swedish Migration Board or “Migrationsverket”. To do so you will first go to their website to find the appropriate forms for you (info is available in English, under “EU/EEA-citizens” in the toolbar on the left). Print and fill out the form for a residence permit or right of residence.
  2. Once you have filled out the appropriate form, make copies of all other required documentation as outlined (e.g. passport, marriage certificate, children’s birth certificate, etc.).
  3. Send these documents to the Migrationsverket via normal post or deliver them in person. Migrationsverket will assess the documents and, if accepted, a residence permit will be delivered to your Swedish address within weeks.

 

Migrationsverket:

Stockholm visitor’s office is located in Solna:

Pyramidvägen 2 A, Solna

Opening hours:

Monday–Tuesday 9:00–15:00

Wednesdays closed.

Thursday 9:00–15:00

Friday 9:00–12:00

Stockholm Postal Address:

The Swedish Migration Board/Migrationsverket

Permit Unit

Box 507

169 29 Solna

Telephone: 0771-235 235

Email: [email protected]

Website

 

2. Registering for a Personal Number

  1. Once you have received your residence permit you are required to register with the Swedish Tax Agency or “Skatteverket”. This is a population registration or “folkbokföring” which everyone living in Sweden must register for to be entered into the system as a tax-paying resident. This process allows you to vote in your local municipality, receive social benefits and assures that you pay the right amount of tax and insurance premiums. There is no charge to apply for a personnummer.
  2. Go to the Skatteverket with the same documentation that you sent to the Migration Board (e.g. passport, marriage certificate, children’s birth certificate, etc.) along with your new residence permit, and they will give you the appropriate form in order to register in the country and receive a personal number. This will be sent in the mail within a few weeks.

Clerks working at the Skatteverket will speak English if you have not learned Swedish yet. However, the Skatteverket website appears only in Swedish. It’s also important to note that if you move away from Sweden, you must cancel your registration.

Skatteverket:

Visiting address (Service Office):

Regeringsgatan 109;

Stockholm City

Opening hours:

Monday 9:00 to 18:00

Tuesday – Friday 10:00 a.m. to 16:00

Please be aware of shortened hours around holidays (Easter, All Saints’ Day, Christmas, etc.)

Postal address:

Skatteverket

106 61

Stockholm

Telephone: 0771-567 567

Website

 

3. Applying for a Swedish ID card

Once you have received your personnummer, you are ready to apply for a Swedish identity card. The Swedish ID card is the primary form of identification in Sweden and is necessary for conducting everyday business like, bank transactions or picking up prescriptions at the apotek. Your national passport will normally not be an acceptable form of identification.

 

 

Written by: Kristan Coleman

Research by: Carmel Heiland

 

Do you have a question or personal experience on this topic that you’d like to share? Leave it in the comment section below!

40 Comments

  • […] CLICK HERE TO READ If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the RSS feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. […]

    • malyne 14 Sep 2014

      hellothere,

      i plan to visit or come as avisitor to sweden, but plan to stay for a while maybe work,how can i get a personal number when on a visitor visa?

      thanks

      lyne

  • daniel 31 Oct 2011

    Hi,

    I arrived en of September and straight away sent my application online to the migration board. Until now i’m still waiting for their decision and can’t do anything like opening a bank account, registering to the social security, go the SFI courses, get a work contract…

    After email their customer service, the only answer i got is that they indeed registered my application (lucky) and that i need to wait to be able to do anything. Expected decision within 3 months…

    In the meantime, I’d better not fall sick or have any kind of accident, got to have a bank account thanks to my girlfriend and i’m learning Swedish thanks to downloaded courses.

    This is my experience for the moment.

    Cheers!

  • daniel 26 Nov 2011

    Hey,

    Something I just happen to learn is that to get the social security (that you can’t have without personnummer) you can still apply for it by getting a “coordination number”.

    For this you need to go to the Skatteverket and fill in´a paper that they will provide you with. Come with a work contract and it should be enough. Then they should be sending you that number directly home and you can go to the social security to be registered with them.

    • Milind Dumbare 21 Dec 2011

      Which address do they send this coordination number too? To the employers address or home addrees in other country? I am living in Denmark and applied for coordination number of Sweden.

  • […] How to get a Personal Number in Sweden […]

  • Margareta Sjölund 31 Jul 2012

    Bästa Skatteverket,

    Jag läste just detta som min svärdotter Susan Moolman/Sjölund som kommer från Namibia skrev på facebook. Denna försening har vållat stora personliga problem och alltefersom det nu sprids inom vår bekantskapskrets så får det oss att skämmas och förundras över hur Sverige och Skatteverket hanterar nyalända svenskar som kommer hit med önskan om att arbeta och göra en insats. Det minsta ni kan göra är att be om ursäkt!! Jag förväntar mig att Skatteverket skickar en ursäkt till Susan!! [email protected]

    “After waiting seen weeks to receive my Personnumer (which allows you to open bank accounts, get cellphone contract and start Swedish lessons) I phoned to check why it’s been longer than the maximum 6 weeks wait. Turns out the Tax Authority lost my application and I have to start all over – even resubmitting all the documents they took colour/verified copies of. WTF? I thought this shit only happened in deepest Africa??? — a

    Bästa hälsningar,

    Margareta Sjölund

    • Ornella s 12 Apr 2013

      it happened the same to me!!!!

  • Vivien Toft 17 Aug 2012

    My husband and I have recently moved to Sweden. We registered our right to remain with Migrationsverket, and took the same paperwork to our local skatterverket. The office in Malmo have replied saying they need proof that we are entitled to social benefits in the UK.

    We tried ‘phoning but got a recorded message. Do they mean the EHIC’s? We offered this at our local skaetterverket, but the chap there said that private health insurance was needed, not the EHIC’s. Do they mean a full contribution record? They have given us until the 31st August [14 days] to comply. We will take our EHIC’s and a form S1 that I have to the local office on Monday, but I wonder if they want something altogether more esoteric.

    • Don 19 Dec 2012

      Hello, I moved here from the UK to work. I got a personal number without registering with migrationsverket. They did not ask about contribution in the UK.

  • mary 27 Aug 2012

    Hello,

    I came in Sweden before 10 days to meet my partner and marry with him here.

    I went to the Skateverket at first to apply for my wedding papers and when I asked for this personal number, they gave me a form to apply, without telling me that I have to go first to the Migration Board. I wrote in the application from that I came here in Sweden for ”living and working” and about duration they told me to write ”several years”. Even I gave application for marriage they didn’t tell me to mention that on my application for personal number.

    Today, I received the answer and it was negative, they didn’t gave me a personal number. I don’t know swedish language but I understood from the answer letter that because I said Im gonna work here, they didn’t give me this number.

    I am totally confused and I don’t understand the reason. The same day I applied for the marriage, so I guess this is by itself a proof that I want to marry here. I don’t know what is the difference for MY papers if I mention that Im gonna marry here or I will stay single?!

    My partner by the way is a Syrian refugee here (I don’t know if that matters, I just mention it).

    Is there any way to apply again and correct this and have finally my personal number??

    Please, can you help me to find a solution and understand what is happening? I don’t know anything about the law here.

    Thank you in advance

    • mary 6 Jun 2013

      I’m the same who made the comment on August 2012.. It is June 2013 and I still got nothing. Not residence permit, not personnumer……. I’m tired..

  • Christos Merinopoulos 18 Sep 2012

    I am here 1 year and still I dont have personal Number because when i was applied for it they told that I have to do a Master for two years and because I am doing Master for 1 year we can not give you .(academic year is 10 months) …..MADNESS so my question is if I apply now (I have here 12 months and I am registed to migration as a EU with uppehallsratt ) they will give me or I will waste my time again ???? …. (I am still here because I didnt finish the master on time)

    The whole situation is very annoying because still I cant learn swedish (sfi accepts you only if you have PR Number)

  • […] You still don’t have your Swedish Personal Number. […]

  • Nimus 20 Dec 2012

    Haha! Your Living City! In your dream! I wanted to move to Sweden. My whole family lives here, and they are all Swedish citizens! My mother, my sister, my grandmother, my aunt and my 3 cusins. And migration said I can’t register for residency, because I dont have a job here and im not studying. I can’t learn swedish at SFI, because i don’t have a swedish personal number and I can’t get a swedish personal number because I’m an EU citizen! You can’t call any authirity on the phone! They just won’t answer! Maybe you got lucky, and catch someone on the other side of the line, but only in specific days and hours! Some office only accept call on every monday. Only! 9-10, if you lucky, but from 10-10:30 they got coffee break! And they will hang up on you at 9:59 even if you in the middle of a sentence! You call them back after 10:30! But only until 12:00, cause they got lunch break till 13:00! Same rules, they hang you up at 11:59, no matter what! Oh and i forgot to mention that they wont pick up the phone after lunch at all. That is burocracy.

    But if you get to know swedish people better, then you will realize that they are the most racist people ever! And they act like they don’t! I could write pages with facts, how they behave when they realize you are a foreigner. How old and decent looking locals mumble under their noses “jävla blatte” when they hear you speaking your native language. And dont you ever get unemployed! Ever! Then you get shit on you from “social” and “försäkring kassa” or “arbetsförmedlingen”. And they gonna treat you like a filthy animal and they gonna have smile on their face.

    And lastly, their healhtcare…worst than the burocracy! The let peole die in the hospitals waiting room without even asking what the problem with you! The evening news are always full with these stories! Unbelievable isn’t it? Well, you will beleive me, after you spent few years in sweden! Trust me!

  • […] Register residency with Migrationsverket, the Swedish Migration Board to get your perssonnummer, a unique identification number, without which you cannot do the most essential tasks. […]

  • […] you need to know that you will not be able to get much done in Sweden without a perssonnummer (personal number), a unique identification number, without which you cannot do the most essential tasks, such as […]

  • […] you have finally gotten all your t’s crossed and i’s dotted and have your residency permit, ID card, and set up your Swedish bank account, it is time to settle into old routines in new […]

  • Karin 8 Mar 2013

    This is so very sad to read, I am ashamed to be Swedish!

    In my work I meet people from all over the world and many of them wish to stay here and work after their studies. But bureaucracy makes it impossible or at least very hard, meanwhile Swedish companies have a hard time finding the right competence.

  • Chris 17 Apr 2013

    I’ve been having the same problem as you guys, I am from the UK, and the skatteverket did indeed tell me I can’t get a number, also the arbetsförmedlingen told me twice they could not help me without this number.

    On 7th april p1 radio did a report about EU citizens trying to find work in sweden and highlighted these cases. The general outcome was that EU citizens are indeed entitles to a temporary number, the samordningsnummer. However no-one seemed to know how to get one.

    I went in to arbetsförmedlingen twice in the following week, firstly to be told once again they couldn’t help, then on 9th april a magical form appeared to fill out. (I assume as a result of the radio report) Even though the staff there admitted they were’nt sure what they were doing, we filled out the form and was told to wait by the postbox.

    I haven’t got any reply yet but I’ll update if I do. The main point is, if you went to try and get a p.number before 9th april and were refused help you should go again now as the staff are at least a bit better informed.

    Hope this helps, good luck to all.

  • VINUTHA 26 Apr 2013

    hi..am an Indian my husband is working in lund university since 4 months….as we have resident permit for 10 months so we dint have personal number..now my problem is as its bit related to maternity issue .. since 2 months i didnt got my cycles nor am pregnant ..i called up many clinics but they gave me appointment’s only after 2 months or 3 months til then what should i do ,basically am also a doctor with in that a cyst may develop..if i get neglect anything may go wrong…

    and more important bad thing is we dont have personal no.so we have to pay more consultation fees like around 900 SEK…this problem which am facing right now….there is comfort or goodness to any foreigner….am really surprised..

    • bojana 15 Aug 2013

      I had the same problem last year. .i was pregnant and didn’t got personnummer. .so i had to go back in Serbia and had my delivery there..or to pay in Sweden from 39000sek..

  • VINUTHA 26 Apr 2013

    i mean to say there is no comfort or goodness to foreigner s here who comes to study or how comes to build their future and career life ..

  • […] How to get a personnummer […]

  • Kate Bolam 6 Jun 2013

    I applied for my PR visa 9 months ago and only got it yesterday. Apparently there is a huge backlog of applications at the moment……

  • Andy 14 Jul 2013

    I am UK citizen. Just bought a property in Sweden and trying to settle down here. As I understood it’s very complicated to get a personnummer. I do need a car here in Sweden.

    Can anybody advise me how to get a car insurance without a personal number here in Sweden?

    Thank you

  • Catalyst 26 Jul 2013

    Hey there,

    FYI, the Skatteverket Stockholm Service Office has moved to Regeringsgatan 109, Stockholm.

    Might save you a trip around town.

    All the best.

    • Catalyst 26 Jul 2013

      Also, the current waiting time to receive a person number is about 4 weeks.

      • Kirsten Smart 27 Jul 2013

        Thanks for the super useful info, Catalyst! We’ll change the address on our post asap 🙂

        • Zélia 21 Oct 2013

          As of today, the personnummer waiting time is 6 weeks. I thought it could be useful to update this for newcomers.

  • bablu 26 Oct 2013

    hi..i have a long term status of eu.how i can get swedish personel number while i have no job contract because i am findin

    g a job but to find a job i need pnumber

  • An 3 Dec 2013

    The problem with PN in Sweden is huge. I registered myself and my husband with Migration dept but in Skatt they not accept my working contract to be ok for PN because in them opinion my boss and his company are under 0.When i did ask them how migration dept accept the same documents and my husband get resident card with it ( im eu he is not from eu but had before residence permit from another european country) from skatt did answered they are without connection between them and they dont care what decide each one side . We are here almost 5 months wotrking without to pay taxes cause Sweden decide that. We have money in another country but because we are without PN to open bank accounts cant move our funds.We are gonna living here rest of our live, but till now nothing show us Sweden care for normal european people with education the same how is care for asylum people.We dont want benefits from this country but for banks, swedish language course and so on we need PN. Shame of Sweden

  • […] securing employment, somewhere to live and so on, your main aim is to achieve a personnummer – the Holy Grail of Swedish state monitoring and identity. Without one, […]

  • Satya 8 Feb 2014

    Hi,

    Is there a way to track the application? It has been 5 weeks since I applied for coordination number.I called them and they asked me to wait.I waited for 5-10 mins and the call got disconnected. When this happened 5-6 times I personally went to the skatteverket to know the status,they said there is no ay to know the status.

    And there is no way to track the application.You wait for 6-7 weeks for it and if you don’t receive for 6-7 weeks,then you have to ‘imagine’ that something is wrong and apply again.

    I really need it urgently as I cannot get a bank account without it.And I cannot get my salary without opening an account.

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  • Marcel 11 Nov 2014

    Well my partner and I who are both UK born residence, have bought a house on our early retirement. My partner use to live in Sweden 30 years back when she was married to a Swed and has got a personal number (PN) but not activated due to being away for a long time. Re activating the PN is just as difficult in getting one in the first place. We have tried to get this fabled personal number which always brought us in circles S1 formes etc which didn’t apply to us at the time and we are not asking for any benefits from anyone. The authorities are glad to take your money giving income into the country but make it very difficult to obtain the basic stuff like bank accounts etc, without you guessed it a PN. How come this country is so technically advanced in most areas but very antiquated in others. So my partner who is a Registered Nurse is coming out of retirement to work and see if this is the way to get the PN again.

  • Luca 20 Nov 2014

    Oh my god, this pages on “how to get a personal number” or “how to move in Sweden”, even the official ones, are really driving me crazy.
    By reading them is seems that would be enoug to simply walk into the Skatteverket and ask for it.
    Well, it doesn’t work!
    In fact, they will never give you a number unless you a have a regular job, and the funny thing is that you will probably never get a job until you have this fucking number! Enough to say that you cannot apply for the SFI courses unless you have it.
    I can understand that Sweeds want to keep for themselves the small paradise that they created, but at least be honest and just write the truth, which is “do not try to come and live here unless you aready have a job in Sweden”.

  • rosy indian 22 Mar 2015

    i got the coordination number, but still confused whether i can join the SFI course and can approach arbetsformedlingen for job.Please do letme know .tack!

  • zhivko mirchevski 30 Mar 2015

    hallo,i am interesting how i can get person number,i have adress on living and bulgarian citizenship ,i was found job but without person number i cant get that work,if someone know something for that please tell me,greetin for all

  • Carol V 6 Jan 2016

    My husband is Spanish. We have loved in UK for 40 years. Before we met my husband had a short fling with a Swedish girl. She contacted him to say she was pregnant and the child was his. She stayed a few months with him in Spain but returned to Sweden to have the baby. After she had the baby she wrote to my husband for a couple of months then stopped writing. She wouldn’t reply to him. He never had any part in the child’s upbringing. We have now found out she has named him on the birth certificate and my husband has a Perdonnummer even though there are doubts about paternity. My husband has never been to Sweden and never signed any legal document agreeing to his paternity. How can we get his name removed from Swedish system and from the birth certificate?
    I would be grateful for any assistance or guidance on this issue..
    Thank you

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