Tips on moving to Sweden

When I moved to Sweden I couldn’t find a single comprehensive web page with tips from people who moved in here. There were guides from the embassy, from the university I was going to work, from Skatteverket, but they seem to be written by Swedes (so they actually didn’t recognize their cultural idiosyncrasies, it is all just water for a fish) and they naturally can’t discuss options of providers (of banks or cellphone, for example). So I thought of putting this page online and try to help other expats moving to Sweden. Recommendations, infos, questions, updates are all welcome!

Basic bureaucracy
Ok, so basically you have to get 1) a resident permit to get a 2) a personnumer to get 3) a Skattverket ID to get 4) a bank account to get 5) Bank ID to get 6) access to basic stuff like tax declaration, medical services, postbox, Swish… And, no you cannot skip the steps, each one requires the one before and is mandatory for the next one (yay, thanks Sweden!).

Banking/BankID
I find it super weird that digital ID in Sweden is run by a private company with deal
Unfortunatelly, you need BankID. There are other forms of verification trying to break BankID monopoly, but you will still bump into something that only accepts BankID so just bend to the system.
That means you can only choose within the eight banks that offer BankID, but be careful: some of them only accept the National ID or Swedish passport, meaning they are xenophobic and do not accept the only Swedish ID available for foreigners, the Skattverket ID.

Phone/SIM Card
It is probably the first thing you will want to get when arriving, and can’t wait weeks until you get your personnumer and bank account. Most providers requires personnumer, Swedish bank account and/or BankID. One exception is Comviq, which offer cheap and decent plans. You cannot order online, though, and they don’t have physical stores, so you will have to buy in one of the generic phone shops (you can look for Comviq pink flags they put on the facade) or convenience store (like Pressbyrån or 7-Eleven) and they will be able to register for you with your passport.

Public transport
Every region has it’s own public transport provider, usually all modalities (metro, tram, bus) are well integrated (so you can transfer between them with a single ticket). Prices varies a lot, but are rather expensive, particularly for single trips.
The best way to travel is downloading the providers app. They usually offer travel cards, but no one really uses them. You can also pay with your credit/debit card on buses and trams, the driver will then print a ticket so you can transfer.

Providers:
Stockholm: SL
Örebro: LT

National travels
Traveling in Sweden is expensive, slow, and messy. Trains are pretty reliable, very often late, but hardly more than 15 minutes late – so avoid short connections!
There is no unified platform to search/buy tickets, you will have to google which companies have buses and trains to the trip you want to make, then go to each website to compare options.
Buy your ticket online! Don’t buy on the station, many stations don’t have a ticket shop, and if they do (you can also buy at Pressbyrån), it is ridiculously more expensive, travel cards are valid just for one or two companies, if the company accepts travel cards at all.

Providers
SJ – They are the biggest/default train company, it is worth to download the app and start your search for tickets on it.
Mälartåg –
Vy Train – Vy4U core business are busses, but they have a few lowcost trains that are indeed cheaper and most certainly 15-30 minutes late.
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