Tim Child

It seems there is still alot of question around how easy it is to get the Swedish ID card for non-swedish people.  As mentioned in this article, Everyone has the right to an ID card, the Swedish Cashier Service tightened its rules as of 1 January 2007 so that only those with Swedish family can not get an ID card.

So there is to be an investigation, but the date with which they have to form a result is December 2007 – still a long way off!

There is also an article in the local here: http://www.thelocal.se/6421/  and here http://www.thelocal.se/blog/20070215/104/

And looking at the forum, http://www.thelocal.se/discuss/viewtopic.php?t=8995 , the rules might have changed already.  I will wait and see until I get the personal number.

On friday I got one step nearer to being properly registered in Sweden and that was getting my co-ordination number.  This is a number that can be used by foreign citizens in Sweden for tax and other purposes when one doesn’t have a personal number.  I got the number by sending off the form I recieved from Skattekontoret Uppsala to Skatteverket.  This form I had to phone up for since I am a member of the EU.
I have also applied for the rights to residency using form 140011 “Registration of right of residence”, which will then give me the personal number needed so often for everyday matters in Sweden.  Again being from an EU member state I don’t need to since there are rules, but the personal number is needed for most things in life here and so I wanted to go along with the system.
For more information on this http://www.migrationsverket.se/english.html will help

Next I will have to get a Swedish ID card…

This is quite an interesting list of the top 100 most livable cities for expats:

http://bwnt.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/livable_cities_worldwide/

Stockholm is at number 20, which is at least up from London at position 39.  Zurich tops it for the second year running though.

So today I went to the Swedbank bank in Stockholm to see about getting a bank account, but this dream was rather short lived. It seems that there is a new law saying that I have to have a Swedish ID card to get the bank account.

To get the Swedish Identity card, I need to get a Swedish Personal number and to get this have to have registered with the Tax office. Well I did that 2 weeks ago and I am still waiting.

Looks like this process is going to take longer than I thought.

Yay! Today I got in my hand the contract from work which means that I can now go through the process of applying for swedish personal numbers, and registration to work.

The personal number is a big deal in Sweden, everything is centered around it from healthcare, banking to video shops and applications. I like the fact that you register your address against it, then you only need to change it in one place all the companies are updated at once.

Now to fill out some forms…

Well its been a long time since I have posted on this blog, and a lot has changed since that last post.

Firstly the biggest change has been I have relocated to Stockholm which I am really excited about.  So far its still my first week and I am currently on hold to the Swedish Migration Board trying to find out exactly what forms I need to send.

I have moved into the centre of Stockholm about 10 minutes walk from Kungsgaten, and I am working for Ardendo a Vizrt company, working on integration projects.

I am sure more information to follow on what its like in Sweden and to move to Sweden.