Getting your Swedish personnummer

Now that I have obtained my work visa and residency permit, I can finally get my personnummer, which is the Swedish social security number.  The process was pretty easy, I just had to take my passport with my residency permit to the local Skatteverket office. The Skatteverket is a tax office that is like the DMV or Secretary of State office in the States. After taking a number and waiting my turn, I just had to fill out an application and give it to the worker.

The form is entirely in Swedish, and they just hand it to you and expect you to fill it out at a little table and bring it back.  So if you don't speak and Swedish you might want to take someone to translate it for you.  Eva, the office manager of my company who has helped me with everything involved with moving so far went with me to help me out. After you hand the form in, you just wait about 4 weeks to get your number in the mail.

Once Sarah and the kids have their permits and move over here, we will have to go back to get theirs, but that shouldn't be too bad.

Not having it is kind of a pain. I had to setup a bank account to get paid (checks are pretty much gone here, everything is digital). But I couldn't setup an account without the personnummer. Luckily the bank that my company does business with (Nordea) setup a temporary one for me without the number. The only trouble is I have no debit card or online access until I get the number and make my account permanent. So for the time being I will have to go to the bank and take out cash to get by on until it comes. The other pain is that I can't finance a car until I have that number as well, so for now I am just sitting tight and waiting.

There is one part that is kind of scary, this number is all over the place, its not a big secret. For example, the man that I am renting a house from gave me his number because that is what I use to transfer he rent to his account each month. It is also printed on ID cards and stuff here. I don't know if identity theft is prevalent here, but it seems like it could be very easily, so I might have to watch out for that a bit.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Chris,
I had a chance to stay in a small town called Hallefors for about 3 months during summer of 2006. I was very impressed with the nature and the simplicity of the daily life compared to London. I think it is a very good place to see your kids grow.

I am hoping that I can take my little family and settle there in the future but for now i am wishing you and your family all the best.

Muhammet

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