Ten secrets to a smooth transition to Sweden

Moving to a new country is always a bit of bureaucratic minefield – not least in Sweden, where doing things strictly by the book is the deeply ingrained national default setting.

For a start, what’s the difference between Skatteverket and Migrationsverket – and who should you call to get a personnummer. More importantly perhaps, just what exactly is a personnummer?

IN PICTURES: Top ten tips to ease the transition to Sweden

And in a blink, the documents have piled up, the authorities aren’t answering the phone, and you’re stuck in a stagnant queue at the Migration Board (Migrationsverket) wondering if you should have ever left home.

Well, luckily for you we’ve put together a must-read list of tips, secrets, tricks, and loopholes, aimed to help you survive the admin hassles.

You might even save a smidgen of your sanity.

Tatty Good, a half-Swedish/half-English journalist, comes from the UK and lives with her husband and four children. She is only just beginning to raise her head above the piles of paperwork that go hand in hand with emigrating.

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