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RESIDENCY PERMITS

What’s a Swedish ‘coordination number’ and why do I need one?

Many foreigners who arrive in Sweden are given a samordningsnummer or 'coordination number' in English. But what does this ten-digit code mean, and what do you need to know about it?

What's a Swedish 'coordination number' and why do I need one?
An interview takes place at a Migration Agency office. Photo: Marcus Ericsson/TT

What is a samordningssnummer?

The samordningsnummer, also known as a coordination number in English, is a ten-digit code used to identify individuals who have any sort of contact with Swedish authorities. Some of the most common circumstances in which a coordination number would be given out are to people who work in Sweden, are seeking asylum in Sweden, live abroad but have a business registered in Sweden, are resident and job-hunting in Sweden, or are studying in Sweden for less than a year.

People receive a coordination number if they are not eligible for a personnummer. A personnummer (‘personal number’ or social security number) is granted to people who can prove they will be living in Sweden for at least a year, such as long-term students or employees. 

Like personal numbers, coordination numbers are unique, are linked to the same person throughout their lifetime, and the first six digits are based on a person’s birthdate (although for a coordination number, 60 is added to the date of birth).

They were introduced in 2000, partly due to an increasing number of foreign individuals who had contact with Swedish authorities but didn’t meet the requirements for a personnummer. EU membership was one factor that meant more foreigners were suddenly eligible to work in Sweden, or buy a summer cottage here for example.

Skatteverket is one of the authorities that can issue coordination numbers. Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT

Who exactly can get a coordination number in Sweden?

As mentioned, a coordination number is given out to people who are not eligible for a personnummer but still need to be registered with the authorities, for example in order to work, pay taxes, own property or a car. These numbers may be issued by state authorities including the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket), Migration Agency (Migrationsverket), Swedish police, the Swedish Transport Agency (Transportstyrelsen), as well as some institutions of higher education.

You can only receive a personal identity number if you plan to stay in Sweden for longer than one year, and can prove that you’ll be able to do so. 

So there are two categories of people who tend to be recipients of a coordination number. The first category is people who do not plan to reside in Sweden at all, or only plan to do so for less than a year, such as cross-border workers, people with holiday homes or business activities in Sweden, or short-term students. People who are not resident in Sweden but are prosecuted or jailed in Sweden would also receive this number.

The second category is people who do plan to live in Sweden long-term, but are not yet able to prove that they will have right of residence for at least a year.

For example, EU citizens are able to move to Sweden and live and work here under freedom of movement, but they only have the right to live here as job-seekers for six months. Therefore, EU citizens who move to Sweden as job-seekers would receive a coordination number, and would not be eligible for a personnummer until they found a job. Another group falling into this category would be asylum seekers who have not yet received a decision on their case. 

Summer house owners who do not live in Sweden may need a coordination number. Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT

How does having a coordination number affect your life in Sweden?

It allows you to receive benefits such as sick pay or an occupational pension if you work in Sweden, and to take part in basic aspects of life such as opening a bank account, registering your child at a school or preschool, joining a municipal housing queue, sign up for Swedish for Immigrants (SFI) lessons and sign up as a job-seeker at the Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen). Note that the number does not in itself give you the right to these services, but is an administrative means of giving you access to them.

But it is still a step below a personnummer, which means many parts of society remain off limits to people who only have a coordination number. For example, you cannot get electronic BankID, which means payment services like Swish or online shopping can’t be used, you cannot join most shops’ loyalty schemes or join many gyms, nor can you rent cars or get a phone contract from many providers.

Are there any problems with the coordination number system?

For individuals, the main problem is the lack of access to things like online payments, gyms, and phone contracts which make day-to-day life simpler and more comfortable. 

And meanwhile, both Swedish police and government agencies have warned that the system allows many people to live in Sweden without their identity being confirmed. There is no general requirement that people prove their identity in order to receive the number (although different authorities have different rules), and according to Skatteverket figures obtained in 2019 by Dagens Nyheter based on a sample of 4,000, around 45 percent of people living with a coordination number at that point had not done so.

The same Skatteverket figures showed that in ten percent of the cases investigated, it was suspected that the person in question may have been exploited on the illegal labour market, since they had not paid tax. Dagens Nyheter also found adverts on websites in different countries which offered to sell coordination numbers, for example through buying a car.

Most authorities have processes to confirm the individual’s identity before granting the coordination number, but how this is done can vary, and sometimes a scanned copy of a passport is enough. Meanwhile, the police, Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) and Skatteverket can issue the numbers without confirming identity, although Skatteverket recently opted to tighten its own procedures. Now, anyone who asks Skatteverket to be registered in Sweden with a coordination number needs to show a work permit.

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WORKING IN SWEDEN

Swedish Centre Party leader: Work permit salary threshold a ‘human catastrophe’

Centre Party leader Muharrem Demirok branded plans to further raise Sweden's work permit salary threshold 'a human catastrophe' in an interview with The Local's Sweden in Focus podcast.

Swedish Centre Party leader: Work permit salary threshold a 'human catastrophe'

In November last year, Sweden’s work permit salary threshold was raised from 13,000 kronor to 27,000 kronor a month.

Last month, the government announced plans to raise the work permit salary threshold once again, this time to Sweden’s median salary, which is currently 34,200 kronor.

Demirok said Sweden was already seeing the impact of the first hike, highlighting the country’s welfare sector as one example.

“I’ve visited a couple of cities in Sweden where they had to lay off people from care homes, where they had to send them back. They’d been here a long time working and paying taxes, without them our welfare wouldn’t go around. And all of a sudden, just because they made a couple of thousand less than this threshold, they had to be sent out,” he told The Local.

He slammed the government’s plans to further raise the threshold as a “human catastrophe” for those who will lose their jobs or be forced to leave Sweden.

“It’s going to be devastating for our welfare system, but also for other companies, not least in the green sector, it’s hard to find the labour force as it is. And if you can’t get the expertise you want, it’s going to hinder you from growing, and it’s going to make businesses go out of business,” Demirok said.

“I don’t even know why the government is doing this, it’s just giving up to the Sweden Democrats, because everyone, both the public sector and business sector, agrees that this is stupid politics.”

There has been pressure to limit labour migration across the political spectrum in recent years, with the Centre Party among the most outspoken critics against tightening up Sweden’s liberal labour migration laws.

The ruling Moderates were responsible for liberalising the work permit system in the first place when they were in government under Fredrik Reinfeldt 2006-2014 as part of the Alliance with the Christian Democrats, Liberals and Centre.

“We might be alone in parliament on this now, but we used to have friends in the Moderates, Christian Democrats and the Liberals. We used to agree on this. From the left, it’s easy to understand – if you bring in people from other countries, you also have to liberalise the labour policy in Sweden, and if you’re such good friends with the unions you don’t want to do that,” Demirok said.

“But I still can’t understand why the Moderates and Liberals are against it.”

According to Migration Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard, from the Moderates, the move is an attempt to free up low-paid positions for people already in the country.

“This will mean that more people who are already in Sweden, but can’t yet support themselves financially, will be able to take jobs which actually exist,” she said in October 2023.

Demirok argues that this isn’t realistic.

“If it was that simple, these people would be in work now. They wouldn’t be unemployed. Getting someone to work in a restaurant as a chef or working in a farm or in a hotel, you have to be skilled, you can’t just come in and work as a highly skilled chef in a restaurant,” he added.

When the 27,000 kronor threshold was introduced in November, many of The Local’s readers criticised the decision. The government’s plans to further hike the threshold would include some exceptions for certain categories of workers, although the details are not yet clear.

The proposal, submitted to Malmer Stenergard last month, has a suggested implementation date of June 1st, 2025, if it goes ahead.

For work permit renewals, current rules (80 percent of the median salary) will continue to apply for any applications for extensions submitted to the Migration Agency by June 1st, 2026, at the latest.

Listen to the full interview with Muharrem Demirok below:

Or follow Sweden in Focus wherever you listen to podcasts. 

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