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READER QUESTIONS

When are you eligible for a Swedish pension?

A reader of The Local got in touch to ask how long he had to work in Sweden before he was eligible for a pension. Here are Sweden's pension rules, and how you can get your pension when the time comes.

When are you eligible for a Swedish pension?
A woman working at a standing desk in an office in Stockholm. Photo: Henrik Montgomery/TT

The Swedish pension is part of the country’s social insurance system, and it can seem like a confusing beast at times. The good news is that if you’re living and working here, you’ll almost certainly be earning towards a pension, and you’ll be able to get that money even if you move elsewhere before retirement.

You will start earning your Swedish general pension, or allmän pension, once you’ve earned over 24,238 kronor in a single year (in 2024), and – for almost all kinds of pension in Sweden – there is no time limit on how long you must have lived in Sweden before you are eligible.

The exception is the minimum guarantee pension, or garantipension, which you can receive whether you’ve worked or not. To be eligible at all for this, you need to have lived in Sweden for a period of at least three years before retirement.

“There’s a limit, but it’s a money limit,” Johan Andersson, press secretary at the Swedish Pension Agency told The Local about the general pension. “When you reach the point that you start paying tax, you start paying into your pension.”

“But you have to apply for your pension, make sure you get in touch with us when you want to start receiving it,” he said.

You can start claiming your general pension from the year you turn 63, and the guarantee pension can for most people be claimed from the age of 66. You have the right to keep working until the age of 69 (although you can obviously keep working longer than that if your employer agrees).

Here’s our in-depth guide on how you can maximise your Swedish pension, even if you’re only planning on staying in Sweden short-term.

Those who spend only a few years working in Sweden will earn a much smaller pension than people who work here for their whole lives, but they are still entitled to something – people who have worked in Sweden will keep their income pension, premium pension, supplementary pension and occupational pension that they have earned in Sweden, even if they move to another country. The pension is paid no matter where in the world you live, but must be applied for – it is not automatically paid out at retirement age.

If you retire in the EU/EEA, or another country with which Sweden has a pension agreement, you just need to apply to the pension authority in your country of residence in order to start drawing your Swedish pension. If you live in a different country, you should contact the Swedish Pensions Agency for advice on accessing your pension, which is done by filling out a form (look for the form called Ansök om allmän pension – om du är bosatt utanför Sverige).

The agency recommends beginning the application process at least three months before you plan to take out your pension, and ideally six months beforehand if you live abroad. It’s possible to have your pension paid into either a Swedish bank account or an account outside Sweden.

Since 2023, Sweden no longer offers the guarantee pension – for those who live on a low income or no income while in Sweden – to people who move abroad.

It is also the only Swedish pension which is affected by how long you’ve lived in Sweden.

“The guarantee pension is residence based,” Andersson said. “But it’s lower if you haven’t lived in Sweden for at least 40 years. You are eligible for it after living in Sweden for only three years, but it won’t be that much.”

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MY SWEDISH CAREER

My Swedish Career: ‘I went freelance and don’t regret it for a second’

Irish journalist, author and former musician Philip O’Connor managed to start off his career in journalism by 'shooting at the moon'. He has since been creating a digital footprint for those with links to Ireland and setting up community events in Stockholm.

My Swedish Career: 'I went freelance and don't regret it for a second'

When Philip walked into one of his favourite restaurants in Märsta, feeling nervous and somewhat guilty since he was going in to ask for a job, it went better than anticipated.

“I went in one night to ask for a job. I had been in there before, and I was kind of friendly with the two sons. I kind of felt embarrassed going in there and asking for a job because it really was the last chance saloon for me.”

But he didn’t even have to ask for the job himself.

“The eldest son said, ‘Oh, here, here’s a beer. I’ll be right back to you in a second’ and I went in there with my tail between my legs. He came out and said, look, normally I wouldn’t ask but I am desperate for somebody to work here. Could you possibly consider walking a few shifts here? I said ‘ah yeah, I’ll do you the favour’,” he tells The Local, laughing.

When Philip first arrived in Sweden in 1999, guitar in hand, he thought that a new country and atmosphere would give him the chance he needed to go further with his music career. However, a new issue appeared. One night when he got on stage he just froze.

“I went there to play in O’Connor’s pub out in Uppsala on the square and for the first time in my life, I got stage fright. I was standing there, and I didn’t understand what it was until years later.”

As he continued to work in the restaurant, his passion for creativity was still in the back of his mind.

With the experience he had writing for music magazines and working in local radio in Ireland, he started to apply for work in media companies. However, that proved to be more difficult than expected. Having gone through a long list of potential media outlets that could take him on for either work placement or for work, he received nothing back.

“There’s a big difference between Ireland and Sweden in terms of, in Ireland, if you have the gift of the gab, if you have the ability to talk your way into situations, you don’t need pieces of paper or anything else like that. If you just, fake it till you make it kind of thing, that works. That didn’t work in Sweden.”

CAREER TIPS:

He then took the opportunity to do an IT course at Komvux, Sweden’s adult education centre, which he used as a backdoor to get into the job he really wanted. Following the completion of that course, Philip, once again, set out to apply for jobs in media organisations and went through a long list. He had no luck until he got to the last name on the list, Reuters – the worldwide news agency.

“Talk about shooting at the moon. I sent off the email thinking, there’s absolutely no chance that these people are going to let me in the door.”

“About 10 minutes later, I got a phone call and they said, yeah, we need somebody to come in on work experience here to help out in the IT department.”

2002 and now working in the IT department with Reuters, it provided Philip with the perfect opportunity to work his way up. Just a few hours after starting his work experience, he was offered a part-time job with the company.

He went on to write a variety of articles within the IT department, which included, how to set up the computer, set passwords and how to store files. This then led him into writing news articles for the company.

“As long as you worked hard and you were in the right environment, people noticed, and I found that to be really refreshing. Because oftentimes you’ll find that you work hard and people either don’t notice or they don’t care or they’re happy enough for what you’re doing, and they just want to leave you there,” he says.

In 2006 he wrote sport-related articles for the news agency before later taking over the sports department at the end of the decade. This position was a freelance contract and required him to decide on whether to take it or not, but he jumped at the opportunity.

“The moment I was told here’s the sports, but it’s freelance, I said where do I resign. It was a case of going out the front door and coming in through the backdoor as a freelancer. So, I had to give up a sort of a permanent pensionable job with a company car to take a freelance contract and I don’t regret it for a second.”

READERS REVEAL:

After spending over two decades in Stockholm and continuing to work freelance, Philip now also spends his time trying to create a sense of community among the Irish population in Sweden.

Through his podcast, Irish In Sweden, he speaks to people with a variety of backgrounds, from those who are involved in the Irish societies in Sweden, to business owners, politicians and everyone in between. However, the definition of Irish is flexible, he explains, since there was a woman on the podcast who owns a bookstore in Gothenburg, but her parents are Irish.

“As long as those who have a story to share that would be of interest to the Irish listenership then they are welcome on the podcast,” he says.

Philip O’Connor runs the Global Gael and Irish in Sweden podcasts. Photo: Private

He created the podcast as a time capsule which captures the lives of those with Irish links living in Sweden, noting that Ireland lost all records dating before the 1840s, when the Public Record Office of Ireland was burned in 1922 during the civil war.

“Who are we as an Irish community, pass that along to the younger generations, and just for them to understand, the culture, the way we speak English, it’s quite unique. We have our own language as well. To pass on all those things, and that perspective and history.”

In October 2022, Philip expanded his podcast offering by creating a global stage for the Irish around the world. The Global Gael podcast offers the opportunity for those who have gone on to do a wide variety of things, from journalism to sport and actors to ambassadors.

Creating a sense of community in Stockholm, not only for the Irish, is another task he aims to complete. He is able to do this through teaching kids how to podcast, from planning and preparation to recording. He has also coached soccer as well as Gaelic games, a sport native to Ireland and a cross between soccer and rugby, and he teaches Brazilian jiu jitsu at least twice a week in Jakobsberg.

Along with that he mentors young journalists both in Sweden and around the world, through helping them develop and opening doors for them.

“Many of them would be from a similar background to me – usually with an immigrant background and coming from a non-academic home and without the natural networks that might exist for people whose families have previously been involved in media,” he says.

“These are often the kinds of people that aren’t heard in media, and their perspective is vital to understanding who we are as a society, and where we want to go.”

“All of these things, it’s community,” he says.

He says the podcasts aren’t only engaging for Irish people, but also for others thanks to the diverse selection of topics discussed and the people who he interviews.

“The podcasts are what I hope and believe will be what I end up doing long-term, but building an audience is like going into battle every day – it’s a very competitive sector and people only have so much time and attention! That said, it’s a great medium and harks back to where I started in community radio.”

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