Working Holiday Sweden

📌 At a glance

✅ Requirements

🌎 Which countries is it available for? Quotas by citizenship

IMPORTANT: Sweden's Working Holiday programme has been SUSPENDED since late 2020 (because of the pandemic) and is still CLOSED as of July 2026 for all of Latin America. Today the Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) only offers the Working Holiday to countries such as Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea; no Spanish-speaking country can apply for now. The three Latin American countries that DID have an agreement were Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. Below we include their historical details for reference, in case the programme is reactivated, but as of today it is NOT possible to apply. Verified July 2026.

Caps and requirements vary by country and change every year. Always check the official source for your nationality.

📅 Quotas and opening dates

When the programme is active, the Swedish Working Holiday has NO annual numerical quota and does not work by lottery or allocation rounds: it is decided case by case depending on whether the requirements are met. BUT today this is theoretical: the agreement with Argentina has been suspended since 9 November 2021 and there is no reopening date. As of July 2026, Migrationsverket only admits citizens of Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. The recommendation is to periodically monitor the official Migrationsverket page and that of the Embassy of Sweden in Argentina (swedenabroad.se), where any reactivation will be announced.

📄 Documentation needed

• Valid Argentine passport (correct copies of all relevant pages).
• Bank statement showing access to at least SEK 15,000 (no more than 6 months old).
• Copy of the return ticket or proof of funds to buy one.
• Proof of comprehensive health insurance for the whole stay (health, hospitalisation, emergency dental care and repatriation).
• Completed application form (online e-service or paper form 155011 'Application for a working holiday visa for young people').
• Passport-style photos if required at the representation (depending on the submission channel).
• Power of attorney / authorisation letter if someone else submits the application for you.
• Visa or Mastercard card to pay the SEK 1,500 fee (on the e-service channel).

🪜 Step-by-step procedure

📝 The form / the application

💳 Costs

⏱️ Processing times

When the programme is active, Migrationsverket decides 75% of complete applications within 3 months, and within 4 months when the application is incomplete. Processing times may vary depending on workload. Today, with the agreement suspended for Argentina, the application is simply not available.

🖐️ Biometrics and interview

There is no formal consular interview, but biometrics ARE mandatory: before the decision you have to present your passport and have your fingerprints and photo taken. This can be done digitally (Migrationsverket tells you how) or in person at the Swedish Embassy in Buenos Aires (or the consulate you choose). The paper form (155011) is also submitted at the embassy.

🏥 Health insurance

Mandatory. You need comprehensive health insurance valid for your entire stay that covers urgent and routine medical care, hospitalisation, emergency dental care and repatriation for medical reasons. (The only historical exception to this requirement was Australian citizens; it does not apply to Argentines.)

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💼 Work and study allowed

Work is allowed but it cannot be the main reason for the trip and it must end when the permit expires: it is incidental employment to help fund your stay. The visa is mainly for holidaying and getting to know the country. You can take courses and do activities, always within the tourist nature of the permit.

🔁 Extension / second year

No. The Swedish Working Holiday permit CANNOT be renewed or extended: it is for up to 12 months and granted once only. You also cannot take part in the programme more than once. If you want to stay longer, you would have to consider another type of permit (for example, a work permit with a job offer) with its own requirements.

💵 Cost of living

Sweden is EXPENSIVE, one of the most expensive destinations on this list. It uses Swedish kronor (SEK); as of July 2026 it is around 1 USD = ~10.5 SEK. Stockholm is the most expensive city; Gothenburg and Malmö are a bit easier. What hits hardest is rent and eating out. The good news: salaries are high and many services (transport, culture) are first-rate.

Estimated monthly budget: A single person can live comfortably on about SEK 14,000–18,000/month (~USD 1,350–1,700) in Stockholm, living in a shared home and cooking. In Gothenburg or Malmö you can drop to SEK 12,000–15,000 (~USD 1,150–1,430). (verified July 2026)

💼 Job market and salaries

Sweden has NO statutory minimum wage: wage floors are set by each collective agreement (kollektivavtal) by sector, and they are high. In hospitality the starting point for unskilled adults is around SEK 23,000–26,000 gross/month (Visita agreement); in cleaning, SEK 22,000–28,000/month depending on experience (verified July 2026). You are paid monthly, by bank transfer, and tax is deducted at source (~30% approx., varying by municipality). To work with a contract you almost certainly need the personnummer (identity number) or at least a coordination number.

🏙️ Where to live: recommended cities

💸 How much money you need (real budget)

Before the numbers, two warnings that completely change the calculation. The first is the status of the programme: for Argentines, Chileans and Uruguayans the Swedish Working Holiday has been suspended since November 2021, so everything that follows applies once the agreement is in force for your citizenship (Migrationsverket, as of July 2026, only offers Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea). The second is specifically Swedish and is the one that breaks the most budgets: the SEK 15,000 that Migrationsverket requires is a formal minimum, but the Stockholm rental market works almost entirely through 'andrahand' (subletting), where the norm is to pay one or two months' deposit upfront plus the first month. On top of that, in Sweden you are paid once a month, almost always around the 25th, and without a personnummer, paperwork drags on: between landing and seeing your own money, six to ten weeks can easily go by. The flip side is that Swedish wages are high. With the collective-agreement minimums in force since 1 April 2026, an unskilled hospitality job starts at SEK 26,580 gross a month full-time (SEK 153.64 an hour), and in cleaning the minimum under the services agreement was SEK 28,805 gross a month for people over 22 from 1 June 2026. After tax, with the average municipal rate of 32.38% in 2026, that leaves something in the order of SEK 20,000 to 22,000 net. In other words: the ongoing month works out fine; the problem is always the start. Reference exchange rate (verified July 2026): 1 USD ≈ SEK 10.5. The krona floats, so that number moves more than the Danish krone: for a quick calculation, divide by 10 and you get dollars with a reasonable margin.

Before you travel

The first month

Monthly spending

All amounts were verified in July 2026 and are reference estimates, not guaranteed prices. The Swedish krona floats freely and has moved quite a bit in recent years, so the conversion to dollars (1 USD ≈ SEK 10.5) is the part of this page that goes out of date fastest. Collective-agreement wage floors are renegotiated on fixed dates by sector (hospitality, every 1 April; cleaning and services, every 1 June) and first-hand rents are adjusted each year through collective bargaining. Always check the permit fee and the required funds at migrationsverket.se before moving any money.

🏠 Where you will live and how much it costs

The Swedish rental market has a particularity you need to understand before searching for anything, because it explains everything else: first-hand rentals (förstahandskontrakt) are regulated, remarkably cheap and allocated by seniority in a public queue. In Stockholm, the Bostadsförmedlingen queue has an average waiting time of around 8.7 years in 2026, and for a nice flat in the centre people talk about 15 to 20 years. Yes, years. Signing up costs about SEK 200 a year and it's free to start accumulating time, but for someone who comes for twelve months the first-hand queue is not an option: it's a curiosity. Sign up anyway on day one, because it costs almost nothing and the time keeps running, but don't plan around it. The real route, and practically the only one, is 'andrahand': subletting from someone who holds the first-hand contract, or from an owner who rents out their flat. It is legal and well regarded as long as the original tenant has permission from their landlord or housing cooperative (bostadsrättsförening); ask to see that permission, because if the sublet is irregular you can be evicted with very little notice. The advantage of andrahand is that it usually comes furnished and with internet included, which solves the start; the downside is the price, quite a lot higher than first-hand, and the instability, because many contracts are for six months or exactly one year. A reference figure verified as of July 2026: a two-room flat on andrahand in Stockholm costs around SEK 13,500 a month, while that same flat first-hand in the suburbs would be between SEK 7,000 and 10,000. An important change that almost no Spanish-language guide has updated: Blocket Bostad, which for years was the reference site, stopped operating as such in 2025 and rental searching moved to Qasa (Blocket is still very much alive, but for furniture, bicycles and second-hand goods in general). Qasa has a concrete advantage against scams: the landlord is verified with BankID, the contract is signed digitally on the platform and the deposit is held by the platform instead of going straight into the other person's hands. The strategy that works is the usual one in tight markets: arrive with three or four weeks of hostel or sublet already paid, set up alerts on several portals, reply quickly, write short, formal messages in English, and go and see EVERYTHING in person. And seriously consider Gothenburg, Malmö or Uppsala: they are quite a bit cheaper and have far less competition.

Where to look

• Sign up for the public housing queue (Bostadsförmedlingen in Stockholm, Boplats in Gothenburg and Malmö) on day one: it costs about SEK 200 a year and your waiting time starts counting, even though it won't help you this year.
• Search in andrahand and prioritise Qasa over Facebook groups: a landlord verified with BankID, a digital contract and a deposit held by the platform is exactly what you need when you don't know anyone.
• ALWAYS ask to see the landlord's or housing cooperative's permission to sublet. If the andrahand is irregular, you can be put out on the street with very little notice and have no one to complain to.
• Ask whether the contract lets you register your address with Skatteverket. Although with a permit of exactly 12 months the personnummer is not guaranteed, an address you can register puts you in a much better position in the process.
• Reply to listings within minutes, not hours, and write short and formal in English: who you are, what you do for work, how long you're staying and when you can come to view. Restraint builds trust in Sweden; too much enthusiasm doesn't.
• Prefer furnished andrahand. It's not just convenient: it saves you SEK 3,000 to 5,000 in start-up costs and means you don't have to resell everything when you leave.
• Look at Gothenburg, Malmö and Uppsala before assuming Stockholm: they are 20% to 30% cheaper, with the same wage agreements (set by the sector, not the city) and far less competition for each room.
• Avoid arriving in August and September, when the university year starts: it's the worst time of the year to look for accommodation in any Swedish city.
• Learn how the 'tvättstuga' (the building's shared laundry room, with a bookable time-slot system) works on the first day. It sounds like a small detail and it's Sweden's most classic neighbour conflict.
• If something about the rental seems abusive or the landlord doesn't comply, the body to go to is the Hyresnämnden (rent tribunal) and the tenants' association is Hyresgästföreningen, which gives advice and has material in English.

✅ Your first days: the checklist

💼 How to find work (and how much it pays)

Let's start with the fact that changes your whole approach to negotiating: Sweden has NO statutory minimum wage. None. The Swedish state has never set a wage floor and it's not an oversight, it's the heart of the Nordic model: salaries, working hours, surcharges and holidays are negotiated by unions and employers' organisations sector by sector, in collective agreements called kollektivavtal, and around 90% of Swedish workers are covered by one. That makes the system work without a law, but it also means that if your employer has no agreement, there is no floor to hold on to: your salary is exactly what you agreed. The concrete numbers, verified as of July 2026. In hotels and restaurants, the Gröna riksavtalet between Visita and HRF sets, from 1 April 2026, a minimum of SEK 26,580 gross per month full time (SEK 153.64 an hour) for the pay group of tasks that require no prior knowledge, and SEK 28,425 a month (SEK 164.30 an hour) for the group that requires secondary-level training in the field; with six years of experience those floors rise to SEK 28,944 and SEK 30,428 respectively. In cleaning, the service companies' agreement (Fastighets with Almega) set, from 1 June 2026, a minimum of SEK 28,805 gross per month full time for people over 22, with 90% of that amount for those aged 18 to 21. On top of that you need to add something that weighs a lot in Sweden and that almost no one calculates: the 'OB-tillägg', the surcharge for unsocial hours, paid for working nights, weekends and public holidays, and which in hospitality can lift your real pay quite a bit above the floor. And how do you actually find a job? There is a Swedish route that surprises people from other countries: staffing agencies (bemanningsföretag) are a huge and completely normal channel. Academic Work, Adecco, Manpower, Randstad and StudentConsulting place people all the time in logistics, customer service, cleaning and hospitality, and many companies hire almost exclusively through them. Registering with three or four of those agencies in the first week is probably the most efficient thing you can do. In parallel, Platsbanken (the official job board of Arbetsförmedlingen), Indeed, Jobbsafari and LinkedIn, plus the usual in-person method for bars and restaurants: printed CV, Tuesday to Thursday, mid-morning or mid-afternoon, never in the middle of service. And something that decides a great deal in Sweden: English is enough to get in, but basic Swedish is what gets you out of the kitchen and the night shift.

Where to look for work

What a CV looks like there

• Length: one or two pages, never more. The Swedish CV is sober, in reverse chronological order, with no flashy design and no 'personal objectives' sections. What in Latin America reads as enthusiasm reads in Sweden as exaggeration: remember 'lagom'.
• Cover letter (personligt brev): in Sweden it is practically mandatory, even for hospitality. Half a page, three paragraphs: why that particular company, what you can do and from when you are available.
• Say explicitly that you have a valid work permit and until what date. To a Swedish employer that matters as much as your experience, and not stating it means many won't even reply to you.
• Never put your personnummer or your samordningsnummer on your CV. It is sensitive data and no serious employer asks for it before hiring you. What does go on it: name, Swedish phone number, e-mail and city.
• Photo: optional and increasingly uncommon. In hospitality and customer-facing jobs it is still used; in office jobs, better not. If you include one, keep it neutral.
• References: Swedes really do call. List two, with name, position, phone and e-mail, and let them know beforehand. A Swedish reference, even from a single month, is worth more than ten from abroad.
• Languages: be honest and specific. 'Swedish: basic level, currently studying' counts for much more than inflating it. And highlight Spanish as a real asset in tourism and customer service.
• Always send a PDF, with the file named 'CV_Surname_FirstName.pdf'. Formal neatness counts.
• Keep your LinkedIn up to date and in English: it is used a great deal in Sweden, including for unskilled jobs, and many recruiters will look you up there before calling you.
• For hospitality and cleaning, a printed CV handed over in person is still the most effective method. Tuesday to Thursday, mid-morning or mid-afternoon, ask to speak to the manager and drop by again the following week. Calm persistence is well regarded; anxious persistence is not.

💼 What work there is: industry by industry

Sweden is the third Nordic country on this list without a statutory minimum wage: everything is set by collective agreement, the kollektivavtal, negotiated sector by sector between unions and employers. Coverage is very high, so in practice most jobs have a clear floor, but the question when accepting a job is still the same as in Denmark: whether the company has an agreement. Swedish unions are strong, accessible and used to dealing with foreigners: joining costs money but gives real backing, and consulting them before signing something is normal practice, not a conflict.

🫐 Wild berry picking

A sector that barely exists in any other country and that comes from a Swedish legal particularity: allemansrätten, the right of public access to nature, allows picking wild berries and mushrooms even on other people's land. Every summer blueberries, Arctic brambles and lingonberries are gathered in the northern forests for the food industry.

🍽️ Hospitality and tourism

Restaurants, cafés and hotels in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö, plus the winter season at the northern ski resorts and northern lights tourism in Swedish Lapland. It is one of the most accessible sectors and in Sweden a lot of work is done in English.

📦 Cleaning and logistics

Cleaning of offices and hotels, warehouses and distribution centres. These are the sectors that take people on fastest without Swedish and with hours that can be combined with other things.

👶 Au pair

Sweden has an au pair scheme with defined conditions: you live with a family, look after children within a weekly hours limit and the family must facilitate language study.

💻 Technology and offices

Stockholm is one of the most important startup ecosystems in Europe and there the working language is English. There are support, customer service, inside sales and technical profiles where Swedish is not a requirement.

🧾 Taxes: what is deducted and what you get back

Sweden is one of the countries with the highest tax burden in the world, but the structure is different from what you might expect: most of what is deducted from you is not state tax but MUNICIPAL tax, which takes the biggest share of a low or middle salary. In 2026 the average municipal rate is 32.38%, with a maximum of 35.65% in the municipality of Dorotea and a minimum of 28.93% in Österåker. Yes, that means the municipality where you are registered changes your net pay: check the rate for your kommun on skatteverket.se. On top of that there is a 20% state tax that applies only to what exceeds SEK 643,000 a year in 2026, a threshold you will never come close to with a hospitality salary. And the general VAT (moms) is 25%, with reduced rates of 12% for food and restaurants and 6% for transport, books and culture, all already included in the shelf price. What lowers the real burden, and almost nobody explains, is two automatic deductions. The first is the 'grundavdrag', the basic deduction, which is calculated on a scale according to your income and in 2026 runs roughly from SEK 14,000 to SEK 37,000 a year. The second is the 'jobbskatteavdrag', a tax credit specific to earned income that noticeably reduces what you actually pay and that benefits low incomes proportionally more. Between the two, someone on a hospitality or cleaning collective-agreement salary usually ends up with an effective burden well below the nominal 32%: in practice, around 22% to 28%. Now, the point you have to decide. If your stay in Sweden will be LESS than six months in a row, you are not a tax resident and normally pay under SINK, a flat, final tax for non-residents that you apply for at Skatteverket: it is simple, you file nothing at the end of the year, but you also deduct nothing and do not get the jobbskatteavdrag. If you will be there SIX MONTHS OR MORE — the typical case for a twelve-month Working Holiday — you are taxed like any resident, with municipal tax and the deductions in your favour, and you have to file the annual return. With a collective-agreement salary, the resident regime almost always works out better for you. What you can't do is leave it unresolved: if your employer doesn't have your tax situation registered, they withhold by default, and too much.

🏥 Health: how you get care

Swedish health care is public, regional and very good, but access depends on an administrative detail that in your case is decisive: the personnummer. If you are entered in the population register, you get into the system like any Swede and pay symbolic fees. If you stay with a samordningsnummer or with no number, you will in principle pay the real cost of care except in emergencies, and what covers you then is the private insurance that the permit itself requires you to take out. That is why this insurance is not a formality: it is your safety net during the months when the personnummer is not sorted out, and in Sweden those months can be several. The system works through a local health centre, the 'vårdcentral': you choose one, you 'list' yourself there and that is your entry point. You don't go straight to a specialist: the vårdcentral refers you. For non-urgent medical advice there is 1177, a telephone and web service that runs 24 hours, also serves in English, and is the right step before going to an emergency department; for serious emergencies, 112. Fees with a personnummer are low and, above all, capped: the 'högkostnadsskydd' for outpatient care in 2026 has a ceiling of SEK 1,450 over a rolling twelve months, and when you reach that amount you are given a 'frikort' and for the rest of the period you pay nothing for consultations. Medicines have their own tiered subsidy scheme, with its own annual ceiling. What the system does not cover equally well is the same as in the rest of the Nordic countries: adult dental care, which is paid separately and is expensive, and access to psychology, which requires a referral and usually has waiting lists. That is why the Swedish insurance requirement explicitly mentions emergency dental care: it is one of the few permits that requires it in writing, and with good reason. Sort out anything you have pending before you travel.

🚆 Transport and driver's license

Sweden is a long country: from Malmö, at the far south, to Kiruna, in Lapland, it is about 1,900 kilometres, roughly the same as from Buenos Aires to Salta and back halfway. That has a practical consequence: within cities public transport is excellent and a car is unnecessary, but to get around the country you are best off combining train, long-distance bus and, for the north, plane. The good news is that the system is integrated, punctual and runs on apps that work in English from day one. Each region has its own operator and fares, and they are not interchangeable: SL in Stockholm, Västtrafik in Gothenburg, Skånetrafiken in Malmö and the south, and so on. Figures verified as of July 2026: in Stockholm, the 30-day adult pass costs SEK 1,060 at full price, but a temporary 50% discount applies from 1 July to 31 December 2026, bringing it down to SEK 530. That is a huge difference in a monthly budget, so confirm on sl.se whether it is still in force when you arrive, because afterwards it goes back to the normal price. Everything is paid with the app or with a contactless card directly at the turnstile: the physical card has practically disappeared, like almost everything physical in Sweden. Between cities, SJ, the state railway operator, rules, with fast, comfortable trains: Stockholm–Gothenburg in about 3 hours, Stockholm–Malmö in about 4 and a half. Buying in advance on sj.se brings prices down enormously; buying close to the travel date is very expensive. On a tight budget, Flixbus covers the main corridors for quite a bit less, and the night train to Lapland (with sleeper berths, and an experience in itself) is the classic way to head up to Kiruna and Abisko. About driving: you can drive with your home licence as long as that licence is valid in the country that issued it and you have not been registered in the Swedish population register for more than a year, which means practically your whole Working Holiday year. Exchanging it for a Swedish licence, on the other hand, is almost certainly not an option: since May 2026 the requirements have tightened and Sweden only exchanges licences from the European Economic Area, Switzerland, Japan, the United Kingdom and the Faroe Islands. For the rest of the world there is no exchange: you would have to go through the whole Swedish process from scratch, which is long and expensive.

🚧 Common mistakes (and how to avoid them)

📖 Glossary: the words you will hear

☀️ Climate and best season

Sweden is in the northern hemisphere and it is cold, especially from the centre northwards. Winter (Dec–Feb): temperatures below zero, snow and VERY short days, with darkness for most of the day (in Stockholm the sun rises late and it is already dark by the afternoon). Summer (Jun–Aug): the best, mild (15–25°C), green and with very long days when it hardly gets dark. The best time to arrive and find work is spring–summer (April–August): more light, better mood and peak demand in hospitality and tourism. If you land in winter, pack genuinely warm clothing and be ready to put up with the lack of sun (many people take vitamin D).

🌎 Latino community

The Argentine community in Sweden is small, but the Latin American one is not so small, and it helps to understand why: the largest and oldest community is the Chilean one, a product of the exile of the 1970s, when Sweden took in tens of thousands of people. That base left a network that still works —associations, social clubs, food shops, community radios and even Chilean surnames that are very common in the country— and from which all the Latin Americans who arrive afterwards benefit. After the Chilean community, the most visible ones are the Colombian, Peruvian, Bolivian, Mexican and Brazilian communities, which grew mainly through study and skilled work over the last two decades. Geographically everything is concentrated in three places: Stockholm and its southern suburbs (Södertälje, Botkyrka, Skärholmen, Fittja and Alby have a strong Latin presence), Gothenburg (with Angered and Hammarkullen, where the annual carnival is one of the biggest Latin American festivals in northern Europe) and Malmö. On Facebook the groups 'Argentinos en Suecia', 'Latinos en Suecia', 'Hispanos en Estocolmo', 'Latinos en Gotemburgo' and several buy-and-sell and housing-search groups among Latinos are active, and they are among the most useful for the first steps: personnummer, rentals, temporary jobs and which bank will open your account. For food from home: in Stockholm there are Latin shops in Skärholmen, Fittja and the centre with yerba mate, dulce de leche, corn flour and South American-style cuts of meat, and at the Hötorgshallen and Möllevången (Malmö) markets you can find just about everything. Yerba mate is also quite easy to find because it has become fairly popular among Swedes themselves. The Argentine Embassy in Stockholm promotes cultural activities and the register of nationals, and it is worth signing up. And one thing that changes your mood in the first month: since the Chilean community has been in the country for decades, you will almost always find someone who has already done the exact process you are about to do and who will explain it to you in Spanish in five minutes.

🏡 Daily life and culture

Daily life is tidy, orderly and quite digital: almost everything is paid by card or with the Swish app, and cash is barely used. English is spoken extremely well and widely, so you can get by from day one; still, learning Swedish helps you integrate and get better jobs. Everything revolves around the personnummer (personal identity number): without it, it is hard to open a bank account, get a contract or access services, and getting one with a 12-month visa can be slow. The culture is reserved but respectful, very punctual, with a cult of 'lagom' (not too much, not too little) and 'fika' (the coffee break). It is one of the safest countries in the world. Nature is close at hand and can be enjoyed all year round.

🔮 And then? Paths to stay

Hard but not impossible. The Working Holiday lasts 12 months, cannot be extended and can be used only once: it does not turn into residence on its own. The most realistic way to stay is to get a formal job offer and switch to a work permit (arbetstillstånd) from Migrationsverket, which requires a contract with conditions in line with the collective agreement and a certain minimum salary (check the current threshold, as Sweden has been raising it). Another route is to enrol in study (higher education may be paid for non-EU citizens) and get a student permit. With a work permit, after several years of continuous residence you can apply for permanent residence. Be realistic: without a formal job offer or a place to study, after the 12 months you will have to go home.

📱 Useful information

• Phone/SIM: Comviq (Tele2 network, the most popular choice for price), Telia and Tele2. Prepaid with data from SEK 49-299/month; you buy the SIM card in supermarkets, kiosks (Pressbyrån) or operator stores.
• Useful apps: SL (Stockholm transport), Res i Sthlm / ResRobot (train and bus journeys), Swish (person-to-person payments, essential in Sweden), BankID (digital ID, almost indispensable), Blocket and Qasa (rentals and second-hand goods), Too Good To Go (cheap food).
• Emergencies: 112 (police, ambulance, fire brigade). For non-urgent health questions: 1177.
• Plugs/voltage: type F plug (two round pins, the standard European one), 230V / 50Hz. Bring an adapter from your home country.
• Transport: excellent network of buses, metro (tunnelbana), trams and commuter trains. In Stockholm you use the SL card/app; in Gothenburg, Västtrafik; in Malmö, Skånetrafiken. Cycling is very common in summer.

📶 SIM and phone: what to get and when

Comparison with data from each carrier's official websites. We have no agreement with any of them: we do not sell or earn commission on these plans.

Rates verified on each carrier's website on 2026-09-29 and reviewed every week. Phone prices change often: confirm before signing up.

💡 Tips

• Before spending anything, check the status of the agreement with Migrationsverket and on swedenabroad.se: as of July 2026, the Sweden–Argentina Working Holiday is still suspended.
• Subscribe to or regularly check the website of the Swedish Embassy in Argentina so you find out as soon as the programme is reactivated.
• Prepare the funds (SEK 15,000) and the return ticket in good time: the bank statement can't be more than 6 months old.
• Choose insurance that explicitly covers repatriation and emergency dental care for all 12 months: it is a requirement that is enforced.
• Enter your name and passport details EXACTLY as they appear in the document to avoid delays.
• Remember that the fee (SEK 1,500) is not refunded, so only apply when everything is in order and the programme is open.
• Go to Skatteverket in your first week with everything in original and push for the personnummer, but make a plan B with a samordningsnummer: with a permit of exactly 12 months it isn't guaranteed, and it is the biggest practical problem of the destination.
• Arrive with SEK 30,000 to 45,000 available, not just the SEK 15,000 from the application: an andrahand sublet asks for one or two months' deposit, and in Sweden you are paid only once a month, around the 25th.
• Look for housing as 'andrahand' and prefer Qasa: the landlord is verified with BankID and the platform holds the deposit. Blocket Bostad stopped operating in 2025, so ignore old guides.
• Always ask in the interview whether the company has a collective agreement ('Har ni kollektivavtal?'): with no statutory minimum wage, the kollektivavtal is your entire wage floor.
• Sort out your tax situation with Skatteverket BEFORE your first pay, and check on your payslip that the OB-tillägg and the semesterersättning appear: it is your money and many people don't claim it.
• Seriously consider the winter season in Lapland or at ski resorts: it often includes subsidised staff accommodation, which is the biggest expense of the year taken care of in one go.

🔗 Official links

❓ Frequently asked questions

📚 Sources

• Migrationsverket (Agencia Sueca de Migraciones) — Working holiday visa for young people: https://www.migrationsverket.se/en/you-want-to-apply/work/temporary-work-in-sweden/working-holiday-visa-for-young-people.html
• Migrationsverket — Formulario 155011 (Application for a working holiday visa for young people, PDF): https://www.migrationsverket.se/download/18.2cd2e409193b84c506a34fea/1745501190918/155011_Ferietillst_en.pdf
• Sweden Abroad / Embajada de Suecia — Working Holiday (aviso de suspensión para Argentina): https://www.swedenabroad.se/es/sobre-suecia/argentina/viajar-a-suecia/mudarse-a-suecia/working-holiday/
• Sweden Abroad — Embajada de Suecia en Buenos Aires, Argentina: https://www.swedenabroad.se/es/embajada/argentina-buenos-aires/
• Cancillería argentina — Programas de vacaciones y trabajo: https://www.cancilleria.gob.ar/es/servicios/servicios/programas-de-vacaciones-y-trabajo
• Cancillería argentina — Acuerdo Vacaciones y Trabajo con Suecia: https://cancilleria.gob.ar/es/servicios/extranjeros/suecia
• Skatteverket — Moving to Sweden / folkbokföring y personnummer: https://www.skatteverket.se/servicelankar/otherlanguages/englishengelska/individualsandemployees/movingtosweden
• Skatteverket — Belopp och procent inkomstår 2026 (alícuotas y deducciones): https://www.skatteverket.se/privat/skatter/beloppochprocent/2026.4.1522bf3f19aea8075ba21.html
• Skatteverket — Datum för deklarationen 2026: https://www.skatteverket.se/privat/deklaration/datumfordeklarationen2026.4.1997e70d1848dabbac95d72.html
• HRF (Hotell- och restaurangfacket) — Din lön: pisos del Gröna riksavtalet desde el 1 de abril de 2026: https://www.hrf.net/din-lon/
• Fastighets — convenio de empresas de servicios (mínimo de limpieza desde el 1 de junio de 2026): https://www.fastighets.se/
• 1177 — Högkostnadsskydd för öppenvård (tope de SEK 1.450 en 2026): https://www.1177.se/sa-fungerar-varden/kostnader-och-ersattningar/hogkostnadsskydd-for-oppenvard/
• SL / Region Stockholm — rebaja del 50% en el abono de 30 días del 1 de julio al 31 de diciembre de 2026: https://sl.se/biljetter/sortiment-och-regler/tillfallig-prissankning
• Transportstyrelsen — Utländska körkort y endurecimiento de los requisitos de canje desde mayo de 2026: https://www.transportstyrelsen.se/sv/vagtrafik/korkort/har-korkort/utlandska-korkort/
• Bostadsförmedlingen i Stockholm — estadísticas de tiempo de espera: https://bostad.stockholm.se/statistik/hur-lang-tid-tar-det/
• Arbetsförmedlingen / Platsbanken — bolsa de empleo oficial: https://arbetsformedlingen.se/platsbanken/
• Arbetsmiljöverket (Swedish Work Environment Authority): https://www.av.se/en/

Last verified: September 2026.

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