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Settling in Sweden

Skatteverket / banken

ID card and BankID

Why almost nothing works without them, and the order they have to be obtained in.

Step 1, free to read

Know why this is the hard step

Sweden runs on an electronic identity. Booking a doctor on 1177, reading a letter from Försäkringskassan, signing a lease, paying with Swish, filing your tax return: each of them asks for BankID. And BankID comes from a bank, which will only issue it to a customer whose identity it has verified with an accepted ID document. That is the loop newcomers get caught in, and it is why this path is about the order rather than about any single office.

  1. Step 2: Get the personnummer first
  2. Step 3: Apply for the id-kort in person
  3. Step 4: Open a bank account
  4. Step 5: Then, and only then, BankID

Finish this path with Svenska Plus

  • The chain: personnummer → an accepted ID document → a bank account → BankID → everything else
  • Who issues what: Skatteverket's id-kort, the bank's card, the driving licence
  • The intygsgivare — the person who vouches for you when you have no Swedish ID yet
  • 12 phrases for the ID counter and the bank
  • 4 practice items, including what to say when your BankID stops working

12 Swedish phrases · 12 words off the real forms · 4 practice items

Launch offer: 4 months free instead of 2

Until 31 December 2026, the yearly plan is 79 € instead of 99,90 €, which comes with only 2 months free. Subscribe now and keep this price for as long as you stay.

Every path, the tutor and the mock exams. No account needed to pay. Refunded in full if you have not used it in your first thirty days. Everything in Plus