Looking for work in Sweden
Look for work in Sweden
In Sweden, you can look for a job at the offices of the Swedish Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen) throughout the country. On the Arbetsförmedlingen website you can register as a jobseeker, read advertisements for jobs, and register your CV.
The public employment offices in the EU/EEA countries have a European network, EURES. On the EURES website, you can find jobs throughout Europe and contact information to EURES advisers. EURES advisers can answer questions about work both in Sweden and in the other EU/EA countries.
Your rights in the Swedish labour market
It is important to be aware of your rights in the labour market when you start to work in Sweden, and ensure decent conditions. You can contact the trade union in your sector for more information.
Look for work in Sweden with unemployment benefit from your home country.
If you receive unemployment benefit from a Nordic country, and want to look for work in Sweden, you can have your unemployment benefit paid for three months while you look for work in Sweden. A requirement is that you receive unemployment benefit and satisfy any further conditions applicable in the country where you receive unemployment benefit.
In order to receive unemployment benefit while you are looking for work in Sweden, you must have certificate PD U2 (N-303 if you are moving from the Faroe Islands or Greenland) from the agency that pays your unemployment benefit.
When you come to Sweden, you must contact the Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen) and register. It will still be the foreign agency that pays your unemployment benefit.
You should contact the agency that pays your unemployment benefit in good time before you plan to travel to Sweden, to find out about special requirements, deadlines and possible waiting time in case processing.
If you do not find a job in Sweden in the course of the three months you are looking while receiving unemployment benefit from your home country, you must return to the country where you are covered by unemployment insurance and register with the unemployment insurance fund (a-kassan) or the unemployment insurance agency. If you do not do this, you lose the right to unemployment benefit.
If you find a job in Sweden, you will generally be covered by unemployment insurance in Sweden. This means you must join a Swedish unemployment insurance fund (a-kassa). You must use the PD U1 certificate to transfer your years of service from another country’s unemployment insurance scheme to an unemployment insurance fund in Sweden. You get the certificate from the unemployment insurance fund or the unemployment agency in the country where you have been covered by unemployment insurance up until now.
It is important that you join a Swedish unemployment insurance fund already on the day you start work in Sweden, as it can cause great problems if the period of insurance is broken.
If you have any questions, please fill in our contact form.
NB! If you have questions regarding the processing of a specific case or application, or other personal matters, please contact the relevant authority directly.
