After months of waiting for work permit issues to be sorted I am finally in Stockholm. I arrived on the 9th of May Liberation Day and am presently living in Solna in a hotel apartment that costs an astounding 3300 USD a month, thankfully most of it is paid by the company. My first day I showed up at work even though I was very jet lagged after flying from Singapore to Helsinki and then Helsinki to Stockholm, it took me a whopping nearly 20 hours. In life, attitude is everything and even though I was told that I didn't have to show up I did anyway. I also needed to keep myself awake since I was very jet lagged and did not want to wake up in the early hours of the morning. I think I even made dinner which I hadn't in months, nothing fantastic, just pasta. It's a lot of work since I hadn't cooked in months. Before Singapore I was on an epic trip around the UK, and spent every day eating out, so it's going to take a while for me to get to grips with cooking regularly again.
On the 10th of May I had an appointment at the immigration department to make my residence card. That's also in Solna. I had some initial difficulty finding the place since google maps isn't always the best, but I found it eventually. The woman told me it would take 5 to 10 days and would be sent to my current residence.
At work I had some ramping up with Fred who is the product person and Alex who is the head of development. Also we bought my laptop, which is a Macbook loaded with Parallels Desktop. Yes the Macbook is my weapon of choice. I'm the first and currently only engineer working with a Macbook. :) I got the company website running locally on my computer eventually on Friday.
On the weekend of the 14th and 15 I hung out with Ida who is a friend and we went around Stockholm and played some PS3 games in the apartment. All in all it was a very relaxed first week.
The Move to Sweden checklist
If you're not aware, the process of moving to Sweden is filled with bureaucracy. The checklist to complete is as follows
1. Apply for residence card
As mentioned this takes between 5 to 10 days, you will have to go to the immigration department to do this.
2. Apply for Swedish personal number for tax purposes
You will need your residence card for this number. Without this number you are literally useless in Sweden.
3. Apply for Swedish id
You will need your Swedish personal number and go to a tax office where you will get your height and photo taken again just like the residence card process. The Swedish id is key to almost everything like getting a bank account open.
4. Apply for bank account
You will need your Swedish id to open a full proper account. You can open a bank account with only a Swedish personal number but it is extremely restricted until you have a Swedish id.
On the 10th of May I had an appointment at the immigration department to make my residence card. That's also in Solna. I had some initial difficulty finding the place since google maps isn't always the best, but I found it eventually. The woman told me it would take 5 to 10 days and would be sent to my current residence.
At work I had some ramping up with Fred who is the product person and Alex who is the head of development. Also we bought my laptop, which is a Macbook loaded with Parallels Desktop. Yes the Macbook is my weapon of choice. I'm the first and currently only engineer working with a Macbook. :) I got the company website running locally on my computer eventually on Friday.
On the weekend of the 14th and 15 I hung out with Ida who is a friend and we went around Stockholm and played some PS3 games in the apartment. All in all it was a very relaxed first week.
The Move to Sweden checklist
If you're not aware, the process of moving to Sweden is filled with bureaucracy. The checklist to complete is as follows
1. Apply for residence card
As mentioned this takes between 5 to 10 days, you will have to go to the immigration department to do this.
2. Apply for Swedish personal number for tax purposes
You will need your residence card for this number. Without this number you are literally useless in Sweden.
3. Apply for Swedish id
You will need your Swedish personal number and go to a tax office where you will get your height and photo taken again just like the residence card process. The Swedish id is key to almost everything like getting a bank account open.
4. Apply for bank account
You will need your Swedish id to open a full proper account. You can open a bank account with only a Swedish personal number but it is extremely restricted until you have a Swedish id.
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