SverigeStart
Find housing & jobs
Moving to Sweden or just arrived? SverigeStart explains Swedish bureaucracy, work, taxes, housing, healthcare and daily life in plain language — with an AI assistant that explains important documents and gives clear, source-based answers.
Updated: 2026-07-31
SverigeStart brings information from many official Swedish sources together in one place, and we work to keep it up to date. Even so, rules, rates and amounts can change at any time, and we cannot guarantee that a page here always matches the authority's latest wording. Always confirm with the responsible authority before you act. We give general information, not professional advice on legal, tax, immigration or medical matters, and we take no responsibility for differences between this page and the official source, or for decisions taken on the basis of it.
Where to find a place to live
Once you understand the three-layer housing market from the Housing guide, here's specifically where Swedes actually go online to search — the sites and queues that matter, not generic listings.
- Blocket Bostad — the biggest general rental marketplace. Qasa — verified landlords, no queue, good for newcomers who need something fast.
- City queues: Bostadsförmedlingen (Stockholm), Boplats Göteborg, Boplats Syd (Malmö) — register immediately, even before you need a place.
- Buying: Hemnet is the dominant site for bostadsrätter and houses for sale.
- Student? Apply for student housing (SSSB in Stockholm, Studentbostäder in Gothenburg, AF Bostäder in Lund, etc.) the moment you're admitted — queues are long and it's usually the cheapest, fastest route in.
Where to find a job
Sweden's job market runs through a mix of one big official platform and old-fashioned networking — knowing which channel fits your situation saves a lot of wasted effort.
- Arbetsförmedlingen (the Swedish Public Employment Service) — the main official job board, free to use, also runs support programmes for newcomers.
- LinkedIn matters heavily in professional sectors; many roles are filled through networks — tell people you're looking.
- Staffing agencies place a lot of newcomers: Adecco, Manpower, Randstad, Bemannia — a normal first foothold in warehouses, retail, hospitality, healthcare support.
CV & applying, the Swedish way
Swedish job applications follow different conventions than many other countries — a CV formatted the way you're used to at home can look wrong or overloaded to a Swedish employer.
- CV (CV): 1–2 pages, factual, photo optional. Cover letter (personligt brev): short, specific to the role, why you.
- Swedish widens your options hugely even at a basic level; English alone is workable in IT, engineering, and international companies.
- Get foreign qualifications recognised (free) via UHR (Universitets- och högskolerådet) — needed for regulated professions (nurse, teacher, electrician, etc.).
Everything else you'll search for
A handful of everyday Swedish websites come up constantly once you're actually living here — worth bookmarking early rather than discovering them one at a time.
- Used items: Blocket (general marketplace), Tradera (auctions), Facebook Marketplace, second-hand chains Myrorna and Erikshjälpen.
- Cars: Blocket → Fordon; check the vehicle's besiktning (inspection) status and any debt tied to it via Transportstyrelsen.
- Doctors: choose a vårdcentral via 1177.se; healthcare reviews and info are also on 1177.