Cutting-edge immigration: Stockholm, Sweden, and the boundary waters

You probably thought that was the end of the story; if only it was that simple.

The first move to Europe: The United Kingdom

I cannot recall the exact chain of events by which I settled in the UK in 2012 / 2013. I had no trouble finding a job or an apartment after moving. Once I had a position, I applied for a National Insurance number at the local Job Centre Plus. This government identification number came within 2 months and that was the extent of moving to England in 2013. I didn’t go to the GP (doctor) for 6 months, thinking there was some restriction on medical care for recent immigrants. However, that was entirely incorrect.

The second move to Europe: Sweden

Sweden’s process is significantly more complicated and less certain, especially since my situation is quite different this time around in 2018. EU citizens do automatically have the “right of residence” in Sweden and, like the UK, they do not need to contact the Swedish Migration Agency. However,

“As a citizen of a EU or EEA country you have the right to stay in Sweden for three months. To be registered in the Swedish Population Register you must need to move to and intend to live in Sweden for one year or more. When you are registered in the Swedish Population Register you will receive a Swedish personal identity number. – Self-sufficient EU citizens moving to Sweden

In order to be registered in the Swedish Population Register (folkbokförd) you need to notify the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) that you have moved to Sweden. “ – Moving to Sweden Skatteverket article

The tax agency is responsible for administering all government identification numbers, personnummer in Swedish. Unlike the US social security number, personNumbers in Sweden are used for virtually everything. Joining a gym or kickboxing club requires a personNumber. More importantly, renting an apartment probably requires an ID number as well.

Of course, not everyone is eligible for this priceless access-granting number in Sweden. Many students will not receive a personNumber, so clearly some apartments are available to numberless long-term residents. Nevertheless, in a competitive rental market, not having this number could be quite detrimental, especially since you probably don’t speaking Swedish yet either.

The problem with my application

If my application to Sweden is not accepted, I’m not going to force the issue: I will simply move to Dublin or continue searching for another alternative. The easiest way to move to any country is always to get a job. However, I work for myself. The self-employed have two options, both of which have their respective problems:

Find a contract: This is for people who live abroad, not in Sweden.
Register as a sole-trader or create a company: I certainly don’t want to invest money as part of my immigration application.

Luckily, there is an easier, non-committal 3rd option: Apply for Swedish residence as a self-sufficient individual. This category requires only proof of 1 year’s worth of savings and private, comprehensive medical insurance. Although jetsetting Europeans will have their European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), applicants will need certificate S1 from their country of previous residence to demonstrate their medical insurance coverage. Presumably, no country’s S1 will be refused.

I don’t have an S1. Obviously, I didn’t know I needed one before leaving the UK. Since I have mostly forfeited my UK residency by studying in Fukuoka, Japan, I cannot get one. But companies also provide private, comprehensive medical insurance, right? Yes, I got that. Sadly, it is not a sure thing. There are many forums posts on TheLocal.SE about applicants being refused personNumbers because their private medical insurance was not sufficiently comprehensive or had caps.

Though the Swedish Tax Agency has clarified their private, medical insurance requirements in recent years, there is generally a lot of uncertainty about whether my application will be accepted and if I can permanently move to Sweden. So I don’t want to commit to an apartment, I doubt I would be able to find an apartment without a personNumber, and I cannot receive mail from the tax agency without the address. Thankfully, a friend was willing to let me use her address.

Previous engagements

There is one other problem.

I had already planned a quite important trip to travel with a friend. So if I got an apartment in Stockholm, I would only be in it for 2 weeks before taking a 1 week holiday. More importantly, part of my holiday leaves me in London, making it almost essential to visit my friends in Bristol and pick-up my stuff at my ex-girlfriend’s place; another week-long trip. Is it really worth getting an outrageously expensive European apartment when I’ll be gone for half the first month? Would I even want to be in Stockholm, while I anxiously waited for the decision on my residency? If I started making friends and was not allowed to stay, wouldn’t that be the exact problem I was trying to avoid by finally settling down?

So, after submitting my application to the tax agency, I continued travelling; looking for the next best thing if Sweden’s tightened immigration refuses my application. As previously discussed, Malta was the only other city under consideration at this point. Copenhagen was still being punished until English-based university programs were back in production. So I needed 2 – 5 more places to visit to fill the time and hopefully, find some more city candidates.

The original trip that included the first 4 cities, also had a stop in Rotterdam, The Hague, and Lieden, all of which are effectively commutable. Between the 3 of them, there might be just enough programs. However, all these areas are part of Randstad, a megalopolis consisting of The Netherlands’ 4 most populous cities, including Amsterdam. Randstad’s population of 8.2 million embodies the exact type of overcrowding and urban sprawl I’m trying to escape. Nevertheless, if you speak with Dutch residents, Rotterdam and The Hague are literally separated. Megaregions or megapoles are defined as “rougly adjacent metropolitan areas, which may be somewhat separated or may merge into a continuous urban region.” So these supercities may or may not be unliveable. For example, the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, with a combined urban population of approximately 3 million, is my favourite place to live in the US. I certainly do not consider them to be part of the Great Lake Megalopolis with a population of 59 million.

Other cities on the original list of 34 still had a few possibilities:

Gothenburg, Sweden
Prague, Czech Republic
Berlin, Germany
Munich, Germany
Hamburg, Germany
Aarhus, Denmark
Zurich, Switzerland

Obviously, I had already applied to Sweden, so Gothenburg could wait until I lived there. I had already visited Prague on my first trip to Europe in 2002. Now Berlin was an exciting option. Of all the destinations to travel in Europe, it was my top priority. My ex-girlfriend had already been, so it never made sense to go together. Now that I was unattached, maybe the time was right to go to the most exciting city in Europe. Munich was the ex’s preferred choice if she ever returned to live in Germany, though she was also found of Hamburg. Both of these would be much more reasonable city sizes than Berlin. I was definitely interested in visiting these two, hopefully less famous, destinations. As previously discussed, Aarhus and Denmark were not being considered, so that only left Zurich. My 2nd tour of Europe, the one on which I decided where to settle in the UK, originally included a trip to Geneva, Switzerland. Unfortunately, there weren’t any CouchSurfing hosts available during the winter peak season and other accommodation was extremely expensive. So I put off a visit to Switzerland until I had saved more money. And I never made it back. After Berlin, Switzerland and Poland were the two other primary destinations on my wishlist. In the end, the decision was rather easy. Here is the “waiting for my Swedish application decision” trip itinerary: