Swedish driving license for immigrants
Do I have to do a test? Can I just use my driving license from another country?
If you have a driving license (category B) from an EEA country, UK, Japan, Switzerland or Faroe islands, you can just exchange it for a Swedish one. You'll have to send it to Transportstyrelsen (they will return it to the issuer), fill out a form, and pay a fee of 280 SEK, but no tests are necessary. You'll need to get photographed for the manufacturing of the new license though. The entire process might take a month or two.
For everyone else, the Swedish driving license has to be acquired from scratch after 1 year.
Note: “everyone else” doesn't include Ukrainians who are in Sweden under Temporary Protection Directive. They can keep using the Ukrainian driving licence in Sweden until the temporary protection expires. Update December 2024: Transportstyrelsen has clarified that this is still true even after you receive a personnummer.
How much does it cost to get a Swedish driving license?
Somewhere between 5k and 30k SEK, depending on the previous knowledge and the learning route taken. Sweden does not require you to pay anything to a driving school, which is great for Swedish teenagers, but might not be as much of a help to an immigrant. Still, I'll describe both paths to the license.
Mandatory expenses for everybody: 5,475kr or more
- Synintyg, 150–200kr. It's an eye test, can be done in pretty much any eyewear store, takes 15 minutes
- Riskettan / Risk 1, 700kr or more. It's a ~3h group course where you'll listen and discuss about drugs, alcohol, fatigue, and their detrimental effects on driving ability
- Risktvåan / Risk 2 / Halkbanan, 2300kr or more. It's a ~4h group course where you will again have some information and group discussion, but most notably get in the car with the instructor and a couple of other course takers to experience how uncontrollable a car becomes on ice. You won't be graded in any way, this is more of an exercise in humility, not learning stunts on ice
- Teoriprov, from 325kr to 400kr (more expensive in the evening and on the weekend). Theory test that can be done in English. Beware of multiple possible translations though (engine/motor). With the introduction of the new law, you now must pass the theory test before being allowed to do the practice test
- Körprov, from 800kr to 1040kr (more expensive in the evening and on the weekend). This is the practice test. Here it's a bit more tricky with the language, as you can get lucky with the instructor who will switch to English no problem, or you can get less lucky. It's advisable to learn the key phrases in Swedish (follow the signs to the hospital, find a place to turn around, park behind that car, back around the corner). It's up to the instructor to give a holistic judgement of your driving ability, e.g. if you make your engine stall it doesn't automatically mean that you failed
- Car for the test, 800kr from Trafikverket, 1000kr or more from a driving school (usually the cost of 1–2 lessons)
- Photo for the license, 80kr
- Manufacturing the license, 320kr
Non-mandatory but likely expenses (preparation for the tests)
- for the theory test: 0–900kr
- reading the theory: 0kr, can be done online; another free option is to go to the nearest library and get the newest Driving Handbook from the Swedish Association of Traffic Trainers (Sveriges Trafikutbildares Riksförbund, STR). You can also buy it, but that's like 650kr
- online practice with questions from the previous years. This can be done through the driving school and be an add-on of ~250kr, or it can be bought separately online for e.g. 100kr for 5 days of access - for the practice test: ~670kr with a friend, or ~1000kr for experienced drivers to check-in with an instructor, or ~20000kr for driving school with no prior experience
- if you don't know how to drive, but have an experienced driver willing to help you, you can get away with ~600kr for the “introduction course” (introduktionsutbildning för övningskörning, handledarkurs) that you both need to take and ~70kr for the magnetic sign you need to put on the car while you're practicing (magnetisk övningskörningsskylt). The experienced driver here means someone who's at least 24 years old and has had a valid driving license from Sweden or another EEA state during 5 years of the last 10. This option might still benefit from one or even a few lessons at a driving school to increase the chances of passing the test
- if you already know how to drive, taking a couple of lessons with a driving school is still highly recommended. They will tell you what you need to pay attention to on the test: e.g. check your blind spot in a slightly exaggerated manner to demonstrate you're really doing it, or use engine braking more because eco-friendliness of your driving is part of the test. This will cost 1000kr or more
- if you don't know how to drive and don't have an experienced driver with desire and time to help you, then the driving school (trafikskola) is the way. 20 lessons is a standard package, and price per lesson can be 1000kr or more.
Stats on failing/passing the driving test
Back in 2019, these were the stats for the period of January–September:
Theory (first attempt)
Total number: 103422
Applied privately: 47291
Applied through a school: 56131
Success rate, total: 65.16%
Success rate, private: 49.90%
Success rate, through driving school: 78.03%
Practice (first attempt)
Total number: 101875
Applied privately: 45918
Applied through a school: 55957
Success rate, total: 53.91%
Success rate, private: 34.76%
Success rate, through driving school: 69.62%
It seems like Trafikverket has stopped publishing these stats since then, but the media reported even more failures on practice tests not so long ago, so I assume the picture is not drastically different.
Official resources in English
Official resources in Swedish
Other resources in English
