cyrus84

Hi,
My wife and I will be moving from Kent to Stockholm at the end of October, as I have accepted a job out there. I just had a few questions I was hoping someone on here would be able to help me with

My new job comes with an apartment for the first six months to help us get settled, so thats not a problem, but I think we will be responsible for costs (ie gas, electric, internet, phone). Are these sort of things a similar price to the UK?

My wife is currently a self employed hair dresser in the UK, and would like to continue hairdressing in sweden. I have seen lots of post were people said it is very difficult to get a job in sweden without speaking swedish (which neither of us currently do); do you think a qualified hairdresser would still struggle to find work? She is also a ski instructor at a dry slope in England, and i noticed there are a few smaller slopes around stockholm, would that be a viable option, or would the language be an issue?
We dont need her to work as my salary should be sufficient for us both, but she will get bored sitting around on her own so would like to try and work!

Are cars expensive to buy / run in sweden? We wont need one right away, but we are both skiiers so I would like to get something so we can drive further north to some of the resorts up there for the weekend, and explore the rest of the country as well

And if anyone has any tips / advice from when they moved to sweden, that'd be great thanks!

Cyrus

Wanderer5

Hi Cyrus

I live in Sweden at the moment.

I haven't lived in a Stockholm flat since 2008 - so the following figures may need a ‘margin for error’ of plus/minus 10%. At the moment, you can get a conversion rate of about 10 Swedish Kronor (SEKs) to the UK pound

I reckon, you can expect to pay about 10000 SEKs a month, for a nice apartment.

Travelling to work (by public transport within Stockholm itself) about 800 SEKs per month

4000 SEKs would give you a fairly lavish monthly food budget

Mobile/ Internet 400-1000SEKs per month

Electricity 300-400 SEKs. Heating is sometimes free with apartments and we didn’t have to pay for water when we had a flat.

Generally, fuel bills are higher here because of various environmental taxes and the Swedish version of VAT is called MOMS – and its 25%. But its generally cheaper living in an urban area - in the countryside, its colossally more expensive.

Cars - if you scout around, as we did, you can get reasonable deals. I would certainly buy one thats comfortable to drive - its a big country! Also get one with a tow-bar: often, if something needs to be delivered, theres a steep charge - better to hire a trailer and deliver it yourself!

As far as learning Swedish is concerned, the Swedish government passed its Språklag (language laws) in 2009 – designed to preserve Swedish as the official language (some say it was also designed to prevent the encroachment of English). So – learning Swedish will make life easier.

Before I came to Sweden, I took an excellent 1-to-1 language learning course in the UK with a Swedish teacher (paid for by my old company). Then I enrolled on one of Sweden’s free Swedish for Immigrants (SfI) courses (usually a waiting list for places).

However, my personal experience of SfI wasn’t very good as the teacher there kept re-covering things I’d already learnt, just because somebody new came to the class. I reckon it could take several years to adequately learn Swedish, but obviously some learn more quickly than others.

My own experience of finding any sort of work/making business contacts in Sweden is that a personal approach always works better.

Good luck!

cyrus84

Thank you for your help wanderer.

Doesnt sound as expensive as I thought which is always a bonus.

I had seen something before about importing a car from elsewhere in europe was cheaper, is this the done thing? It seems like a lot of hassle to go all that way, which made me think they must be expensive in sweden...

Yes I had heard about the government run courses, and the 1 on 1 tuition sounds good, but I wont have time before we go (I get married on thursday, then 2 weeks for honeymoon then move to sweden 4 days after getting back!).
I could see about private tuition in sweden for us both though maybe.

Hopefully some of my new colleagues will be able to help my partner get a job, or at least give us some pointers.

Another question I had actually; I plan sending money to my uk bank account fairly regularly to cover some bills we will still be paying. I have seen some things saying there is no charge for doing a transfer, but there might be a charge for the conversion of currency. Anyone have any experience of this? If it helps my uk bank is hsbc.

Thanks again

Wanderer5

Ex-pats I've met here in Sweden tell me that some of the best deals can be had from using one of the foreign currency traders, such as currenciesdirect.com (& others). These traders say they get much better rates for ordering currency 'in bulk', as it were, and the better rates are passed on to customers.

Having said that, the times I've used my Swedish bank for a conversion, its seemed pretty reasonable - compared to how British banks operate - although they took 50 SEKs as their charge.

As for cars - its left hand drive in Sweden, and by law, headlights must be on 24 hours a day, while driving.

I knew someone who imported a car from Holland, which he then had to take to the Bilprovning (Swedish car testing centre) to check it met Swedish standards. There is a website that may help with any questions of charges for importing a car:
http://www.tullverket.se/en/startpag...b80001910.html

We bought a 2006 model Opel (in 2008) which only had 6000 kms on the clock, for 120000 SEKs - the garage manager included a set of winter wheels as well (you have to change from 'summer' tyres to 'winter' ones between about November and the end of April)

Hope you have a happy day on Thursday

cyrus84

ah ok, i'll look into that!

That does sound reasonable price for cars, so maybe not as bad as I had feared!

Thanks again for all your help

sumodaz

My wife has been offered a job near Stockholm and I've just had a list sent me from a relocation company detailing prices for rental apartments.

The prices seem to be more expensive than i thought. For example a 2 room apartment in city limits 11,000-16,000SEK/Month or A place 30min drive from Stockholm 8,500-13,000SEK /Month (2 room).

Do these figures seem realistic?

Thanks
Darren

Wanderer5

One of the problems in finding anywhere to rent in Stockholm is that 'new home' building - in recent years - hasn't really kept pace with the number of people wanting to go and live/work there.

Added to that is that a lot of building land in and around Stockholm has been bought up by property developers with the aim of building swanky, expensive apartments for those who can afford them

If you think the rent you're being asked to pay seems too high, you can contact the regional rent tribunal, who are supposed to decide whether rents are reasonable and similar to other apartments:

http://www.hyresnamnden.se/templates...e____2325.aspx

Difficult sometimes to judge because some folks rent just a couple of rooms in a bigger apartment - as opposed to the whole apartment itself

There are a few websites you can visit in searching for 'digs':

http://www.blocket.se
http://www.bostaddirect.se
http://www.andrahandsguiden.com
http://www.bopunkten.se

Passenger trains from Stockholm into northern suburbs like Upplands Vasby and Marsta, for example, are quite quick and reliable - and from those two places you could be in Stockholm city in 25-35 minutes.

Good luck