Moving To Sweden

Community Gardens

2011-02-18T04:48:00.000-08:00

You can rent a plot to grow veggies in Lund, some include a cottage! See here for more info.

Activities

2010-09-14T06:45:00.001-07:00

ABF sponsors courses in languages, arts, dance, etc.
Arbetarnas Bildningsförbund (the Workers’ Educational Association).

The Nature Bus!
http://www.naturochkulturbussen.se/

Hiking with MLV (Malmö-Lunds Vandrarlag)
www.vandrarlaget.se

Nature Conservation Society sponsors hikes, activities and lectures, as well as environmental activism.
http://www.naturskyddsforeningen.se/

Lund volleyball club
http://www.lundsvk.se/

Club sports by LUGI, hockey, volleyball, indoor soccer
http://www.lugimotion.se/

Lund Expat Meetup group, tons of activities every week
http://www.meetup.com/The-Lund-Expat-Meetup-Group/

Computer

2010-09-14T01:39:00.000-07:00

There is a Mac store at 6 Martenstorget.

http://macsupport.se/?page=132&l=,0,109

The academic person is named Jonas Edgren.

Jonas Edgren046-15 04 000708-60 93 42j.edgren @ macsupport.se

To change the setting for your computer to use a Swedish keyboard, see this link.

Lund University & LUCSUS

2010-09-06T05:59:00.001-07:00

The Gerdahallen gym has tons of classes and facilities, and is right next door to LUCSUS. You can sign up & pay a 1 year membership (cheap! 1650 SEK for staff), then get reimbursed (talk to Ann). You need to bring a letter stating your employment with the University, and some kind of photo ID to sign up.

Business cards: can be ordered through the Lund University website. Talk to Amanda. Amanda can also help set up an appointment with the Foretagshalsvard department to evaluate your ergonomics and provide physical and mental health services.

Internal mail: the code (Hämtställe) for LUCSUS is 16.

First Monday of the month at 3pm: test of the emergency siren system. Don't panic.

Ann will set up an email account for you and give you your LUCAT ID, needed to get on the University system.

To check email:
http://webmail.lucsus.lu.se
You will get a security certificate warning that the site is not trusted. Too bad.
Log in using your LUCAT ID and password from Ann.

LUVIT is the online course management system. You need to be added to the course by Ingegard.
http://luvit.ced.lu.se/
User name: Your Lund email address
Password: must be initially set by Ingegard in the system.

personalig
1st choice: language/sprak
spara=save

lagg til
ladda up fil
attach, then fwd arrow
slow
slutfor

Lund University IT support: call 29 000. More info here.

Pedagogy classes for new teachers: some are offered in English. Look for the English titles in the list on the left here:
http://www5.lu.se/anstaelld/forskning-undervisning/hoegskolepedagogisk-utbildning/universitetsgemensamma-kurser
The person who deals with this for LUCSUS is Gun Wellbo
046-222 39 00
gun.wellbo@ced.lu.se

To use Ethernet, Ola needs your Mac number. Go to Apple menu -> About this Mac -> More Info... then select Network. The number is listed under Ethernet MAC address.

Learning Swedish

2010-09-06T04:32:00.000-07:00

Several options to start learning Swedish. In order of preference:

1. Free course for new faculty offered by Lund University. Unfortunately, about twice as many people want to take the course as there are spaces available. But try.

2. You can pay for a course at Folkuniversitetet. There are intensive short-term courses (every day) as well as 9-week evening courses, two days a week. The 9-week course costs 2800 SEK. Skomakaregatan 6 ipg, 22

3. Medborgaskolan

http://www.medborgarskolan.se/

Swedish for beginners course starts Sept 22, about 1000 SEK.

http://www.medborgarskolan.se/templates/pages/CoursePage.aspx?lid=1281&sgid=11&cid=431310_Gustav

4. Free courses (Swedish for Immigrants) are offered through Komvux. Contact Ann-Sofie Ekberg at VUC on telephone 021-391706, Mon-Thu 8:30 to 9:30.

The Lund page for Komvux is here and contact info for Swedish courses is here.

This says you can also register for the course at the Lund city library (Stadsbiblioteket) at the Guidance Center (Vägledningscentrum).

To translate Swedish, Google Translate works quite well. If you use Google's Chrome browser, you can set it to do instantaneous translations of whole web pages.

You can also try http://tyda.se/ which has an English-Swedish dictionary and thesaurus.

Insurance

2010-08-31T06:07:00.000-07:00

A condition of my lease was to get insurance for the flat. I tried to do this online before I came, emailed a bunch of people, and had no luck.

Found it much easier to just walk into the insurance place (Dina Försäkringar, on Lille Fiaskaregatan near Bytareg) after I arrived. They have the life-sized green horse in the window (out front on nice days).

Good news:

The woman who works there was very nice. she gave me a temporary personnummer so that the insurance could be active asap. (You need to bring your passport with you, and have an estimate of the value of what you're insuring).

It is cheap (insuring 400.000 SEK of our belongings cost only 1.175 SEK for one year).

Bad news:

It doesn't cover much. The Swedish insurance system has pretty low limits on the maximum value for things (i.e., about 8.000 SEK max for a bike... that doesn't come close for many of ours!), and things depreciate quickly. For example, clothing is insured for its full value when it is less than 1 year old, but only 25% of its original value 3 years later. It is not set up to cover replacement value, as in the US.

I think for big-ticket items like laptops, jewelry, and fancy bikes, it may be better to get a "personal articles policy" from a US company. These are good worldwide and cover replacement cost. (It is also possible to have a separate policy for some things with Swedish insurance, but not for bikes).

Bill Pay & Banking

2010-08-31T05:52:00.000-07:00

If you work for the University, your bank will be Nordea. Yes, you are not in the US any more, you don't get to choose your bank. (OK, technically it may be possible to switch banks after you open an account at Nordea and start getting your paycheck deposited there, but seems prohibitive in practice.)

Nordea is located at Stora Sodergatan 2 in Lund, across from the Tourist Office and H&M. It is inevitably a 30 minute wait to speak to a clerk (take a number when you walk in). Bring something to read. Try going first thing in the morning. It seems very busy between 11:30-14:00.

You will not be able to open a bank account until you have a personnummer. Believe me, I tried. Don't waste your time standing in that line! You may only open an account once, and it must be with your personnummer. They will not let you open a temporary one and add your personnummer later. (I've talked to people for whom this was not the case, but they were staying in Sweden for less than one year. If you have a work visa, they are not going to want to open an account for you until you have your personnummer. Then, your bank account number will be the same as your personnummer... seemingly without security concerns... weird!)

This creates problems if you need to pay a bill in the meantime. As near as I can tell, bills in Sweden must be payed using "bank giros." These are electronic payments sent from a bank. Once you have a bank account, you will be able to send them using online banking (I think). Until then, you will need to pay a fee to send a bank giro.

Nordea charges non-customers 150 SEK to pay a bank giro, and charges customers, 80 SEK.

I was told that you can go to the ForEx office (across from the train station) and pay a bank giro for only a 35 SEK fee. (I was told this after waiting in line for 45 minutes at Nordea, so I ended up taking care of it then and paying the higher fee). Note, at ForEx you can also change foreign currency at favorable rates, and get it back at the same rate if you don't spend it all. Handy.

Old sources say that you can pay bank giros at the post office, but I tried this, and this service is no longer offered in Sweden (since the official post offices have closed and now there are just small service centers inside the ICA stores, etc.)

To open an account, you need:
1. Your personnummer
2. A letter stating the terms of your employment (monthly salary and the length of your contract) from your employer.
3. Your passport.

They will open the account for you and give you a "device" for online banking. This is something that looks like a calculator, and that you put your ATM card into to access your bank account online. CRAZY! They will also give you a lot of printed information in Swedish.

Ask for a copy of the Nordea "Guide to Internet and telephone banking" so that you can use these systems to manage your account.

You will get your ATM card in the mail in about a week. (It is ready to use and does not need to be activated.) You will also get two different four-digit codes.
1. The PIN code ("PIN-kod") to your ATM card is hidden under a sticker that you have to peel back. This number cannot be changed (you can't choose your own PIN).
2. A log in code (personliga) to use with simplified online log in or phone banking.

To deposit a bank giro, you can either:
1. bring it to the bank, wait in line, and sign it over. You will be charged a 50SEK fee, and the money is available immediately.
or
2. Put your account number on the bank giro but do NOT sign the back, put it in a special envelope, drop in a postal mailbox, and wait several days for the money to show up in your account.
Apparently you cannot deposit money at ATMs.

Once you have an account, to pay bills:
1. Log in to the Nordea account (following the directions in the English guide)
2. Go to Betalning PG/BG and sign up for payment services (this costs 12 SEK/month; you need to select "sign" on your device and enter the response code after accepting this fee.
3. Add the recipient to your list of payees.
4. Click Betalning PG/BC and set up the payment. (You can specify monthly or recurring payments here).

The true pain in the ass is credit cards. My Chase United Visa is not widely accepted in Sweden because it doesn't have a chip and seems not to have a PIN (make sure you get mailed your PIN before you leave home, the only way to change it is through the mail). I have been repeatedly told that you can't get a Swedish credit card in Sweden until you have been working there for at least one year. Apparently there is an AmEx card for Americans living abroad that I'm going to look into. Because this means that you can only have a US credit card, which must be paid in dollars, and yet you will be making money in kronor, and it's really a pretty big nightmare. Currently to pay my US credit card bill, I have to make an international wire transfer of SEK from Nordea to USD to Bank of America, wait for the money to appear, then pay my bill from my online BofA account. Not ideal.

In any case, to make a wire transfer, you need the following things. These are for Bank of America in Northern California, more options here.

Swift code: BOFAUS3N
Wire transfer routing number: 026009593

Air travel

2010-08-22T14:59:00.001-07:00

It's not eco-friendly, but sometimes you gotta get home to see the fam, or get to the Mediterranean to get some freakin' sunshine. These sites will be useful:

All the regular US sites like Kayak, Orbitz, and Expedia will work.

Cophenhagen (CPH, called "Kastrup") is the closest airport, easily reached by train to/from Lund (running every 20 minutes).

They have a nice web page which includes a flight timetable and route maps by destination city so you can see all flights in/out of the airport, a page where you can look up and buy flights to/from CPH on some budget airlines, and even a free iPhone app (for info on flights and gates when you're at the airport).

The budget airlines that fly out of CPH (and don't seem to be listed on American search engines) include:
Cimber Sterling
OLT

Some helpful Euro search engines for cheap flights:
whichbudget.com
vayama.com

edreams.com

http://www.travelfinder.se/

Finally, some airlines have special pages for Sweden (customer service, mileage plus, etc.) You can buy tickets in your local currency. The page for United is here.

Getting to the airport in Malmö:

Miljö taxi costs 315 SEK 1 way from Lund. 046-30 66 04

Airport bus is 199 SEK roundtrip to Sturup from Lund. http://www.flygbussarna.se/

US Embassy in Sweden: registration, voting, etc.

2010-08-20T00:32:00.000-07:00

Americans living abroad should register with the American embassy in their host country, so they can be contacted in case of emergency.

Create an account and register at this State Department website.

Transportation in Lund

2010-08-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

We are embracing not having a car (for me, for the first time since I was 16!).

Interactive Europe-wide train schedules in English from DeutschBahn.

Helpful Europe-wide train & ferry schedules from Seat 61.

National SJ Swedish rail site in English. Tickets are released 90 days in advance and get more expensive the closer to departure date. Cheaper Last Minute (Sista minuten) tickets can be bought through SJ.se (but apparently only for students, under 26 or pensioners), or by auction via Tradera.se. Night trains are also much cheaper (i.e., Lund to Stockholm, 5 days in advance day train, 1100 SEK each way; about 550 for a sleeper car on the night train).

The regional train system is Oresundstag (English page here). This gets you around Southern Sweden (Malmö, Lund) as well as Cophenhagen (including the CPH airport, "Kastrup" station). This line runs from Helsingor south to Copenhagen in Denmark, across the bridge to Malmo and Lund. After Lund, the lines split into three: Landskrona/Helsingborg/Bastad/Goteberg, Vaxjo/Kalmar, and Kristianstad/Karlskrona.

Skanetrafiken runs the city and regional buses in southern Sweden, and somehow, some regional trains as well. (English site here). They offer an "Around the Sound" ticket for 2 days of travel on all train & bus & metro lines in Cophenhagen & Skane for SEK 249. You have to cross the Oresund bridge in 1 direction and the Helsingor/Helsingborg ferry in the other (they are supposed to cross off or punch out on the ticket when you cross the bridge or ferry).

They recommend the "Jojo Travelcard" if you will travel 8-10 days out of the month (unlimited travel for 30 days, around 2000 SEK/month), or else the "Jojo discount card" which you prepay in any amount, register so you can cancel it & get a refund if it's lost or stolen, and gets you 20% off the fares.

Note that if you're traveling with two people, you should get a "duo/family" ticket rather than paying for 2 adults, it will be cheaper.

Lund has a car sharing program (similar to Zipcar, etc. in the US). The website (in Swedish) is here. Agneta, the helpful woman whom I emailed, said:

To become a member, you pay a deposit of 2000 SEK, which you get back when you leave.
The annual fee (due Oct 1, covers the year starting on that date) is 500 SEK if you do some volunteer work- otherwise, 1400 SEK/year.
You pay 12.50/hour, c 2kr/km depending on what care you use.
There are 12-14 cars parked around the city.
Gas is about 13 SEK/L (about $7/gallon).

Avis and Hertz also have rental car agencies in Lund, behind the train station. Prices I saw were around $120/day with unlimited km's.

Telephone dialing and mobile phones

2010-08-17T14:57:00.000-07:00

First, make sure you unlock your current phone before you leave home! It's likely to be cheapest to use it with a new SIM card you buy in Sweden.

My phone is getting old & I wanted a new iPhone 4. I was told a whole lot of different information. The woman at the Telia store said I would have to pay 6195 SEK cash and wait 5 weeks to order it- yikes!! I got out of there fast.

Fortunately, the guy at the Telenor store said that if I came back with a personnummer (working on it) and a letter from my employer showing that I made a good salary, he could sell me the iPhone at the regular price. The cost is 299SEK/mo for the minutes (at ~29 ores (cents)/minute, that's ~1000 minutes/month, which includes unlimted data) plus 200/month for the phone. So, 499 SEK/month for 2 years, at which point you own the phone and just pay for usage. Not bad considering the service alone for AT&T on my old iPhone was upwards of $80 (585 SEK)/month, plus texts!

I was not successful in calling AT&T back in the States and getting them to unlock it over the phone (not sure if this is actually possible or not).

I did not find anywhere in Lund that can unlock cell phones. I finally found a place in Malmo: Sweden PC-Phone at Admiralsgatan 16. 070-476 09 15, pc-phone@hotmail.com.

So for the time being, I bought a new SIM card (100 SEK) and got the World plan from Telenor (99 ore/min for international calls and 39 ore/min for calls within Sweden; you only pay for calls you place, not receive). When you buy this at the store, make sure they use your phone to call for you and change the menu settings so they are in English; otherwise you will not be able to call and check your balance. Apparently this cannot be done online.

Dialing phones:

Hold on to your hats here.

Let's say my cell number is: 07-123-456-78. Cell numbers are national numbers, that is, they do not have a region code.

To call this number from a Swedish phone: Dial directly, dropping the leading zero (7-12345678).

To call this number from Skype, dial the country code for Sweden (46) plus the number without the zero: 46-7-12345678.

To call this number from the US, dial 00 for international, then the country code & phone number: 00-46-7-12345678.

Weather & Sunrise/Sunset

2010-07-17T21:44:00.000-07:00

I'm a climate geek for a living, so I guess getting some data on here was inevitable.

Sunrise/sunset times for Lund (June is awesome! Almost 18 hours of light! Don't look at December! Scary!)

Monthly average high/low temps for Copenhagen

Swedish met society, current weather & forecasts

Internet access

2010-07-13T13:38:00.000-07:00

**Print stuff out (city map, address & phone number of important offices) before you come. It's debilitating to be without Internet access to figure out how to do everything! So work on that first. Plus, then you can use Skype to make your phone calls to try to set everything up, rather than your $1/minute international phone!

As I understand it, you have the option of "broadband/DSL" (through the phone/cable, hardwired) or "mobile broadband," which is a USB stick with a SIM card that plugs into your computer and uses the mobile phone network.

Broadband is faster. However, the woman at the Telia store told me that you must own your place and/or have lived in Sweden for 8 months before ordering broadband (i.e., your landlord must take care of it, and you pay him/her back in the rent). (That woman also told me that I would have to pay 6,195 SEK cash for an iPhone 4, which would not be there for 5 weeks... later falsified... read on to the next entry... so, not sure how trustworthy she was).

However, if you want to try your hand at getting broadband, here are the phone numbers for two companies that my landlord recommended (though they gave him the runaround, saying that I had to be the one to order the service...)

Telia: 46-771-990-200.
Press 8 for English
1 for new orders
2 for Internet
1 for fixed broadband.
I spent about 15 minutes on hold before a delightful woman helped me, spelling out the address of the store in Lund as "O for Oprah, U for Uganda, T for Tony...". They are at Knut Den Stores Torg 1B (just south of the train station; however, I did not like the service at the store).
When I called back, they said I could get "medium" broadband service (6-8MB) including IP telephone for 389 SEK/month, once I have a personnummer. There is a 2 month trial for 99SEK to start.

Tele2: 0200-252-525. Don't think they have an English phone tree option.
http://www.tele2.se/ 0772 252525.

Another provider of internet, phone, and TV service is ComHem.

To get started quickly with USB mobile internet, I recommend the following:

Bring your laptop with you to the wireless store. There are several in Lund (OnOff, Telenor, Telia). The people at Telenor were the nicest to me, and had the best deal (SEK 199 for the wireless card, first week of unlimited data usage free, then top off online).
Wait in line patiently (some places have you take a number).
When it's your turn, play the helpless foreigner card. Tell them you want a mobile USB wireless connection, and you want their help to install it as you can't read the instructions in Swedish.
Pay for the USB and have them help you install it then & there. (This will save you the trip back to the apartment, frustration of trying to figure out Swedish instructions, and hasty trip back to the store with your laptop just before closing to plead for help).
To top up a Telenor card online, you need a Swedish bank account (go to http://ladda.telenor.se/ ; can view in English). It's 289 SEK/month or 89 SEK/week. I will have to go back to the store as I have no Swedish bank account, so I guess I should have paid for a month upfront. Boo.

Shipping Crap Halfway Around the World

2010-07-07T12:01:00.001-07:00

Soooo... it is kind of a huge pain in the behind to ship stuff internationally. And it takes a looong time... plan on 8 weeks (unless you are more organized in advance, or more lucky than me). Horror stories on the Internet abound.

Consider that you are probably bothering to ship only your most precious and beloved possessions... it is probably worth it to invest in a reputable moving company with responsive employees in whom you are comfortable placing your confidence that they will load, wrap, ship, get thru customs, unload, etc etc. for you.

There are lots of websites that have you enter just a few details & then you will be massively phone and email spammed by dozens of international moving companies (as I learned). They quote great rates, I'm sure some are legit, but this felt sketchy to me. Pay attention to your gut feeling.

I found a few good sources for picking a good moving company:

1. Better Business Bureau - if you already have a company in mind, search for them on the National page & you can see their ratings and the number of complaints in the last 3 years. They also have an article on avoiding scams. Or you can search by your ZIP code for well-rated local companies.

2. Movingscam.com: How to avoid scams, and pick a good company (they seem to accept advertising at this site, so not totally objective, but there are many positive and negative reviews for lots of companies, which is useful, and they list the most positively reviewed companies.

3. Another source is chat boards (such as Amerikanska, also here, or Mums in Sweden, under "Tips" (not just for Mums!)).
Many sources emphasize that the most accurate quotes will come from a home inspection... even though this feels like a pain, it's probably true. And it's kind of nice to have a feeling for the person/company you'll be entrusting all your stuff to before they show up and take over your stuff. Try to get at least 2-3 quotes (based on both price & weight); the average of these will probably be a pretty accurate estimate (and can be used to negotiate a better price with a higher-priced company who offers better service).

In the end, I felt most comfortable going with a local company in San Rafael that had been in business a long time, a member of the BBB and other trade organizations (and received an A+ rating on their website), with a responsive owner who gave me his cell & home phone numbers & did what he said he would, when he said he would. His rate was reasonable but not rock-bottom, but I appreciated the peace of mind. Plus, his wife is Swedish, and he is half Swedish!

I didn't initially realize that many, if not most, local moving companies will have established relationships with "freight forwarders" and can handle international moves. You don't necessarily have to use a company marketed as "international movers".

Things I learned about int'l moving:

Boxing stuff up: some companies ("port to port") will let you box your own stuff, bring it to the port & load into the container there. This is a way to save $ if budget is tight. Other companies ("door to door") include some or all of the packing themselves. The items can generally be insured against breakage only if the moving company packed them. A compromise that your moving company may be willing to make is to let you pack the boxes (save time/$) but leave them unsealed so the company can inspect them & verify them for the customs form.
Insurance may be affected by kind of service (door or port). Most moving companies include a very minimal insurance in the rate (on the order of $0.50 per pound; for us, around 3,000 lbs, this is only$1,500, whereas our total value will be something like $20K... so, the included insurance is essentially nothing. For repair/replacement insurance, it's generally around $25 per $1000 value and it will be through a marine insurance company (which the moving company is working with).

Containers: who knew there was so much to know about containers?? For door to door companies, they will somehow consolidate your stuff.
For smaller shipments, everything will either be palletized (shrink wrapped to pallets) or put in wooden "lift vans" or "lift crates" (see photo), about 7'x7'x 4'. These can hold 1,000-1,200 pounds. Figure about 15-17% loss due to dead space, etc., (~166 rather than 196 cubic feet in practice). These units will be put into 20' containers with other people's stuff. You pay by volume, and it may take longer to sail since you're waiting to accumulate a full container going to the same destination. Plus, possibly greater chance of "pilferage" (the shipping company speak for, getting ripped off), more handling/forklifting (so more chance of breakage), etc.
For larger shipments, you are looking at 20' or 40' steel containers. Just like on The Wire. Remember to leave breathing space for the Eastern European prostitutes trapped inside.
Article on estimating weight of household goods (note my movers say 45 lbs per item, not 40)
CUSTOMS & duties: Your stuff must go through Swedish customs. You can apply for relief from duties using the form on this page. (However, if you have a full service moving company, they should do this for you.)

International moving costs (find out what is included or not included in your quote):

Line haul charges

Furniture disassembly/wrapping
Boxing fragile stuff (moving company will not want to insure for breakage against things they did not pack themselves)
Prepare inventory
load into truck
fuel & mileage
container (crate/lift van/20 foot container)
door delivery at destination
unloading truck
unwrap furniture
remove packing debris
Insurance (basic may be included; extra is supplemental, see above)

Documents

Export documents
Bill of lading ($115)
C3 form (
customs & border clearance
Port fee/terminal handling/port security charge
Ocean freight
Agent fees

Tax relief from Sweden: http://www.tullverket.se/en/startpage/keywordsaz/az/movingtofromsweden/movingtoswedenfromacountryoutsidetheeu.4.16ca6de0120cf835feb80002326.htm

PACKING TIPS

Suggestions for "survival box" to open first (mark clearly)

Soap and toiletries
Towels
Facial and toilet tissue
First-aid kit
Instant coffee or tea
Snacks and instant foods
Paper plates and plastic utensils
Small pan or coffee pot to heat water
Trash bags
Light bulbs
Screwdriver and hammer
Knife or scissors to open boxes

Fragile stuff

Let moving company pack for insurance against breakage
If you pack yourself, do not stack dishes/framed paintings/etc. Have them upright, side by side, with padding in between. (This way, the weight of the other dishes is not bearing down on the bottom one).

Make sure you fill boxes to the top (use linens/clothing to save space) to avoid crushing.
If you have to pack any liquids (nothing explosive, flammable etc.), double-box inside a plastic container to isolate in case of spillage.
Leave out bulky items (pillows, bed spreads) rather than boxing- then they can be wrapped and used to fill small spaces, rather than having to fit in another box.
Use uniform-sized boxes as much as possible for efficient loading/stacking & best use of space.
Print out address labels with your name & telephone number on them, affix to all boxes.
Take photos of your stuff as you pack for insurance.
Make sure you bring the hooks and nails you need to hang paintings on the wall (perhaps tape the ones you were previously using to the back of the painting, or put them all in one place- a level and hammer would be useful too). It's a pain to arrive in your new place and have to go out to the hardware store for this.
Make sure you pack any tools needed to assemble furniture and bring them with you. Moment of panic when we arrived & the moving company said they couldn't put together my bed because it used standard rather than metric bolts, and they didn't have the right tools. Thankfully, I had them, otherwise this would have been a huge nightmare.

Electricity & Appliances

2010-07-04T23:55:00.000-07:00

US electricity is 120 volts at 60 Hz, and uses a plug shape with two flat parallel blades and sometimes a third, offset, flat grounding blade.

Swedish electricity is 240 volts, 50 Hz, and uses the "Europlug" (two round prongs).

Most things that run on a battery (laptop, iPod, camera) are designed to accept different voltages, so all you need is a cheap (grounded, usually) plastic adapter to change the shape of the plug. (Check for the UL label on your appliances; it will say "input: 100-240V").

Voltage converters (also called transformers) come in two flavors:
1. Smaller/cheaper, for low-wattage items like radios, shavers, etc.
2. Bigger/more expensive, for higher-wattage items (irons, TVs, refrigerators, etc.).

They will not convert the frequency (Hz, from 50-60). For most things this doesn't matter. Exceptions are things with internal clocks (clock radios, washing machines).

In considering what to bring, I looked at the cost of appliances in Sweden:
pricerunner.se
Clas Ohlsson
Electrolux

In our case, my company was paying for shipping, so it made sense to bring stuff that otherwise might be cheaper to buy there & plan to sell upon leaving Sweden, rather than paying to ship to Sweden & presumably back to the US someday.

For example, if you figure shipping costs around $14 per cubic foot (an average from reputable companies I got quotes from), then my Cuisinart (1.65 cubic feet boxed) costs $23 to ship there... and presumably the same to come back... plus the cost of a converter (about $110 + shipping for a big one for kitchen appliances)... it may start to make sense to buy stuff there for big things that are not that expensive.

More than you ever wanted to know about all electricity everywhere:
http://users.telenet.be/worldstandards/electricity.htm

Some helpful explanations of the electrical system in Europe, coming from the US:
http://www.german-way.com/electric.html

Resources for Expats

2010-05-18T16:28:00.000-07:00

International Club of Skane

American Women's Club, Malmo (also in Stockholm & Gutenburg)

EURAXESS, services for international researchers

Personnummer & Tax Office Registration & ID card

2010-05-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

Horror stories about getting the personnummer abound. However, I actually found the process of applying pretty painless. This website suggests going straight to the Tax Office (Skatterverket) in person, immediately, the day you arrive in Sweden, BEFORE unpacking or doing anything else. This is smart as just about everything else (bank account, cell phone, even your frequent shopper discount card at the grocery store!) will require you to have one.

I went to the Skatterverket office at Stora Södergatan 45 in Lund. (List of the location of offices in Sweden here; contact info for the Lund office here). I had heard I need an appointment with a translator- no. I took a number from the machine to be in the queue (ended up waiting about 30 minutes). The man at the counter gave me the form to apply for a personnummer (in Swedish) and a laminated copy in English, so I knew how to fill it out.

Various sources differ in listing the required documents. The Skatterverket brochure 717B says you need:

1. *Passport

2. *proof of residency ("uppehållstillstånd")/residence permit

3.* Official papers that certify civil status (married or sambo)

4. *Birth certificate for children

The thing is, your proof of residency and your work permit are both contained in your visa, which is in your passport... so what you need is your passport & your marriage certificate. And birth certificates, if you have kids. There is no charge to apply for a personnummer.

When your number is called, the person helping you will make sure the form is filled out correctly, make exacting color copies of your passports & marriage certificate, and put at least 3 extremely official-looking stamps on every page of the copies. He said that the decision will be delivered by mail within one month. This will consist of both registration ("folkbokförd") and the personnummer.

I was getting desperate when I hadn't gotten my personnummer after a month, and therefore couldn't open a bank account and access my money, couldn't have a regular cell phone instead of pre-paid, etc. I called the Skatteverket number and spoke to the customer service agent, and then her manager, and asked nicely if there was any way to speed up the process. Apparently there was enough desperation in my voice, as the guy helped me, and my personnummer arrived in the mail the next day.

When you have received this info by mail and you have a personnummer, you can return to your friends at Skatterverket to get your "personbevis."

The "personbevis" is an "extract from the population registry." Some sources imply that the personbevis is important. No one I talked to seemed to think so. The guy at Skatterverket asked why I needed it, and said it was basically superfluous since I had my personnummer and that was what was important, and meant I was in the system. (He said it was largely used by people who wanted to bring over other family members for later immigration.) However, he printed out a piece of paper for me saying "personbevis" on it (this was the guy behind the counter, I didn't have to wait in the queue to see someone).

Since I was already at Skatterverket, I asked if there was anything else I should do there. I was told that I had to go to the office in Malmö to apply for my ID card, since they don't offer that service in Lund. (You can get a bank giro slip from the office here, and then take it to the bank or Forex to pay.)

However, I was able to sign up for the social services program while I was at the Skatterverket office. Once I get my card in the mail (maybe a month or so?), I will be eligible for social benefits like health care, the pension system, etc. So this is important to take care of as soon as you get your personnummer, as otherwise you'll pay out of pocket for doctors visits, etc.

The LUFF website has additional info, but some of this did not apply for me or seems to be outdated.

OK, now it's time to apply for your ID card! (Identitetskort)

This will be your official ID in Sweden (as an alternative to your passport). Some sources state that you can apply at a bank or post office for this card. I asked at Nordea and they said they do not offer this service. As there are no longer real post offices in Sweden, just small service centers, I doubt that that would work, but you could always try.

In any case, at Skatteverket in Lund they told me I had to go to the Malmö office to apply for my ID card. Not the main Malmö office, mind you; the Malmö office at 7 Kattsundsgatan (open daily 08:00-18:00, located about a 15 minute walk from the train station).

I needed to bring:

My personnummer
My passport with the visa in it
The receipt showing I had paid the 400 SEK fee for the service (had to be done ahead of time, using Skatteverket bank giro note at Nordea; paying at Forex would be cheaper. I did it the same day and this was fine since I had the receipt showing I had paid. I believe you could go straight to the bank and pay the fee to bankgiro 389-0100, on a form showing your personnummer, but perhaps you need the official bankgiro form from Skatteverket.)

Some sources state that you need:

A Swedish person, who has a Swedish ID card (also personbevis) who can vouch for the identity of the applicant. The Skatteverket brochure SKV 721 specifies who this person can be (supposed to be a family member, or your boss, and/or someone who has known you for over one year).

However, if you have a new, fancy kind of visa with the special hologram sticker, that is considered electronic vouching for your identity, and you do not need to bring an attestor.

Other sources say that you need a photograph- not the case, they take your photo at the Skatteverket office.

It seems to me that you could go straight to the Skatteverket office in Malmö after receiving your personnummer, as the people there did not look at my personbevis paper. If you did this, you would need to pay the 400 SEK fee first before going to the Skatteverket office.

You will get a letter in the mail when your ID card is ready. You will then get to return to the office where you made the application, and pick it up in person.

Finding housing

2010-05-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

Be prepared that finding a suitable place to live from afar is time consuming and frustrating. Have patience and be resourceful & tireless... it will work out! And it's a huge relief to know you have a place to land when you arrive.

Write up a "housing wanted" ad describing a bit about yourself (include a picture to show what a nice, normal tenant you are) and what you're looking for, and send to EVERYONE you know in Sweden... your department, people you met for 2 minutes when you were there... word of mouth really helps.

Just like everywhere else, there are a few rotten apples... scammers who would love to cheat you out of your money, so be careful. (The first person to contact me wanted to rent me a nonexistant apartment, sight unseen, without someone able to check it out because he had "already moved overseas" and would mail me the keys... sketchy!!). It really helps for peace of mind to have a local contact available to check out the place and make sure everything seems OK.

In Sweden, they refer to the number of "rooms" as including a living room... so a 2 room apartment would be 1 bedroom + living room.

Note that many apartments in Sweden are owned by the state and work from a long waiting list that takes a year or more to make you eligible. You may want to sign up for those to increase your choices down the line, but you will probably have to find a private party rental at first.

This may be either "firsthand" (direct from the owner, how it is usually done in the US) or "andrahand", which is Google translated as "in the alternative" but I think should be thought of as "second-hand", meaning you are renting from a tenant (since people tend to keep their apartments for a long time, because they are so freaking hard to find!!!).

Websites to look for housing in Lund:

Helpful guide for students looking for housing in Lund here

1. http://www.blocket.se Swedish craigslist, the main source. Browse posted ads for free; posting a housing wanted ad costs about $15, and is how I found my place (and was contacted by several good possibilities, in addition the scammer; lots of people do not post their housing available, but instead look for a suitable tenant and contact them directly). However I needed a Swedish credit card to make this work, my US one did not.
Look at first listing (Lagenheter) under 3rd category (Bostad) from pulldown menu
(use Google Translate for individual listings, doesn't work for website. To mail the person who posted an ad, use the Swedish version of the website, the Translated version won't work. You can match the ad by time/date posted).

2. http://www.akelius.se/ Have to register, need mysterious number to do so

3. http://www.andrahand.se/ rent apartments, vacation rentals.

4. http://www.stenafastigheter.se/Bost%C3%A4der/LedigaBost%C3%A4der

vacant housing & parking spaces. None listed for Lund; most of their Malmo housing is listed in Boplats South

5. http://www.bopoolen.nu

6. http://www.andrahandsguiden.com/

guide to firsthand rentals in Sweden, can order book on same in Scania for 195 SEK (all in Swedish, not helpful)

7. http://www.bopoolen.se/

free listings, not much there. posted ad for housing wanted.

8. http://www.bostaddirekt.com/Default.aspx

9. http://www.stadsbostad.se/ application form to fill out,

requires personnummer. Cute, centrally located, downtown-ish apartments with character. need to get on list

10. http://www.lkf.lund.se

· To register:

· ”Nej” personnumer; make your number your yyyy-mm-dd of birthday.

· Have to click to ”register your interest” for available places to get on list to see them.

· dogs are allowed in all properties.

· average wait time 2 years.

Only for purchasing houses:

http://www.hemnet.se

http://bovision.se/ can’t get to work

http://www.hsb.se for sale, much untranslatable by google translate

Real Estate Swedish

bostadratt	tenant
Inneboende	Intrinsic/lodger
Radhus	townhouse
Hyresratt	Rental properties
bor i foraldrahem	Living in parental home
hyr lagenhet i andra hand	Rent apartment in the alternative
Lägenhet	apartment
Ort	city
Hyra	lease
· Min och Max antal rum:	Min & max # rooms
Våning:	Floor (ground, etc)
Yta/Boyta	Area (m²)
2:a våningen /1 trappa upp	2nd floor/ 1 stair up
Våning	floor
Hiss	Elevator
balkong	Balcony
Byggår	built
Diskmaskin	dishwasher
Tvättutrustning	Washing machine
Tvätt	Laundry room
Sovrum	bedroom
Vardagsrum	Living room
Kök	kitchen
Bad	bathroom
Bytes	Housing exchange

Visa & residence paperwork

2010-05-18T15:21:00.000-07:00

You must have arranged a residence permit (Uppehållstillstånd) and a work permit (Arbetstillstånd) before leaving home.

WORK PERMIT INFO

Offer of Employment Form no. 232011

This form must be filled out by your employer before you can apply for a work visa.

Your employer must also demonstrate that the position was advertised in Sweden and the EU for 10 days. I can't find a form for this on the website, but not having this delayed my application by several weeks (unbeknownst to me), so make sure your employer speaks with Migrationsverket and demonstrates this correctly.

You can apply electronically for a work permit here. They list a 3 week turnaround. DON'T BELIEVE THEM! Especially over the summer, when most everyone in Sweden is on vacation and things don't happen very fast. It took me exactly 2 months to get approval, plus time to send in my visa to DC upon approval.

***note, only supported on MS Explorer, must be from a Windows machine, boo!

***You will need good quality, yet small file size (<1MB) scans of your documents

*** In addition to the documents listed on the website (passport, offer of employment), you will also need a scan of your marriage certificate if you are applying with a spouse. You won't find this out until the very last page of the application. So if you have ridden your bike to your sister's house to use her PC computer, you will have to ride it back up the hill with your memory stick and scan your marriage certificate at your house, then go back down and finish the application. So scan it ahead of time!

Swedish Embassy in DC is 202-467-2600. Press 9 to speak to customer service. Visa phone hour (where you can speak to someone who actually knows something) is between 11am-noon EST, Monday through Friday except Tuesday, so call then.

The visa folks in DC will only be able to answer procedural questions. The actual visa process happens in Sweden at Migrationsverket. To find out the status of your visa (i.e., why is it taking so long and when will it be ready), you have to call them directly: +46-771-235-235 (press 2 for customer service, then press 1 for English). Or you can check the status of your application online here, but this requires you know your case number (not your check number), which I only received from speaking to someone at Migrationsverket (if it is ever shown during the application process, WRITE IT DOWN, as you won't receive an email or any other record with it). Note that they are only open from 8:30am-12:30pm from July 19- August 6.

Once your application is approved by Migrationsverket, they will communicate electronically with the embassy in DC who actually issues the visa. At this point, you must mail your materials to the embassy in DC. There are not specific instructions for electronic application on the DC website, but they told me that all that's needed is your passport, 2 passport photos, and a check for return postage ($10 regular, $17 overnight).

The address is:
Embassy of Sweden
Attn: Visa Section
2900 K Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20007

You have already paid the processing fee, and they will look you up by last name so you don't need to include other information. They said they were able to do this overnight once the visa is approved. Today is Thursday. I will FedEx them so they get there Friday. They said they will issue the sticker Monday and mail Tuesday, or Wednesday by the latest. Plenty of time to catch our flight on Sunday, phew!

Alternatively, you can apply through the mail, filling out these two forms and sending passports, photos, and all documentation by mail. This takes 2-3 months, during which time you won't have your passport, so electronic is preferred.

Visa application for person with offer of employment:

http://www.swedenabroad.com/Page____78924.aspx

Visa application for accompanying spouse:

http://www.swedenabroad.com/Page____84641.aspx

Moving a dog to Sweden

2010-05-18T09:40:00.000-07:00

To bring your dog to Sweden, you need this info:

The US is considered a "listed third country"- follow those regulations.

Note that you need an international ISO approved microchip... the one Lodi already had isn't one. Must be a 15 digit microchip, scanning at 134.2 kHz... see more info here.

The new international standard Home Again microchip cost $34.

The microchip must be done first, as the number needs to be listed on all vaccination records.
You should put the manufacturer of the chip on the dog's collar so if he is lost, they can look in the correct database for identifying information.

If the dog currently has a non-ISO standard microchip, you have two options:
1. Buy/borrow your own scanner that can read it, and bring it with you to Sweden (& for all future EC border crossings)
2. Get an ISO standard chip.

Info from Karin, the lovely and very helpful woman at the Swedish Board of Agriculture Customer Service (+46- 771 - 223 223, press 7 for English)
If the dog was never microchipped, he must be microchipped, then vaccinated for rabies, wait 120 days, send sample to lab.

However, if the dog has an old non-ISO chip and current rabies vaccination, you may give him a new microchip and then draw the sample for rabies the same day. Make sure you implant the chip before drawing the sample. The vet must note both the old and new chip number and date of implantation.

Because Lodi is almost due for his booster, we will be implanting the new chip, then drawing the sample, then giving him his booster. This way, if his levels are not sufficient from his antibody test, we will be that much closer to the 120 days.

Labs to send for rabies test (The website lists only labs in the EU).

List of EC labs to send rabies:

However, Karin said that you may use a lab in the US that meets USDA and veterinary organization standards. As Karin said, "that means they are following the world standards." Further, she said that the customs office will not be checking to see if the lab is an approved lab, only if it were to go to further investigation.

Apparently this lab in Kansas meets the standards.

They will need 2mL of serum, sent overnight via FedEx, packed on ice for shipping (should arrive between Monday & Friday).

Cost for rabies FAVN titer test: $50 for vet to do exam & draw blood; they gave me the shipping box for free; $60 to overnight the package to Kansas (maybe look for a smaller box that can contain an ice pack, the vial is tiny but the box was about 8" x 8" so it was expensive); $54 for Kansas to run the test & send results to the vet. Total: $164.

You can call the Kansas lab (785-532-4483) and give them your pet's microchip number, & they will look up the status. (However, they can only tell you whether the test was complete, not whether he passed; they send that info to your vet). They completed the test in one month and mailed the results to our vet. Allow 6 weeks for this process.

Regarding the point of entry, although the checklist says "the animal must enter via one of the border inspection posts in Gothenburg or Stockholm," Karin said it was OK to fly into Copenhagen and then take the train or whatever. This means the dog will be declared to Danish customs, and then to Swedish customs (if driving, have to stop; if on the train, only present papers if asked by customs officials). Karin said, "We in Sweden have the most difficult rules of import of dogs; they have the tapeworm in Denmark, and let you enter 21 days after the rabies vaccination. So if it's OK in Sweden, it's definitely OK in Denmark."

See the Jordbruks Verket publication "Import into Sweden of Cats and Dogs" for a checklist.

This EC page has the vet form available for download directly (the Swedish page makes you order it by mail):
http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/liveanimals/pets/nocomm_third_en.print.htm