So, let’s say you’ve been living in Stockholm, or in another big city for a while. You don’t own a car, because a) public transport is excellent, and b) you ride your bicycle pretty much everywhere pretty much year round. But then your sambo announces that he/she got a job in the sticks. And so you have to move, and buy a car, and drive everyday, even to buy milk and bread. And suddenly, you are faced with the challenge of getting a Swedish driver’s license.

If you are from an EU country, or from Switzerland and have permanent residency in Sweden, it’s easy, you can just saunter down to your nearest Länsstyrelsen office (or depending on what kind of setup your län has, it might be a Transportstyrelsen office, either way, it should be normally be somewhere near a Vägverket office) to exchange your current driver’s license for a Swedish one. The process is very straightforward – you just fill out some papers, pay some money and voila – your Swedish license will come in the mail.

Technically, you can drive in Sweden using your home country’s license for one year. After one year you should exchange it for a Swedish one (if you can), or go through the process of getting a Swedish license from scratch.

“Do I have to do that?” I hear you say. Well, it technically yes. But it all depends on how long you are planning to stay in Sweden. Let’s say, you are here on a two-year job contract and have no intention of staying in Sweden longer than that. And you have a license from your home country that is still good and valid. What can you do then?

There is a little-known option that allows you to drive in Sweden using your foreign license for longer than a year, providing that you can prove that you’re staying in the country only for a certain, limited time period. Like a two-year job contract. How to arrange this? First, make sure that your UT (uppehållstillstånd) is of the limited-time and job dependent variety, and not the permanent “spouse-visa” kind. Then you will need a letter from your employer confirming that and kindly asking Länsstyrelsen and Transportstyrelsen to allow you to drive on your foreign license for the duration of your contract.

You take that letter, your passport, proof of employment, your foreign driver’s license (if it’s in a funky language, get it translated into Swedish first!) and go down to the Länsstyrelsen (or in some place – Transportstyrelsen) office. Ask for the person who handles foreign driver’s license exchanges. Explain the situation to the person in charge of this process and get a paper to fill out. Don’t worry, Swedish officials are a very helpful sort (even if they don’t look it at first glance) and if you have any questions about the form you’re supposed to fill out, just ask. It’s also a well-known fact that they will not volunteer any information unless asked directly, so just ask away.

If your paperwork is all in order and your foreign license is valid and looks legitimate, you will be given a paper with payment info. After you transfer the applicable amount (don’t forget to put your personnummer in the reference field!), you sit back and wait. After a week or so, you should receive an official letter stating that you are legal to drive in Sweden using your foreign license for a certain time period, one year, or two years, or until your license expires, whichever comes first. Be sure to carry that letter with you at all times when you drive. And you’re good to go.

This handy bit of information is missing from the official Körkortsportalen website, and normally, this option will not be explained to you when you go down to the office to inquire about changing your foreign license to a Swedish one. Not so long ago, I was helping my friend with this process, and the lady at the office simply said: “Your friend didn’t ask about this specific option.” True, but she didn’t ask, because she didn’t know about it.

But then the lady very cheerfully explained that it was indeed possible, accepted the paperwork, copied my friend’s foreign driver’s license (American) and passport, and handed us a payment slip on which she marked the appropriate reference number and hand wrote the sum of 700 kronor. And that was all. Ten days later my friend got a letter stating that it was OK for her to drive on her American license even after her one year in Sweden was over.

However, as always, when dealing with all information that covers “official” stuff, please re-confirm all details with the appropriate authorities before attempting this process. And as always, when dealing with any Swedish officials, please follow the “three questions” rule - ask three different people the same question and then do what they majority said.

I will write more about driving in Sweden in the near future.