Get your skills and degree recognised in Sweden

In Swedish, validering means having what you know formally assessed, wherever you learned it: in a classroom, on the job, in voluntary work or in everyday life. The point is to turn skills you cannot document into something an employer or a school will accept.

At the Swedish Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen), validation is a structured assessment of your vocational skills in one occupation. An assessor checks them with practical tasks and theoretical questions, measured against the requirements of that trade. If you pass, you get a certificate or a grade that the Swedish labour market recognises. You can also get recommendations on what you would need to add, which can shorten the road to a job or to further study.

A validation takes anywhere from a few days to several weeks.

Arbetsförmedlingen has a short film on what validation is and how it can help you, subtitled in English, on its English validation page.

Validation is not the same as degree recognition

Arbetsförmedlingen's validation is built for practical occupations. If your question is "what is my master's degree or PhD worth in Sweden?" or "can I work here as a doctor or teacher?", the answer lies with other authorities: the Swedish Council for Higher Education for degrees, and a licensing authority for regulated professions. Both are covered further down.

Validation is meant for people who need their competence formally recognised. Two conditions apply.

First, you must be registered as a job seeker with Arbetsförmedlingen.

Second, at least one of these must fit your situation:

• your skills come from outside formal education, for example from a hobby, voluntary work or an association
• your diploma or certificates are from another country and are not accepted on the Swedish labour market
• you are 25 or older
• you have a disability
• you are at least 18 and, because of special circumstances, find it particularly hard to get into the labour market

Meeting a condition is not a guarantee. An employment officer looks at your situation and decides whether validation is the right support for you, and the government sets the rules on who is ultimately entitled to it.

1. Get in touch. Contact Arbetsförmedlingen and be ready to explain how a recognised certificate would improve your chances of getting a job.
2. Review your background. You and an employment officer go through your earlier work, training and experience. Based on that, the officer judges whether validation suits you.
3. Decision. What support you are offered depends on your situation, within rules set by the government.
4. Choose a provider. Validation is carried out by a professional assessor (yrkesbedömare) at a provider that has a contract with Arbetsförmedlingen. You choose the provider yourself, most easily with the search tool described below, and tell Arbetsförmedlingen your choice. It then books the first free place for you.
5. Show what you can do. The assessor tests your skills in that occupation against its knowledge requirements.
6. Get the result.
   • If you meet the requirements, you receive a grade or certificate. Use it when you apply for jobs, or as a starting point if you want to train further.
   • If you meet only some of them, you get a written account plus a certificate for the parts you passed, and advice on what to add, for example a course.
7. Plan the next step. Back with Arbetsförmedlingen, you agree on a new plan: applying for jobs with your certificate, or filling the gaps first.

Put the result on your CV under qualifications or certificates, with the occupation and the date. Our guide on writing a CV shows where it fits.

Arbetsförmedlingen's search tool, Hitta validering, lists validation places by occupation and location. It is in Swedish only, although the main validation page also exists in English, Arabic and Russian.

1. Click Välj yrke (choose occupation), pick an occupational area and then the occupation you want assessed.
2. Type your address, town or municipality and press Sök (search) to see the nearest places.
3. When you find one that suits you, tell Arbetsförmedlingen which provider you chose.

Occupations you can be validated in

At the time of writing (October 2026), the tool covered these occupations. The Swedish name is what you will see in the search.

The start page shows cards for only five of these areas (building, installation, manufacturing, health care and hospitality), and which places are open changes over time. At the time of writing, the open slots we could see were all construction trades at a single provider in Gothenburg. Search for your own occupation and town before you count on a place.

If you are highly educated: the tool has no academic or professional-degree occupations. Searching for "engineer", "researcher" or "economist" will find nothing. Use the degree and licensing routes below instead.

Validation through Arbetsförmedlingen counts as taking part in one of its programmes. That brings some money and some obligations. The full rules are on the page When you take part in a programme, translated by Arbetsförmedlingen and certified translators into English, Arabic, Russian and Ukrainian.

Money

Once Arbetsförmedlingen has decided you need a programme, you apply to the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan) for one of three benefits:

• activity support (aktivitetsstöd)
• development allowance (utvecklingsersättning)
• establishment allowance (etableringsersättning), if you are in the introduction programme for new arrivals

Payment depends on following the programme's conditions. Breaking them can stop your compensation for one or more days.

Obligations

• Absence. Report it on the first day you are ill or need to stay home with a sick child (VAB). Late reports can cost you compensation for those days.
• Time off. As a rule you cannot take leave from a programme, with a few exceptions listed by Arbetsförmedlingen.
• Monthly activity report. Every month, between the 1st and the 14th, report what you did to get closer to a job.
• Stricter rules since 1 June 2026. The government has tightened the rules on unauthorised absence and on failing to apply for an education that Arbetsförmedlingen has told you to apply for. Read the summary of the new rules before you start.

Travel and insurance

• If the validation takes place somewhere you cannot commute to every day, you can apply for compensation for travel and accommodation. The same applies to a job interview in another area.
• In some cases you are covered by personal injury and group life insurance through the Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency (Kammarkollegiet) and the National Government Employee Pensions Board (Statens tjänstepensionsverk). This cover does not apply to support for starting a business.
• If you damage something by accident, the organiser may claim compensation for it.

For academic and other formal education, the authority to know is the Swedish Council for Higher Education (Universitets- och högskolerådet, UHR). As Sweden's ENIC-NARIC office, it compares completed foreign education at upper secondary, post-secondary vocational and higher education level with the Swedish system. Its work follows the Lisbon Recognition Convention: a foreign qualification is recognised unless there is a substantial difference.

Two ways to get an answer

• The Qualifications Assessment Tool. A free self-service with ready-made comparisons for more than 1,000 qualifications. Find your country and degree, then download a PDF that explains the Swedish equivalent. You get the answer right away.
• An individual recognition statement (utlåtande). If your degree is not in the tool, apply online. The application is free of charge and you do not need a Swedish personal identity number. UHR gives an average wait of about two to four months once your application is complete, while one of its pages says about two to five months, so expect it to vary.

What you need to apply

• your degree certificate or diploma, including the back
• a transcript listing your subjects, credits, grades and any degree project
• authorised translations into Swedish or English if the documents are not in English, French, Spanish, German or a Nordic language (you cannot translate them yourself)
• proof that you may apply: a Swedish personal identity number, EU/EEA citizenship, or, for non-EU citizens, a passport plus a Swedish residence or work permit (or a few other documents UHR lists)

Everything is uploaded as PDF. Some countries need extra documents, listed on UHR's site. If you are a refugee or cannot get your documents for another good reason, UHR may still assess post-secondary education from a detailed background description you write.

What the statement says, and what it does not

• It names the Swedish degree and level your education compares to and describes its focus. No credits or course lists are given.
• It is a digitally signed PDF, always in Swedish, because it is written for the Swedish labour market.
• It is not a Swedish degree. It works alongside your original diploma, not instead of it.
• If your education is substantially different, you get a letter explaining why, often pointing you to another authority.
• If you think the decision is wrong, ask UHR to review it, or appeal to the administrative court through UHR within three weeks of receiving it.

When it helps

You can apply for jobs and university places without a statement. For most unregulated professions, the employer decides what counts. But a statement or a PDF from the tool makes an unfamiliar degree easy to read, so it is worth attaching to applications in Sweden, for university and research posts as much as for other jobs. Treat it as optional support, not a requirement. Employers can also email UHR with questions about a foreign qualification.

If you never finished a degree and want to continue it in Sweden, contact the university you want to study at about transferring your credits. UHR does not assess part of a degree.

In regulated professions, Swedish law decides who may work in the job or use the title. To work in one, you apply to that profession's competent authority. A UHR statement or Arbetsförmedlingen certificate is not enough. UHR keeps the list of regulated professions and their authorities.

Health care: the National Board of Health and Welfare

The National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) issues licences (legitimation) for 22 health professions, including doctor, nurse, midwife, dentist, dental hygienist, pharmacist, prescriptionist, psychologist, psychotherapist, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, speech and language pathologist, dietitian, audiologist, biomedical scientist, radiographer, medical physicist, optician, orthopaedic engineer, chiropractor, naprapath and healthcare counsellor. The titles are protected. Assistant nurse is not licensed but is a protected title, so Socialstyrelsen issues proof of the title. Keep that in mind if you plan to validate as an undersköterska. Doctors, dentists and nurses can also have a specialist qualification recognised.

If you trained in the EU or EEA, recognition follows the EU directive on professional qualifications (2005/36/EC). For a doctor, for example, you send your diploma, a certificate of conformity with the directive, and a certificate of good standing no older than three months, both from the competent authority in your country (not your university), plus proof of Swedish, Danish or Norwegian at about level C1. You also need a Swedish personal identity number or coordination number. Socialstyrelsen can ask the Swedish Tax Agency to assign one. There is an application fee.

If you trained outside the EU and EEA, the route is longer, usually two to four years:

1. Have your education assessed. No Swedish needed yet, and you need not live in Sweden.
2. Pass a proficiency test, where your profession has one (doctors do, for example).
3. Take a course in Swedish health care laws and regulations.
4. Complete supervised clinical training.
5. Apply for the licence, with proof of your Swedish.

Some professions can instead take a complementary programme at a Swedish university. Places are limited and many universities first want Socialstyrelsen's decision that your education is equivalent. Either way, start learning Swedish early: our guide to learning Swedish covers the options. While you wait, you may work in a health job that needs no licence. Start at Socialstyrelsen's licence application page.

Other regulated professions

• Teachers and preschool teachers: the Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket) issues certification. With a foreign degree you also need sufficient Swedish and must meet some national requirements.
• Building, energy and lift professions: the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning (Boverket).
• Electrical contractors: the National Electrical Safety Board (Elsäkerhetsverket).
• Veterinary professions: the Swedish Board of Agriculture (Jordbruksverket).
• Authorised interpreters and translators: Kammarkollegiet.
• Real estate agents: the Swedish Estate Agents Inspectorate.
• Lawyers (advokat): the Swedish Bar Association. Auditors: the Swedish Inspectorate of Auditors. Sea and air professions: the Swedish Transport Agency.

Some jobs, for example in the police and the courts, also require Swedish citizenship.

Validation in Sweden is spread across many organisations. The Swedish National Agency for Higher Vocational Education (Myndigheten för yrkeshögskolan, MYH) holds the overall national responsibility for validation, but does not validate anyone itself. Its role is to set the frame:

• Branch validation (branschvalidering). Industries run their own validation models, backed by employers and unions, and these are nationally recognised. Because they test exactly what the industry asks for, they are often the best choice when the goal is a job and a professional certificate. MYH supports industries in building these models and publishes a branch validation map of which models are available in each region. The map also shows which models Arbetsförmedlingen has procured. UHR also points to industry associations and unions as the place to ask about professional requirements.
• SeQF. MYH runs the Swedish Qualifications Framework, which places qualifications on eight levels, linked to the European EQF. A master's degree, a higher vocational diploma or an industry certificate can each get a level, which makes qualifications from work and from study easier to compare at home and abroad. The level says how advanced a qualification is, not how long it took. See SeQF in English.
• Validation for study. If you want to study rather than work, a university can assess your prior learning (reell kompetens) from work, volunteering or other experience against a programme's entry requirements. You apply together with your application to the programme. Read prior learning and exemptions on studera.nu.
• Shortening a course. If you are about to study a subject you partly know already, you can often have that knowledge validated and skip some courses. Ask the school or university how it handles this.

Getting a qualification recognised often costs money for certified copies, translations and fees. If you are moving between European countries for a job, the EURES Targeted Mobility Scheme (TMS Sweden), run with Arbetsförmedlingen, can pay a flat contribution of at most EUR 440 towards recognition costs.

You may qualify if:

• you are 18 or older and a citizen and resident of an EU country, Norway or Iceland, or hold EU long-term resident status in an EU country other than Denmark or Ireland
• you are moving to work in another of these countries than the one you live in, and not back to your home country or a country where you lived before
• you are in contact with a EURES Adviser and get help from them
• you have a job offer or are shortlisted for one, or, if not yet recruited, recognition would clearly improve your chances in a field with hard-to-fill jobs

Conditions:

• You apply only after an official recognition process has started, meaning your request has been sent to the competent authority in your new country.
• Copies and translations are not covered if there is no official process.
• Your employer or anyone else must not already be paying for the recognition.
• The job must normally last at least six months at 50 percent of full time or more, be publicly advertised, and come with a written contract and fair pay. Work-based traineeships can last three to six months.

Jobs that do not qualify:

• posts with EU institutions and bodies, with other international organisations (policy, economic, social or scientific), with supranational regulators and their agencies, and with EEA networks or lobbies funded mainly by the EU
• telemarketing and other sales jobs, firms where staff turn over quickly, jobs that begin with unpaid trial days, and pay by commission only with no fixed wage
• posted work, where you are employed in one country but work in another
• work-based training that is compulsory to enter a profession, for example in medicine, law, architecture or the aircraft industry
• freelance work and self-employment
• internships and apprenticeships
• babysitting, au pair and nanny jobs

Send the application form with your ID, the diploma being recognised, a copy of your recognition request, receipts for what you paid and a bank document showing your IBAN. An incomplete application is delayed. TMS checks with your EURES Adviser and the employer before deciding, and there is no legal right to the money. On the form you confirm that your information is correct, and TMS may check afterwards that the money was used for recognition and claim it back if the conditions were not met. Details and forms are on the TMS page for job seekers.

Once your skills or degree are recognised, browse open positions that match them.