Background story
When I travelled back to Sweden with my wife for ~9 months ago I assumed that to enrol in SFI (Swedish for immigrants) you would need to have resident permit or a Swedish personal number, and we didn’t have in mind to apply it at the time.
First after being in Sweden together for a couple of months, and she was wanting to study Swedish, I looked into it and I understood it first as she needs a coordination number (samordningsnummer) so we did apply for it stating in the form we apply for the reason to study at SFI.
My wife applied to SFI in April/May month shift and was told it may take several months, I read online it takes up to 3 months.
However, at start of July after 2 months had passed, I told her we may check up if they can estimate when you get to study at SFI.
So we sent a mail asking how long it may take, and they wrote my wife needs a personal number first. I was surprised and asked how come, that we were told before we are in queue already, and to my knowledge you don’t need personal number.
Meanwhile, I wrote to Skolverket (The National Agency for Education) asking about it. They were fast to respond, telling me they cannot refuse her to enrol in SFI with reason about not having Swedish personal number.
Towards the end of the day, SFI responded to me explaining they misunderstood our case and wrote later this year my wife will be contacted and able to enrol in SFI.
Common misinformation
I would state this about needing a Swedish personal number is something many may believe, even those working at SFI. Because I have heard similar cases where people are denied because they have no Swedish personal number.
This is why I decided to write a post about it, so those who actually want to learn Swedish and maybe get more support and motivation to do so while they are in Sweden waiting for resident permit (which take extremely long time), that they may stumble upon this post.
Requirements to enrol in SFI
Skolverket – rätt till SFI ( right to SFI ) over here you may find the most recent information! But as of today, a day in July 2024 the rules are:
A person has the right to participate in SFI (Swedish for Immigrants) from the second half of the calendar year in which they turn 16 years old. This applies if they:
- are residing in Sweden, and
- lack the basic knowledge of the Swedish language that the education aims to provide.
People may interpret residing in Sweden as for needing a resident permit already? I did, but read further:
Can a person have the right to participate in SFI (Swedish for Immigrants) without being or intending to be registered in Sweden?
Yes, according to the application of the Education Act, certain categories of persons are considered residents in Sweden, even if they are not or will not be registered here. The right to SFI also extends to persons who are entitled to education due to:
- EU law
- the agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA)
- the agreement between the EU and its member states and Switzerland on the free movement of persons.
The person must also meet the other conditions for the right to SFI.
This means you don’t need to be registered in Sweden, which you only can be with a resident permit or any permit that, regardless – will also then allow you to get a Swedish personal number anyway.
At the end, there regard other conditions, I am not sure what those other conditions are. What it states however is asylum seekers and unidentified people living in Sweden are not eligible to enrol in SFI.
Ending words
So in my wife’s case, she is married to me (a Swedish citizen), waiting for resident permit decision and are expecting a baby with me. And I’m not sure that you need to hit all those criteria to be eligible for SFI, but if you do and are denied start SFI – and if rules hasn’t changed (visit link in post), then go ahead educate them that you don’t need the Swedish personal number.
I would also encourage, regardless, to study Swedish on your own! My wife have been using Duolingo, Drops and now also Swedish courses at Udemy.
You may as well attend language café (Språkcafé), you may find them in your city! Consistency is key really, so learn daily even if it’s just a short amount of time.
0 Comments