Learning Swedish in Sweden: SFI, komvux and what the state offers newcomers

Keerthi Murugesan writes Sweden Unpacked. Moved to Sweden from India and went through every step here: the permit, the personnummer queue, the bank, BankID, the first tax return.

This guide is for anyone who has moved to Sweden and wants to know how adults learn Swedish through the public system. It is written most of all for partners and families, who often arrive without a job that comes with language support. It is not for people on a short visit, who have no right to public Swedish tuition. For trip questions, start at planning a trip to Sweden.

Three bodies are involved, and each owns a different gate. The kommun (the municipality) runs the language courses and the civic orientation. Länsstyrelsen (the county administrative board) follows up the civic orientation. Arbetsförmedlingen (the Swedish Public Employment Service) runs the establishment programme. Knowing which body owns which gate tells you whom to contact.

Prerequisites: what decides which doors open

Before any step applies, four facts about you decide the route. Check them first.

• Your residence status. Skollagen (the Education Act, 2010:800) gives the right to SFI to a person who is "bosatt", resident in the country. Skolverket states that people who have applied for asylum and people without a permit have no right to SFI or other komvux.
• Your folkbokföring (population registration). Folkbokföring is not the gate. Skollagen 29 kap. 2 § counts you as resident if you should be registered, and Skolverket says the right to SFI "inte är beroende av om hen har ett personnummer eller samordningsnummer". Skolverket also counts certain groups as resident "även om de inte är folkbokförda här", even if they are not registered: people with rights under EU law, the EEA agreement or the free-movement agreement with Switzerland. Registration still leads to your personnummer, which you need for much else. See how the personnummer works.
• Your age. SFI starts from the second half of the calendar year you turn 16. Etableringsprogrammet covers people who have turned 20 but not 67.
• Your permit type. Refugee, protection and family-of-refugee permits open the establishment programme. Samhällsorientering covers refugee and protection permits and also most family permits, including a partner permit to join someone living in Sweden. SFI and komvux depend on residence, not on permit type. See residence and work permits and partner and family permits.

The system in one view: four layers and who owns each

The public offer is a stack of layers. Each has its own legal basis and its own owner, and they overlap only where the rules say so.

SFI and komvux are open on a rights basis to anyone who meets the conditions. The last two rows work differently, because the law names the permit categories they cover.

SFI: who qualifies, the folkbokföring link and what it costs

SFI is the entry point for adults who do not speak Swedish. Informationsverige.se describes it as "en utbildning i svenska för dig som inte har svenska som modersmål", an education in Swedish for people whose mother tongue is not Swedish.

Who qualifies. Skolverket sets out the rule. You have the right to SFI from the second half of the calendar year you turn 16. You must also be resident in Sweden and lack the basic Swedish the course aims to give. The age rule is the first cut. A 15-year-old, or a person who already has basic Swedish, is outside it.

The folkbokföring link. Informationsverige.se tells readers they qualify if they are "folkbokförd eller ska bli folkbokförd i en kommun", registered or about to be registered. In practice, your hemkommun is the kommun where you are registered, and that kommun must see to it that SFI is offered. Skollagen 29 kap. 2 § goes further: "Med bosatt i landet avses den som ska vara folkbokförd här enligt folkbokföringslagen (1991:481)". If you have moved here to live, you already have the right while your registration is pending. The kommun cannot require a personnummer before you start.

What it costs. Nothing for the tuition. Informationsverige.se states "Utbildningen är gratis", and Skolverket says of komvux and SFI that "utgångspunkten är att utbildningen ska vara avgiftsfri". Skollagen 20 kap. 7 b § sets the main rule: "Elever inom utbildning i svenska för invandrare ska utan kostnad ha tillgång till läroböcker, andra läromedel och andra lärverktyg som behövs." Skolverket also allows isolated elements with a negligible cost, and the school may decide that students bring a few learning tools of their own.

How long the right lasts. Since 1 January 2026, the right to SFI applies for three years from the day you are first admitted. If you were admitted before 1 January 2026, your three years run from that date (skollagen 20 kap. 31 a §). A municipality can extend the right if you have special reasons linked to your personal circumstances and the period has not yet run out. Skolverket says extensions add up to three years at most.

How fast the kommun must move. Skolverket states that, unless there are special reasons, the course should be able to start within three months. Contact your kommun to apply.

What else changed in 2026. When you are admitted, the kommun must assess your knowledge unless an assessment is clearly unnecessary. Each kommun must also draw up an action plan for reaching people who have the right to SFI. A new course structure and new syllabuses take effect on 1 January 2027.

Komvux and svenska som andraspråk: the step after SFI

Komvux is the umbrella. Skolverket defines it as an education for adults who lack primary or secondary education, or who want to complete an earlier education. Komvux offers SFI as one of its courses.

Svenska som andraspråk, usually shortened to sva, means Swedish as a second language. It is a different course from SFI. Informationsverige.se puts the order plainly: "Om du är klar med dina sfi-studier kan du fortsätta att läsa svenska som andraspråk."

Skolverket's material for newly arrived adults says students can "kombinera kurser på olika nivåer utifrån sina behov, förutsättningar och mål", combining courses at different levels to fit their needs.

Skollagen also gives adults a right to basic-level komvux from the second half of the calendar year they turn 20, with further conditions that your kommun can explain. Ask your kommun's vuxenutbildning which route fits your education so far.

You can also study SFI at some folkhögskolor (folk high schools). Informationsverige.se says so directly: "Du kan också studera sfi på vissa folkhögskolor."

Apply now, even before your personnummer arrives

If your registration is still pending, apply to SFI through your kommun now. Informationsverige.se says you qualify if you are "folkbokförd eller ska bli folkbokförd", and Skolverket says the right does not depend on a personnummer or samordningsnummer. Alongside the course, you can use the free material that Informationsverige.se, the national information site for newcomers, lists on its page for learning Swedish. Among its options are the language app "Hej svenska", exercises and films, and links to news in easy Swedish.

They are self-study material that supplements SFI, not a course with a right attached. For the registration itself, see personnummer, ID and BankID.

Samhällsorientering: the 100-hour civic orientation

Samhällsorientering (civic orientation) is a course about how Swedish society works, not a language course. Länsstyrelsen states that every kommun must, under the law, see to it that newly arrived immigrants are offered it.

The law is lag (2013:156) om samhällsorientering för vissa nyanlända invandrare. Under 3 §, each kommun must offer it to the newly arrived immigrants who are registered in the kommun and covered by the law. Sections 1 a and 2 define the covered group. It is newly arrived immigrants who are at least 18, below pension age and folkbokförda in a kommun. They must also hold one of the residence permits named in the law. Refugee and protection permits are covered under 1 a §. Under 2 §, so are most family permits, including a partner permit to join someone living in Sweden (5 kap. 3 § utlänningslagen), and EU family residence cards. It does not cover EEA or Swiss citizens (2 a §). The kommun's duty "upphör tre år efter det att den nyanlände första gången folkbokfördes i en kommun", ending three years after you were first registered (4 §), so ask early.

Länsstyrelsen sets out the content:

• It covers at least one hundred hours.
• It should if possible be given in your mother tongue or another language you master well.
• It follows eight blocks: arriving in Sweden, living in Sweden, supporting yourself and developing in Sweden, family and children, influencing in Sweden, health, ageing, and individual rights and duties.

The kommun delivers it. Länsstyrelsen "ansvarar för att följa upp samhällsorienteringen". Informationsverige.se publishes "Om Sverige", the written material the course is based on, which anyone can read.

Arbetsförmedlingen: which newcomers get which service

Arbetsförmedlingen splits newcomers into two groups, and the line follows the permit.

Everyone with the right to work. Arbetsförmedlingen says its services are available to anyone who has the right to work in Sweden. Check that your permit allows work before you register. For job-search routes, see finding work in Sweden.

People in the etableringsprogrammet. The programme is narrower. Arbetsförmedlingen states: "Du kan delta i etableringsprogrammet om du har fyllt 20 men inte 67 år och nyligen har fått uppehållstillstånd som flykting, skyddsbehövande eller om du är anhörig till flykting eller skyddsbehövande."

Participants can be in it for 24 months in total, and only within 36 months from the day they were first registered in a kommun (förordning 2017:820 15 §). Arbetsförmedlingen counts the 36 months from when you got your personnummer, so a late start costs months. It includes language training for people without basic Swedish, and samhällsorienterande utbildning (civic orientation). Participants can apply to Försäkringskassan for ersättning, the establishment benefit.

If your permit is not a refugee, protection or family-of-refugee permit, you are outside the programme's target group. Your route is SFI through your kommun, plus your own registration at Arbetsförmedlingen if you want to work. See work rights and a-kassa for the insurance side.

Which layer applies to you

The permit rows turn on the exact permit category in your decision letter. Read the grounds named there, then ask your kommun. For what to expect once the language starts to land, see the Sweden culture shock timeline.