Driving on a Foreign Licence in Sweden: Validity and Exchange

Can you keep driving on your home körkort (driving licence)? Under Transportstyrelsen, the Swedish Transport Agency, an EU/EEA licence works until it expires at home. For most other licences it is one year from the day you are folkbokförd (registered in the Swedish population register).

Who this is for

This guide is for people who live in Sweden and hold a foreign licence: EU/EEA citizens who have moved here, people on a work permit, and partners (family members who live here with you).

It is not for visitors on a short trip: start at the guide to travelling around Sweden. It is also not written for students; if you study here, the rules below still apply once you are folkbokförd, but start from the study hub for your permit and registration.

Before any step applies

Three things decide which rule you are under.

1. Are you folkbokförd? Skatteverket, the Tax Agency, says: "Du som har flyttat till Sverige och planerar att bo här i minst ett år ska i de flesta fall vara folkbokförd här" (if you plan to live here at least a year, you should in most cases be registered). Registering gives you a personnummer (personal identity number). If you plan to stay less than a year you are not folkbokförd and may have a samordningsnummer (coordination number) instead. Transportstyrelsen notes that with a samordningsnummer you are "ännu inte folkbokförd" (not yet registered) and can keep driving on your foreign licence. The one-year clock below has not started for you. Personnummer questions are covered in the personnummer, ID and BankID hub.

2. Where was the licence issued? Inside the EEA, or outside it. The EEA is the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

3. Is it valid, not exchanged, and readable? The licence must be valid in the country that issued it and must not already have been exchanged for a Swedish one. If it is not in a format that follows the international road-traffic conventions, and not in English, German or French, it only counts together with a certified translation (bestyrkt översättning) into English, German, French, Swedish, Danish or Norwegian. An international driving permit counts as a valid translation, but Sweden does not issue one, so you have to bring it from home. A licence without a photo must be shown with photo ID. For any exchange, have valid ID ready too.

For exchange you also need to be permanent bosatt (permanently resident). Transportstyrelsen treats you as permanently resident where you live at least 185 days a year because of personal and professional ties ("personlig och yrkesmässig anknytning"), or personal ties alone if professional ties are absent, and studying does not change that. An EEA licence can also be exchanged if you have studied here for at least six months and the licence has reached its expiry date.

Example. Skatteverket registers you on 10 March 2027. A US licence then stops being valid in Sweden around 10 March 2028 (treat 9 March as the last safe day), so a test, or an exemption, is needed before then.

EU/EEA licence: valid until it expires at home

Transportstyrelsen's rule is short: an EEA licence is valid in Sweden if it is "giltigt i hemlandet" (valid at home) and has not been exchanged for a Swedish one. It adds that the licence is valid "även om du är folkbokförd i Sverige" (even if you are registered here).

So you can keep driving on it, and you do not have to exchange it. Transportstyrelsen reminds you that Swedish traffic rules apply in Sweden, and if a Swedish licence of yours has been seized or revoked, your foreign one is not valid here either.

You can exchange it "under vissa förutsättningar" if it is valid and you are permanently resident here. There is one condition that catches people since 1 May 2026. If your EEA licence originally came from a country outside the EEA, Transportstyrelsen can refuse the exchange unless one of these is true:

• You held a valid EEA licence for at least five years before you became permanently resident in Sweden.
• The original licence was issued in the Faroe Islands, the UK, Japan or Switzerland.
• The licence was issued after an approved driving test in an EEA state.

If none of these applies, "kan du alltså inte byta in körkortet" (you cannot exchange it). The change targets so-called körkortsturism: swapping a licence in an EEA country with easier rules, then exchanging it here.

Licence from outside the EEA: the one-year rule

Transportstyrelsen's wording: licences from outside the EEA "slutar gälla i Sverige ett år från den dag du blev folkbokförd här" (stop being valid in Sweden one year from the day you were registered here). The clock starts on your folkbokföring date, not on the day you arrive and not on the date of a permit.

Two things change that:

• UK and Faroe Islands licences stay valid after the first year. You can keep driving on them.
• Exemption (undantag). Transportstyrelsen can in some cases let you keep driving on a foreign licence beyond one year, but only if you plan to stay in Sweden for a limited time and there is no road-safety risk. Examples it gives are temporary study or a time-limited job. It also warns: "Även om du har uppehållstillstånd eller arbetstillstånd är det inte säkert att vi kan ge undantag" (a residence or work permit does not guarantee an exemption). You apply with a letter, ideally when a few months of your first year remain. The rule sits in körkortsförordningen (1998:980).

Can your licence be exchanged?

Outside the EEA, only licences from the United Kingdom, the Faroe Islands, Switzerland and Japan can be exchanged for a Swedish one. "Körkort från andra länder utanför EES kan inte bytas ut mot ett svenskt körkort" (licences from other non-EEA countries cannot be exchanged). That rules out, for example, US and Indian licences. For Swiss and Japanese licences, Transportstyrelsen says you need to apply for exchange within the one-year window ("Därför behöver du ansöka om utbyte inom den tiden", so apply within that time). UK and Faroese licences have no one-year limit. If you apply within the year, the licence stays valid while the application is being decided, even past the one-year mark (körkortslagen 6 kap. 2 §).

The legal basis is körkortslagen (1998:488): a foreign licence that is valid in Sweden is exchanged for an equivalent Swedish one on application.

How to exchange

1. Check the conditions: a valid licence, permanent residence in Sweden, and that you meet Sweden's personal and medical requirements for holding a licence.
2. Fill in the form Ansökan om utbyte av utländskt körkort. For a car or motorcycle licence (AM, A1, A2, A, B, BE) from outside the EEA, add a hälsodeklaration (health declaration) and a grundläggande synintyg (basic eye-test certificate). Heavy truck and bus categories need a medical certificate. For EEA licences, Transportstyrelsen contacts you if it needs medical papers.
3. For a UK, Faroese, Swiss or Japanese licence, add a certificate proving it is still valid. It comes from the authority that issued it. For Japan, ask the Japanese embassy in Stockholm.
4. Post the form with your original licence to Transportstyrelsen, 701 97 Örebro.
5. If approved, you get a payment slip for producing the card. Then visit a Trafikverket (the Swedish Transport Administration) förarprovskontor (driving-test office) to have your photo taken and sign. Bring valid ID.
6. Collect the finished licence in person, with valid ID. Transportstyrelsen sends your old licence back to the authority that issued it.

Expired licences can also be exchanged. In some cases you may be asked to add a körkortstillstånd (licence permit) so expired categories can be assessed.

Driving while you wait. Your original licence is in the post, but the rule is that you must always carry your licence when driving. Transportstyrelsen says the police decide, and recommends a copy of the foreign licence plus valid ID.

When a test is needed

The Transportstyrelsen exchange pages list no kunskapsprov (theory test) or körprov (driving test) among the conditions.

A test is the route when your licence stops being valid and cannot be exchanged: for example a US or Indian licence, or any other non-EEA country not on the exchange list, once your first year is up and no exemption applies. Then you take a Swedish licence the ordinary way. For a B licence Transportstyrelsen lists: a valid körkortstillstånd, permanent residence in Sweden or at least six months of study here, age 18, a valid riskutbildning (risk training) for cars, an approved körkortsprov (both kunskapsprov and körprov), and no licence from another EEA country. You can take the licence without a personnummer if you have an active samordningsnummer.

Start early. Transportstyrelsen says it cannot grant an exemption "på grund av svårigheter att få tid för förarprov eller liknande omständigheter" (because of difficulty getting a test slot or similar). Your one-year window keeps running while you wait for a test slot.

Which rule applies to your licence

EEA licence of non-EEA origin. An EEA licence that fails the three conditions above cannot be exchanged, but it stays valid until it expires at home. Transportstyrelsen does not say what applies to a holder of such a licence once it expires, and the B-licence list excludes anyone holding a licence from another EEA country, so contact Transportstyrelsen before the licence expires.

Once you own a car here, the guide to car insurance levels in Sweden explains what the cover means. For permits, see the permits hub.