SFI D without classes: how a prövning gets you the grade

Since 6 June 2026, a pass in SFI course D has been one of the ways to show knowledge of Swedish when you apply for Swedish citizenship, and the citizenship test in Swedish may not come until autumn 2029, as UHR has recommended. If you already speak Swedish, you don’t need to attend the course to get the grade. You can take a prövning: an exam that gives you a grade in the course without taking part in the teaching. Here is what the law says, what it costs and how it works in a few municipalities.

What the law says

The Education Act (skollagen) says that anyone who lives in Sweden must be able to take a prövning in every SFI course:

“Anyone who is resident in the country and wants a grade from … education in Swedish for immigrants shall have the opportunity to undergo prövning in all courses that are graded. This also applies to anyone who has previously received a grade in the course.”

That is chapter 20, section 40 of the Education Act, in our translation. Three things follow:

• You don’t need to attend the course. The prövning gives the same grade as the course, Godkänt (pass) or Icke godkänt (fail), set under the same rules.
• You don’t need a right to SFI. Skolverket answers no to the question of whether you must have a right to the education to take a prövning. What you need is to be resident in Sweden.
• You can take a prövning even if you already have a grade in the course.

Where to take it

A prövning can only be taken with a provider (huvudman) that runs the course, usually a municipality. According to Skolverket, you don’t have to go to the municipality where you live; you can choose another. Municipalities still have their own routines, and not all of them mention SFI prövning on their websites. This is how it looked in a few municipalities on 4 October 2026:

• Stockholm: you apply on the website of the school that runs the prövning, and five schools offer SFI prövning. The fee is 500 kr. Komvux Liljeholmen has course D on 9–15 December, with registration by email on 26–30 October.
• Gothenburg: you apply to Prövningsenheten, and you must be resident in Sweden. The fee is 500 kr. The autumn sitting for course D is on 30 October, and registration closed on 2 October.
• Malmö: contact Sfi-anmälan Malmö. The fee and dates are not on the SFI page.
• Helsingborg: you apply to the adult education office, but if you live in another municipality, contact your home municipality. The fee is 500 kr. The sittings are 15 March–16 April and 20 September–22 October 2027.
• Lund: you apply to the municipality’s SFI. The fee is 500 kr. Courses C and D have a prövning on 26 November, with registration by 19 November.

Uppsala’s and Huddinge’s prövning pages don’t cover SFI. If you live there, ask the adult education office directly.

Municipalities can also set their own conditions. Helsingborg, for example, requires a Swedish personal identity number (personnummer), registration in the Swedish population register (folkbokföring) and eligibility for SFI. There, you can’t take a prövning if you are studying SFI now or have taken an SFI national test in the last three months.

What it costs

The municipality may charge at most 500 kronor for a specially arranged prövning in SFI, under the ordinance on fees for prövning. If you finished an SFI course without reaching the grade Godkänt, no fee may be charged. Stockholm, Gothenburg, Helsingborg and Lund charge 500 kronor.

How the prövning works

A prövning assesses whether you meet the knowledge requirements of the course, and the school decides how. Skolverket writes that national tests, or parts of them, can usefully be used, but that a prövning cannot consist only of a national test. In practice it varies:

• Gothenburg: two days with a grammar and vocabulary test, reading comprehension, writing tasks and an oral test. If you pass them, you take the national test.
• Helsingborg and Lund: the national test is part of the prövning.
• Stockholm: SIFA describes a written test and an oral test.

The national test in course D has four parts: reading, listening, writing and speaking. Expect the prövning to test all four, and plan ahead, since many municipalities offer only a couple of sittings a year.

Does the grade count for citizenship?

A prövning gives a normal grade in the course, and Migrationsverket counts a grade in the highest SFI course, course D, as one way to show knowledge of Swedish. Migrationsverket hasn’t written anything specific about grades from a prövning, and it is Migrationsverket that decides your case. More on the language requirement in Does SFI D count for Swedish citizenship?

Citizenship also requires knowledge of Swedish society, which you show with civics grades or with the citizenship test (medborgarskapsprovet). We cover that in Can grades replace the Swedish citizenship test?

If you have used up your three years of SFI

Since 1 January 2026, the right to take part in SFI lasts three years (chapter 20, section 31 a of the Education Act). The prövning rule only requires that you live in Sweden, and according to Skolverket you don’t need a right to the education to take a prövning. No source we have found addresses prövning after the three years explicitly, so ask the municipality before you register.

What isn’t settled for 2027

Courses that start from 1 January 2027 follow new syllabuses, and course D is then called 1D, 2D or 3D. Skolverket’s new regulations (SKOLFS 2026:67) say nothing about prövning, and none of the municipalities we read describes how prövning works in the new courses. Helsingborg already lists sittings in 2027 in courses B, C and D, without saying which syllabus applies. More on the changes in SFI in 2027: new courses, new course names and new national tests.

How to prepare

A prövning tests the same knowledge as the course, so practise the test format: reading and listening with questions, writing texts against the clock and speaking with another person. Step by step: How to prepare for the SFI D national test. How the test is assessed is explained in How the SFI test is graded, and what passing means.

Summary

If you live in Sweden, the Education Act says you must be able to take a prövning in SFI course D and get a grade without attending the course. It costs at most 500 kronor, is free if you finished the course without passing, and can be taken with a provider other than your home municipality, as long as that provider runs the course. How it works and when it is offered differ between municipalities, so start by asking SFI or the adult education office where you live.

Sources

• Skollag (2010:800), chapter 20, sections 31 a and 40
• Förordning (1991:1124) om avgifter för prövning inom skolväsendet
• Skolverket: Prövning för betyg
• Skolverket: Rätt till sfi
• Skolverket: Betygsskalan
• Skolverket: SKOLFS 2026:67, the regulations with the new SFI syllabuses
• Migrationsverket: Medborgarskapsprovet i svenska kan flyttas fram (30 September 2026)
• City of Stockholm: Prövning i kurser på sfi och grundläggande nivå
• Komvux Liljeholmen: Prövningar
• SIFA: Examinations (prövningar)
• City of Gothenburg, Prövningsenheten: Anmäl dig till prövning
• City of Gothenburg, Prövningsenheten: Avgift för prövning
• Prövningsenheten in Gothenburg: Svenska för invandrare kurs D
• City of Malmö: Så funkar sfi
• City of Helsingborg: Prövning sfi
• Lund Municipality: Svenska för invandrare (sfi)
• Uppsala Municipality: Prövning
• Huddinge Municipality: Prövning på komvux

SverigeFokus publishes independent study material and is not affiliated with Skolverket, Migrationsverket, UHR or any municipality. The municipality decides how the prövning works, and Migrationsverket decides what applies in your case.