Children

Every child who lives in Sweden has the right to go to school, and from age 1 your child can go to preschool (förskola). The kommun (municipality) where you live must offer a place, and school is free. Choose your child's age to see the steps and the support your child can get as a newcomer. The kommun and the school decide in your child's case. Most links go to Skolverket (the Swedish National Agency for Education) and Utbildningsguiden, its guide for parents and pupils.

• Your child doesn't need a personnummer or samordningsnummer (coordination number) to get a place in preschool or school.
• You apply for a place through the kommun. How to do it is on your kommun's website.
• If you move to Sweden with children under 16, you need to give Försäkringskassan (the Swedish Social Insurance Agency) your details to get child allowance (barnbidrag). See the Försäkringskassan tool.

1. Work out when your child can start

   Preschool can start when your child turns 1. For the free hours and for school, it's the year that counts, not the birthday: they start in the autumn of the year your child turns 3 and 6.

   When was your child born?

   Expecting a baby? Enter the due date. The date isn't saved.

2. Apply to the kommun for a place

   Preschool is voluntary. It's for children from age 1 until they start school. Apply to the kommun where you live, on the kommun's website. For an independent (fristående) preschool, contact that preschool.

   The kommun must offer a place as close to your home as possible and take reasonable account of what you'd like.

   The kommun has up to four months to offer a place after you apply. Apply in good time.

   Are you seeking asylum, or do you have temporary protection?

   Then your child has the right to preschool on the same terms as other children, even without a personnummer. If you aren't registered (folkbokförda), the kommun where you live is responsible.

   Skolverket: right to preschool (in Swedish) Utbildningsguiden: about preschool
3. See how much time your child gets
   • If you work or study: as much time as your work or studies need.
   • If you're unemployed, or on parental leave with another child: at least 3 hours a day or 15 hours a week. Some municipalities give more.
   • Your child can also have their own need because of the family's situation, for example if your child has a mother tongue other than Swedish.

   Preschool doesn't have to be open in the evenings, at night or at weekends. If you work then, ask the kommun about care at inconvenient hours. The kommun must strive to offer it.

   At home with your child? Open preschool (öppen förskola) is for children who don't go to preschool, for example babies under 1. You stay there with your child. Ask the kommun whether there's an open preschool near you.

   Skolverket: time in preschool (in Swedish) Utbildningsguiden: open preschool (in Swedish)
4. Use the free hours From age 3

   From the autumn of the year your child turns 3, your child has the right to preschool for at least 525 hours a year, whatever you as parents do. That's about 3 hours a day during school terms, and those hours are free. It's sometimes called universal preschool (allmän förskola).

   Was your child born abroad and has lived in Sweden for 5 years or less? Or were you, the parent, born abroad and have lived here for 5 years or less? Then the kommun must offer your child a place itself before the autumn of the year your child turns 3, even if you haven't applied. This applies if your child is folkbokförd here. The offer must come at the latest three months before your child can start.

   The kommun keeps the place for one month. You can say no. If your child doesn't start, you get a new offer before every autumn, up to and including the year your child turns 5.

   Skolverket: universal preschool and the offer (in Swedish)
5. Check the fee

   The kommun sets the fee, and it depends on your household's income. All municipalities use a maximum fee (maxtaxa), a cap on how high the fee can be. The cap also applies to independent preschools. Meals are included, and the preschool may not charge extra for them.

   Since 1 July 2026, the cap in preschool is, per month:

   • for the youngest child: at most SEK 1,547
   • for the second youngest: at most SEK 1,031
   • for the third child: at most SEK 516
   • from the fourth child: no fee

   Since 1 July 2026, the first SEK 10,000 of the income doesn't count, and households with an income under SEK 10,001 a month pay no fee. From age 3, you only pay for the time beyond the 525 free hours.

   Skolverket: fees (in Swedish) Skolverket: maximum fee 2026 (in Swedish)
6. Tell the preschool which languages you speak at home

   In preschool, children learn Swedish. If your child has another mother tongue, they must also be able to develop that language. It gives your child a better chance of learning Swedish.

   The preschool must work together with you as a parent. Ask the staff how they work with your child's languages.

   Utbildningsguiden: about preschool

1. Contact the kommun about a school place

   The kommun where you live must give your child a place in school. Contact the kommun as soon as you've moved here. There's no fixed time limit, but your child must be received as soon as possible.

   You can ask for a school anywhere in the kommun, including an independent school. For an independent school you often apply directly to the school. The kommun can only go against your wish in some cases, for example if another pupil would then not get a place close to home.

   If you are two guardians, you both need to sign your answer to the school place offer. If you don't answer in time, the place can go to someone else.

   Are you seeking asylum, or living here without a permit?

   Children seeking asylum have the right to go to school and to school-age educare (fritids), but don't have compulsory schooling (skolplikt). Since 1 October 2026, they should be received at the latest two months after the asylum application was made. Children with temporary protection who aren't to be folkbokförda must be received as soon as is suitable for the child.

   If you live in Sweden without a permit, your child has the right to go to preschool class (förskoleklass) and compulsory school (grundskola), but doesn't have compulsory schooling.

   Pupils without compulsory schooling must still be at school every school day, unless they have a valid reason to be away.

   Utbildningsguiden: applying to school Utbildningsguiden: find and compare schools (in Swedish) Skolverket: newly arrived pupils (in Swedish)
2. Make sure your child goes to school

   Children who are to be folkbokförda (registered) in Sweden have compulsory schooling (skolplikt), even before they have a personnummer. It starts in the autumn of the year your child turns 6, in preschool class (förskoleklass). For most children it ends when they finish year 9, at age 16.

   School is free, and your child gets a free lunch every day. As a parent, you must make sure your child goes to school. Your child may only be away for a valid reason, for example illness or leave the school has approved.

   From autumn 2028, compulsory school becomes ten years long. Preschool class ends, and children born in 2022 or later start directly in year 1 in the year they turn 6. Pupils in preschool class in the 2027/28 school year then start in year 2. Compulsory school ends at the same age as today.

   Has your child only been in Sweden a short time?

   If there are special reasons, the start of school can be postponed by one year. Having been in Sweden a short time can be such a reason. You apply to the kommun, which decides. Your child must then be offered preschool instead.

   More changes in autumn 2028

   Pupils get grades on a 1–10 scale instead of A–F. Pupils with one or two years left in compulsory school finish under the old rules. Development talks (utvecklingssamtal) become at least once a school year instead of once a term.

   Skolverket: compulsory schooling (in Swedish) Skolverket: ten-year compulsory school (in Swedish)
3. Help the school assess what your child knows

   Has your child lived abroad and starts school here later than the autumn of the year they turn 7? Then the school finds out what your child knows: earlier schooling, languages, knowledge and experience. An interpreter can be there. The interpreter is impartial and doesn't affect the assessment.

   The head teacher (rektor) then decides on the year and class. It depends on your child's age, knowledge and situation, not just on age. Tell the school as much as you can about your child's earlier schooling.

   The head teacher must decide on the year and class at the latest two months after the school has received your child.

   Utbildningsguiden: new in Sweden with children (in Swedish) Skolverket: assessment and placement (in Swedish)
4. Ask about support in the mother tongue and in Swedish
   • Study guidance in the mother tongue (studiehandledning): help with school subjects in your child's mother tongue. Your child must get it if they need it. Sometimes it's given in another language your child knows better.
   • Swedish as a second language (svenska som andraspråk): Swedish for pupils who need support with the language. It gives the same qualification for upper secondary school as the subject Swedish. The head teacher decides.
   • Preparatory class (förberedelseklass): your child can have some lessons in a separate group, for at most two years. Not all schools have one.
   • Prioritised timetable (prioriterad timplan): more Swedish lessons for at most one year, but not less teaching in total.

   Is your child starting in years 7–9?

   Then the school must make an individual study plan within two months. It describes how your child will qualify for upper secondary school. Your child must get study guidance in the mother tongue unless it's obviously not needed.

   If your child will find it hard to qualify in time, the head teacher can decide on an adapted timetable (anpassad timplan), with fewer subjects and more time for them. Both your child and you have to agree.

   Utbildningsguiden: support for new pupils (in Swedish) Skolverket: support for newly arrived pupils (in Swedish)
5. Sign your child up for mother tongue tuition If you want

   From year 1, your child can be taught their mother tongue (modersmålsundervisning). This applies if one of you parents has a mother tongue other than Swedish, and your child usually speaks the language at home and has basic knowledge of it.

   Ask a teacher or the head teacher how to apply. The head teacher decides. The school only has to arrange the teaching if at least five pupils want to study the language and there's a suitable teacher. If there's no teacher on site, the school can teach it over a screen.

   For the national minority languages, such as Finnish, it's enough that one pupil wants to study the language.

   Utbildningsguiden: mother tongue
6. Apply for a place at fritids If you work or study

   School-age educare (fritidshem, or fritids) is open before and after school and during school holidays. Your child can go there from preschool class up to and including the spring of the year they turn 13. From the autumn of the year your child turns 10, the kommun can offer open leisure activities (öppen fritidsverksamhet) instead.

   Your child has the right to fritids if you work or study, or if your child has their own need because of the family's situation, for example a mother tongue other than Swedish. Apply to the kommun, or to the school if your child goes to an independent school. Your child must get a place as soon as the need is known, at or near the school.

   Fritids has a fee with a maximum. Since 1 July 2026 it's at most SEK 1,031 a month for the youngest child and at most SEK 516 for the second and third. Households with an income under SEK 10,001 a month pay no fee.

   Utbildningsguiden: about fritids Skolverket: right to fritids (in Swedish)
7. Keep in touch with the school

   Your child has a mentor, a teacher who is responsible for your child. Contact the mentor if you have questions. At least once a term you have a development talk (utvecklingssamtal), where you, your child and the teacher talk about how things are going. The school also holds parents' meetings.

   If you don't understand Swedish, you have the right to help from an interpreter. Ask your child's school for one.

   Since 1 August 2026, the school as a rule collects pupils' mobile phones when the school day starts and gives them back when it ends. This also applies at fritids.

   Utbildningsguiden: about compulsory school Skolverket: new rules (in Swedish)

1. Contact the kommun

   Upper secondary school (gymnasieskolan, or gymnasiet) is voluntary and free. Contact the kommun where you live to find out what options there are for your child.

   Most people who come to Sweden aged 16–19 start on an introductory programme (introduktionsprogram). The kommun must offer an introductory programme to anyone who doesn't qualify for a national programme.

   Your child must start upper secondary school at the latest in the spring of the year they turn 20.

   Utbildningsguiden: new in Sweden and aged 16–19 Utbildningsguiden: about upper secondary school
2. Start on language introduction

   Language introduction (språkintroduktion) is an introductory programme for young people who have just come to Sweden. It focuses on Swedish and the subjects your child needs to go on to a national programme or other studies.

   It's full-time, with at least 23 hours of teaching a week. At first it can be only Swedish for a short time. After that it builds on what your child already knows and needs. Most introductory programmes take one to three years.

   Utbildningsguiden: introductory programmes Skolverket: introductory programmes (in Swedish)
3. Do the assessment and the study plan

   When your child starts language introduction, the school finds out what they know: earlier schooling, languages, subject knowledge and any work experience. An interpreter can be there. The school must do this as quickly as possible.

   Based on that, the school makes an individual study plan together with your child. It shows the goals and what the education will include.

   The study plan must be ready within two months of the school receiving your child.

   Skolverket: assessment (in Swedish)
4. Ask for support in the mother tongue
   • Study guidance in the mother tongue: your child has the right to it if they need it to follow the teaching in Swedish.
   • Swedish as a second language: can be studied instead of Swedish and gives the same qualifications.
   • Mother tongue as a subject: your child can study their mother tongue and get a grade in it. This applies if one of you parents has a mother tongue other than Swedish, and your child usually speaks it at home and knows it well. The school only has to arrange it if at least five pupils want to study the language and there's a suitable teacher.

   Utbildningsguiden: support in upper secondary Utbildningsguiden: mother tongue
5. Plan the way to a national programme

   There are 18 national programmes, and they all take three years. Some prepare for university, others for a job. To get in, your child needs to qualify, among other things with a pass grade in Swedish or Swedish as a second language.

   Talk to a study and careers adviser (studie- och yrkesvägledare) at the school. They can help your child choose a path.

   The right to start a national programme lasts up to and including the spring of the year your child turns 20. For someone seeking asylum, it only lasts until they turn 18.

   Utbildningsguiden: national programmes Skolverket: who upper secondary is for (in Swedish)
6. Start before your child turns 18 If you're seeking asylum

   If your child is seeking asylum, they only have the right to upper secondary school if they start before they turn 18. They can finish a programme they've already started, even after 18. The same applies to young people with temporary protection who aren't to be folkbokförda, and to young people living here without a permit.

   Someone seeking asylum has no right to adult education (komvux). According to Skolverket, after 18 they also have no right to move from an introductory programme to a national programme. The kommun may still offer upper secondary education.

   Since 1 October 2026, young people seeking asylum should be received at the latest two months after the asylum application was made.

   Skolverket: education rights for asylum seekers (in Swedish)
7. Check the study grant from CSN

   When your child turns 16, child allowance stops. If your child goes to upper secondary school, a study grant (studiebidrag) from CSN, the Swedish Board of Student Finance, comes instead: SEK 1,250 a month. It isn't paid in July and August.

   If your child isn't a Swedish citizen, CSN first checks whether they have the right to Swedish student aid. If your child has no personnummer, contact CSN.

   Your child must study full-time. If they're away from school without a valid reason, the grant can be stopped, and the family's other benefits can be affected.

   CSN: study grant (in Swedish) Försäkringskassan: when your child turns 16 (in Swedish)