Foreign driving licence in Sweden: the 1-year clock and 4 countries

The date that matters is not the day you landed. It is the immigration date Skatteverket entered in the population register, and twelve months after it the licence in your wallet stops working in Sweden. No letter arrives to tell you.

The one-year clock, and where it starts

A licence issued outside the EEA is valid for driving in Sweden while three things are true at once: it is valid in the country that issued it, it has not been exchanged for a Swedish licence, and you have not been in the Swedish population register for more than one year.

The year runs from the immigration date registered in folkbokföringsregistret, not from the day you arrived and not from any date attached to a coordination number. If you emigrate and move back, it runs from the latest immigration date. That reading comes from the prosecution authority's own guidance on foreign licences.

Two jurisdictions sit outside the clock. A licence from the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, or from the Faroe Islands can be used in Sweden even after a year in the population register, because the regulation treats them like EEA licences.

There is a language condition as well. A non-EEA licence has to meet the road traffic conventions, or be written in English, German or French, or be accompanied by a certified translation or an international driving permit.

After the year runs out, driving on that licence is olovlig körning under section 3 of the road traffic offences act. The penalty is a fine, and up to six months in prison if the offence is treated as gross. Transportstyrelsen's own pages do not say this; the law does.

Who can exchange without taking a test

Four jurisdictions, and no more: the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, the Faroe Islands, Switzerland and Japan. If your licence is from one of them you can swap it for a Swedish licence without any test, provided it is valid, you are permanently resident in Sweden, and you meet the personal and medical requirements for a Swedish licence.

You have to prove the licence is valid. For the United Kingdom, the Faroe Islands and Switzerland that means a certificate from the authority that issued it. For Japan, Transportstyrelsen tells you to contact the Japanese embassy in Stockholm.

The medical papers travel with the application: a health declaration and a basic eye certificate for the AM, A1, A2, A, B and BE entitlements. In some cases Transportstyrelsen asks for a körkortstillstånd as well, to assess entitlements that have expired.

The form is TS8079, "Ansökan om utbyte av utländskt körkort", and it is sent with the original foreign licence — not a copy — to Transportstyrelsen, 701 97 Örebro. The address 701 81 Örebro is the vehicle department and is the wrong one for this.

After approval you go to a Trafikverket driving-test office for the photograph and signature, pay 375 kr when the payment slip arrives, and collect the card at a postal agent. Transportstyrelsen publishes no processing time for exchange applications, so treat the wait as unknown and send the envelope early.

EEA licences, and the 1 May 2026 tightening

A licence from an EEA country stays valid in Sweden as long as it is valid at home and has not been exchanged. There is no folkbokföring limit at all, so an EEA licence never expires because you moved here.

Exchanging one is optional, and since 1 May 2026 it is no longer automatic. Transportstyrelsen may refuse unless the licence was issued after a passed theory and driving test in an EEA state, or was itself an exchange of a British, Faroese, Japanese or Swiss licence, or you held an equivalent licence for five years before you became permanently resident here.

The target of that change is the route that ran a third-country licence through another EEA country and then into Sweden. If that describes your licence, expect the exchange to be refused and plan for the Swedish tests instead.

Everyone else: the Swedish route, and what it costs

First the körkortstillstånd, the learner's permit. It costs nothing to apply for, it needs a health declaration and a basic eye certificate, and it is valid for five years and cannot be extended.

Then the risk education, in two parts: part one on alcohol, drugs and tiredness, part two on speed, safety and the skid pan. Both must be completed before you sit either test. The education is valid until the day you get your licence, or at most five years. No authority publishes a price for it; the providers set their own, so ask two or three before booking.

Trafikverket's fees are published. The theory test for category B is 420 kr, or 520 kr after 18:00 and at weekends. The driving test is 1 000 kr, or 1 400 kr after 18:00 and at weekends. Renting Trafikverket's car for the test is 800 kr and the photograph taken at the test is 120 kr. The licence card itself is 375 kr, the only fee on Transportstyrelsen's list.

The theory test is available in fifteen languages besides Swedish, among them Arabic in modern standard, Persian, Somali, Sorani, Tigrinya, Turkish, Thai and BKS for Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian. You choose the language when you book. The spoken version of the questions is in Swedish.

If you cannot read Swedish you can apply for a test with an interpreter. You sit in a separate room with the examiner and the interpreter, who translates the questions and the answer options, and the time for category B goes from 50 minutes to 100. Apply through Trafikverket's e-service and let them assess the request rather than assuming you qualify.

A worked example with dates and amounts

Layla was entered in the population register on 14 September 2025 and holds an Iraqi licence. Her licence stops being valid for driving in Sweden on 14 September 2026. Iraq is not one of the four jurisdictions, so there is no exchange for her.

Her authority fees, if she takes both tests on a weekday morning: 420 kr for the theory test, 1 000 kr for the driving test, 800 kr to rent the car, 120 kr for the photograph and 375 kr for the card. That is 2 715 kr, before the driving school and before the risk education, for which no official price exists.

Had she applied for the körkortstillstånd in December 2025, in month three of her year, the risk education and both tests would have fitted comfortably inside the twelve months. Starting in August 2026 they do not, because both parts of the risk education have to be booked, attended and completed before she can sit the theory test.

What we do not know yet

Four gaps, and all of them are gaps in what the authorities publish rather than in the law. Transportstyrelsen states no processing time for exchange applications; the weeks and months quoted on driving-school sites are not the agency's figures.

No authority publishes a price for either part of the risk education. No separate fee for an exchange or for a replacement card appears on Transportstyrelsen's fee list either — there is one row on it, 375 kr for issuing or renewing a licence.

And Trafikverket says you may listen to the questions in Swedish, without saying whether audio exists in the fifteen translated languages. Ask when you book rather than counting on it.

Check transportstyrelsen.se and trafikverket.se on the day you act, and start the count from your own registration date, not from anyone else's.