Getting a foreign degree recognised in Sweden: the free UHR statement

You have a degree, five years of work behind it, and a Swedish recruiter who reads the name of your university and cannot place it. There is a free document that answers exactly that question, issued by a government agency, and most people either do not know it exists or expect it to do more than it does.

What the statement is, and what it is not

The statement, utlåtande, is a comparison. It says that your qualification corresponds to, for example, a Swedish bachelor's degree in a given field, and it comes as a digital document you can attach to an application.

It is not a Swedish degree, and UHR is careful about that distinction. It does not give you a right to practise a profession, it does not convert your grades, and it does not decide anything about your eligibility for a specific university programme.

Two things it is also not: mandatory, and necessary for studies. UHR writes that a statement is not required to apply for a job, and that if you want to study in Sweden you apply directly through antagning.se, where your qualifications are assessed in the admission process itself.

What it does well is remove a question mark from a CV. A recruiter who cannot place a university in another country can place the sentence "corresponds to a Swedish kandidatexamen", and that sentence costs nothing.

What UHR assesses, and what it leaves alone

UHR assesses completed foreign education at three levels: upper secondary school, post-secondary vocational education of at least one year of full-time study, and higher education.

It does not assess preparatory years, eligibility tests or language tests, and it does not assess post-secondary vocational programmes that are shorter than a year or that do not lead to a recognised qualification.

You can ask for several educations in one application, an upper secondary certificate and a degree for instance, by filling in the details and uploading the documents for one and then the other before you submit.

Who may apply

Anyone with a residence permit or right of residence in Sweden may ask for an assessment. In practice you must meet one of three conditions.

You have a Swedish personal identity number, shown with a personbevis, the extract called Utdrag om folkbokföringsuppgifter that you order from Skatteverket, or with a Swedish driving licence or ID card.

You are a citizen of an EU or EEA country, shown with a copy of your passport or national ID card.

Or you are a citizen of a country outside the EU/EEA, and you attach a copy of your passport plus a residence permit, a valid LMA card, or a confirmation that Migrationsverket has received your application. Family ties to an EU citizen, shown with a residence card, and long-term resident status in another EU country also count.

If you live outside the EU/EEA and meet none of these, you cannot apply.

The documents, and the two that hold everything up

You upload scanned original documents as PDF files. The usual set is the degree certificate, both sides and in the original language, and a personal transcript, plus the Diploma Supplement if your university issued one.

The first thing that holds a file up is translation. Documents in a language other than English, French, Spanish, German or a Nordic language must be translated by an authorised translator into Swedish or one of those languages. You find translators through Kammarkollegiet, and if you are registered with Arbetsförmedlingen you may be able to have the translation paid for by them.

The second is country-specific verification. For several countries UHR asks for more than the standard set. Universities in the United Kingdom send secure digital documents directly, or you send a Hedd verification form. For several West African countries, Nigeria and Ghana among them, you need a scratch card for online verification of your qualification from WAEC or NECO. For Afghanistan, UHR does not contact institutions to confirm documents at present and cannot say in advance which qualifications it can assess.

If your name has changed since your diploma was issued, attach the proof, a marriage certificate or equivalent. UHR may ask for originals, and a document suspected of being forged leads to an investigation that can end in a police report.

When UHR is the wrong door

Some professions are regulated by Swedish law, which means the law sets what is required to work in them, often a specific qualification or a licence. For those, UHR does not decide anything and another authority does.

Healthcare professions, doctors and nurses among them, go to Socialstyrelsen. Teacher certification goes to Skolverket. Authorised interpreters and translators go to Kammarkollegiet, electrical installers to Elsäkerhetsverket, estate agents to Fastighetsmäklarinspektionen, veterinarians and animal-health occupations to Jordbruksverket, and energy experts to Boverket.

The practical rule: if the job title is protected in Sweden, start with the authority that protects it, not with UHR. UHR's own list of regulated professions names the authority for each one.

A worked example, with dates

Omar finished a five-year engineering degree in 2016 and was granted a permanent residence permit on 20 January 2026. He applies for an assessment on 3 March 2026, uploading his diploma and transcript in the original language.

UHR emails him for a certified translation, which takes three weeks to arrange through a translator listed at Kammarkollegiet. The file is complete on 24 March, and that is the date the clock starts from. On the published average of two to four months, he can expect the statement somewhere between late May and late July 2026.

In the meantime he applies for jobs with his diploma and transcript attached, because nothing in the process requires him to wait. The statement, when it comes, is a digital document he adds to the same applications.

What we do not know yet

The two to four months is an average, not a promise, and it says nothing about your particular country of study. Cases that need verification from abroad take longer, and UHR states plainly for Afghanistan that it cannot say in advance which qualifications it will be able to assess.

Nor does a statement tell you whether an employer will accept it. It is a comparison from a government agency, and it carries weight for that reason, but hiring decisions are still made by people. Order it because it is free and it answers a question a recruiter cannot answer alone, and keep applying for work while it is being written.