Foreign driving licences in Sweden: validity and exchange

Check whether you can drive

This guide covers full licences for ordinary private cars. You must be at least 18 to drive a car with a foreign licence in Sweden.

The Swedish Transport Agency (Transportstyrelsen) sets out when foreign licences are valid. Your licence must remain valid in the issuing country. It must not already have been exchanged for a Swedish licence. A foreign licence cannot bypass a seized or revoked Swedish licence.

An EEA licence can remain valid after you enter Sweden’s population register. The EEA includes EU countries, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

For most non-EEA licences, validity ends after one year in the population register. The clock starts with registration, not arrival. UK and Faroe Islands licences are exempt from this limit.

Transportstyrelsen can grant an exception for a limited stay if road safety permits. Apply before the year ends. Permission is not automatic.

Special rules cover valid Ukrainian licences held by people covered by temporary protection. They can keep using them while that protection lasts, without a certified translation or international permit.

Check whether you can exchange it

Being allowed to drive does not mean you can exchange your licence for a Swedish one.

A valid EEA licence can generally be exchanged if you are permanently resident in Sweden. Extra conditions apply if it came from exchanging a non-EEA licence, including through several countries.

In that case, you must meet at least one of the EEA exchange conditions.

• You held the equivalent entitlement in one or more EEA countries for at least five years before becoming permanently resident in Sweden.
• The original licence came from the UK, Faroe Islands, Japan or Switzerland.
• The EEA licence followed a passed EEA driving test for that entitlement.

Outside the EEA, only UK, Faroe Islands, Japanese and Swiss licences can be exchanged. You need a valid licence, permanent residence and must meet Swedish personal and medical requirements. Those requirements also apply to EEA licences obtained through a non-EEA exchange.

For a Japanese or Swiss licence, Transportstyrelsen must receive your exchange application within one year of population registration.

What permanent residence means

For licensing, this normally means living in Sweden at least 185 days each calendar year because of your personal and work ties. Special residence rules cover ties split between countries and studies.

There is also an EEA exchange route at licence expiry after at least six months of study in Sweden.

See our guide to personal identity numbers and coordination numbers for the different registration systems.

Documents and the application

Carry your licence. If it has no photograph, also carry photographic ID.

A non-EEA licence may need a certified translation if it meets neither condition below:

• It follows the 1949 Geneva or 1968 Vienna convention format.
• It is in English, German or French.

The translation can be in English, German, French, Swedish, Danish or Norwegian. A convention-compliant international driving permit is another option alongside the original licence.

Follow Transportstyrelsen’s non-EEA exchange checklist or the EEA instructions linked above. You send the original licence. The four non-EEA exchange countries also require a validity certificate, health declaration and vision certificate for a car licence.

For an exchange under these rules, the one-year invalidity rule is suspended while the application is examined. Other validity conditions still apply. Ask Transportstyrelsen about your case before sending the original. Police assess driving without it. A copy is not automatic permission to drive.