An overview of procedures and a collection of links, to help you with settling in at SU. I do not guarantee the correctness of the following information. This guide is sorted thematically first, and then by chronological dependence. I welcome advice on better structure.

Moving to sweden

This section covers moving to Sweden from abroad. If you are from outside the EU/EEA, you may need a residence permit, but you probably know more about that than I do.

state business

personnummer / personal identification number

Every resident in Sweden gets a permanent, semi-public personal ID, which is used for taxes and banking, social security, signing up for clubs, basically everything. It consists of your birth date plus four numbers, YYYYMMDD-####. To get a personal ID, follow the tax office instructions. You will need your employment decision todo-internal-link.

The process for me consisted of filling in my data in their web-app, and emailing myself the resulting form. Then I had to book an appointment at the taxation office, go there, print the form on their printers, hand the form and my employment contract to a case worker, and show my passport.

Then you wait. This part takes a couple of weeks. Statistics:

  • me (EU), todo
  • p. (EU), todo
  • p. (non-EU), todo
  • m. (EU), tbd

Once you get the personnummer, send it to your HR contact at SU. they need to order a tax form, the A-skattsedel. Once you receive that, forward it to the HR person.

todo: You have to apply after you move here, so adapt the date accordingly

legitimation / banking / ID card and the path to bankID

Surprisingly often, websites or people need to identify you, which happens via an app called bankID. You get access to that app by opening a bank account at one of the big banks that are part of the system. For example Länsförsäkringar have free accounts for students. Officially you have the right to a bank account before being registered, but don't count on banks knowing or accepting that. Instead they will ask you to present a Swedish ID card (from the tax office again), so you have to get that first.

The regulations for what to do are on their website. In 2021 the process for me was to book an appointment at one of their locations way in advance, and take my passport and the document with my personnummer on it there. I got lucky and someone cancelled their appointment, so I got one on short notice. This might work for you if you check the booking system every couple of days.

After that it takes two weeks to get your card, which you have to fetch in person. Take it to the bank of your choice and open an account. Also ask them to set up BankID on your phone. Once you have your bank account let your HR person know and they'll route your future salary to your new Swedish account.

university

Your supervisor takes care of the hiring process, which ends in your contract, the so-called employment decision. Between the initial decision and the contract, you will be contacted by your HR person - remember them for later! You will have to fill a bunch of basic forms, and then get the final contract, which, magically you do not have to sign it, it's just valid! After the PDF, the contract will also be delivered to your university mail box on the 5th floor.

Somewhere around this time you get access to the HR tool, primula. Update your address the first time you get there. This is where you apply for vacation, sick leave, travel reimbursement, etc. You can also get 3000kr reimbursement for sports expenses every year, the so-called wellness benefit friskvårdsbidrag.

As a PhD student you have student status. This includes state subsidised student housing, and discounted public transport. To get these benefits, join the student union. You get the benefits through a third-party app called studentkortet (alternatively mecenat). Once you joined, log into the housing queue and check that it shows your student status.

Make sure you receive the departmental emails, kof@fysik.su… and komko@fysik.su…, the PhD stuff at drand@fysik.su…, as well as your group's internal emails. If you do not, message Ronni Barouta for departmental lists and me for Emil's group list.

healthcare

Just by living in Sweden (and definitely if you have a permanent address and personnummer), you are insured against accidents inside the country.

Once you have a personnummer, be sure to register with the national health insurance försäkringskassan that you moved to Sweden. Note in the relevant text field that you want an EHIC (European Health Insurance Card). This will also insure you abroad, at least inside the EU/EEA. If you can, wait until you have bankID set up, otherwise the process takes multiple months.

This is also the time to cancel health insurance in your previous country. In the case of German insurance you actually cannot cancel until you are insured in Sweden.

Swedish insurance does not cover your teeth to the extent you may be used to. For example, regular tooth checkups are not covered. I recommend this friendly and cheap dental insurance. Find a dentist in their network, and book an initial appointment. This may be a bit pricey, but they will sort you into a risk category, and from that moment on you only pay a monthly fixed cost of <50kr.

insurance

Having a Swedish home insurance, hemförsäkring, is legally required in (all?) rental contracts. However, for students these are quite cheap, and cover many things you may not expect; your home including fire and water damages, but also theft of property, travel abroad, and maybe even accidentally dropping your phone. I recommend folksam's student insurance. You need a personal number to get home insurance (or maybe email them).

Above home insurance it may generally be a good idea to be insured against suddenly losing your job, or looking for the next job after your contract ends. This kind of insurance is called an a-kassa, and I can recommend Akademikernas. Note that you have to pay into the insurance for a while (a year?) before you get full benefits, and note that there is also some partial state insurance, so here I recommend you do your own research.

studies

The SU physics PhD program is very unconstrained. The central points are listed on the official website, and I will recap them here.

You are guaranteed a position and funding for four years. However you can teach up to 20% of the time, and time spent teaching is not counted towards these four years. This means that you could stretch your PhD up to a total of five years, if you teach at the full 20% throughout. I know that this sounds like one of Zeno's paradoxes. Somehow they make it work. Departmental work etc. can also make you eligible for extensions.

Your salary increases after the halfway mark, and again after you completed 80% of your PhD.

You will have to do one year of courses at master's or PhD level, worth 60 hp (= 60 ECTS). You can spread them throughout your PhD however you like. Parts of those courses are standardized mandatory:

  • An introduction to PhD studies course. Worth 5 hp.
    • todo: list the six sub-courses here
  • A colloquium course. Worth 10 hp.
    • todo: list how to do a single colloquium, and how to arrange colloquia.
  • You can use up to 22.5 points from a previous master's degree if you want to.

Every year you have to complete an individual study plan - the first one is due three months after you started. You can fill the form here, and get instructions on how to do it here. The non-trivial bits are:

  • write a research plan (together with supervisor)
  • Have a meeting with supervisor
  • choose a mentor (intent: some researcher outside your field, to ask sensitive/non-physics questions) and have a meeting.
  • Make it through the sequence of digital signatures: You and your supervisor need to sign, then the co-supervisor, and finally your mentor. As soon as anyone accidentally makes any change in the study plan, you have to start over with signatures. Also: no one gets notified automatically, so you have to message these people.

housing

There is a guest researcher housing queue that you can apply to before you even have any documentation. todo

Wenner-Gren queue

Join the student housing queue now - there are no prerequisites, and the days you wait in line give you priority in finding a room or flat. As soon as you're a member of the student union, remember to reactivate this queue.

random other links

A bunch of notes on how SU's IT systems work: serviceportalen

Sign up for courses at university admissions. Local courses you may also get in by emailing gorica nikolic (who is amazing)

Vacation: 28 days

Remote Access to articles:

Get medical prescriptions reimbursed: hand in pharmacy receipt to your HR person,

SU healthcare provider: "feel-good", three anonymous and free visits for work-related problems

Business travel: transportation must be booked through Amex something-something, abroad hotels you can also book myself, but if you boo through the provider thingy, university pays directly, all physical receipts have to be handed in, need a signature from supervisor Put on primula: Start Date: Leaving home, Departure of flights as in tickets Interruptions: 0600 - 2359

Report crimes, injuries, losses to SAMIR

Posted on Sunday 12 Nov 2023