Moving to Sweden as a student, need bank account?

Question

Next week I will be moving to Lund, Sweden for a year to get my MBA. I would like to open a bank account there, however I've heard it is quite difficult to open one if you are an international student (I am from the US). Does anyone have experience as an international student opening a bank account in Sweden? Any info would be much appreciated!

Answer 1

If I'm not mistaken I think the difficulty lies in this, at least for refugees without papers:

To open a bank account as a foreigner you need a Swedish identity card, but the company who used to issue identity cards to foreigners doesn't do it anymore. Only the banks does it now.

The problem is that you need an account in the bank to get an identity card.

(A weird Kafka-like situation, the legislation hasn't kept up with this situation yet).

However, I'm pretty sure there are some ways around it, especially if you are American. Maybe they accept American identity cards?

You could try to send an email to the Swedish bank Nordea and ask for more information on how to get an account as a foreigner.

Try this link: https://www.nordea.se/sitemod/modules/fo...

Select "Utlandsfrågor" (= Foreign topics) or "Övrigt" (= Other).

"Namn" = Name.

"E-post" = E-mail.

"Rubrik" = Headline.

"Meddelande" = Message.

Or try to call [phone] (Head Office of Nordea).

Answer 2

i opened a bank account in Denmark and didn't have any trouble.  Of course the school had something set up with one of the banks.  I would ask your school, it is probably a common question