Working at KI in Sweden

In Sweden, taxes are almost always withheld at the time of payment. Your employer is obliged to deduct tax from your salary before you are paid. Income tax and wealth tax are direct taxes paid both to the state and to the local municipality. Read more about different taxes and which tax decisions you need to present to your employer. 

Read about salary payments and what you need to do to receive payments to your bank account.

The Tax Agency sends you a self-assessment (tax return) form, självdeklaration, in April if you are obliged to submit a tax return declaring the previous year’s income. Read more information about declaring taxes in Sweden.

Value-added taxes are included in the price of food, goods and services. 

Foreign key personnel (second postdoc or more senior) can apply for tax relief at Forskarskattenämnden within three months of the start of the employment. Tax relief applies to 25% of salary and benefits being exempt from taxation. For eligible employees arriving under current rules, the relief normally applies for up to seven years from arrival in Sweden. Read more About Tax Relief | Staff Portal

Social insurance benefits are financial benefits provided by the Swedish Social Insurance Agency to people who are covered by the Swedish social insurance system. Examples include parental benefit, sickness benefit, housing allowance, and child benefit.

Provide information to Försäkringskassan for registration (insurance eligibility verification) as soon as you have received a personal number. Having a personnummer does not automatically give access to benefits from Försäkringskassan.

An ordinary work week is 40 hours for fulltime employees. Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays that fall on a weekday, Midsummer's Eve, Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are work-free days. Bridge days (a work day between two work-free days) are also work-free. See Public holidays in Sweden

The academic year is divided into two semesters, each lasting 20 weeks. The autumn semester starts in early September and ends in mid-January. The spring semester starts in mid-January and ends in early June. However, the semesters for PhD students follow the calendar.

Read more on Your Employment | Staff Portal

At Karolinska Institutet the three local union organisations OFR, Saco-S, and Seko represent all union members in negotiations with the employer about issues regarding salary and benefits, working conditions and the work environment, see Union organisations | Staff Portal

Read more about trade unions in Sweden

The Grants Office helps researchers at KI to identify, apply for and manage external and internal funding. Funding opportunities come from, in most cases, private and public foundations and government agencies within Sweden, EU and US. Visit Research funding for useful information about financing research.

You can find thousands of European and global vacancies and fellowships at the EURAXESS website.

The KI Career Service is a career development service for all students, PhD students and researchers and promotes a career within or outside academia. Career Service provides career counselling, career days, internships in the industry, PhD courses, seminars and workshops. For more information and to register for the newsletter, visit Career Service, or send an e-mail to career-service@ki.se.

See Careers at KI | Staff Portal

For advice and information related to managing intellectual property based on your research, visit the website intellectual property support. For example the teacher's privilege (lärarundantaget) means that academic researchers generally own the patentable inventions and results they create, rather than their employer.

For education and research on innovation and entrepreneurship you can turn to the Unit for Bioentrepreneurship (UBE), which is part of the LIME department. 

Read more about Karolinska Institutet Innovation and Collaboration with external partners | Karolinska Institutet

A Swedish pension comes from different sources. If you have worked and lived in Sweden, you will receive a national retirement pension based on the income you have paid tax on. The national retirement pension consists of an income pension and a premium pension. The majority of those who work in Sweden also receive an occupational pension from their employer. In addition, some save privately to supplement their pensions.
Scholarship holders don’t belong to any pension scheme in Sweden.

For more information the national retirement pension visit the Swedish Pensions Agency (Pensionsmyndigheten). For information about the government employee pension visit the National Government Employee Pensions Board (SPV).

Apply for a permanent residence permit – Swedish Migration Agency

If something changes when you have a permanent residence permit – Swedish Migration Agency

Swedish citizenship – Swedish Migration Agency

If you become unemployed, you need to register at the Job Centre first.

Unemployment insurance is not a part of the social insurance system in Sweden. If you pay tax on the salary in Sweden, you are covered by unemployment insurance at a basic level and have the right to apply for a limited compensation if you become unemployed. If you are a member of an unemployment fund (A-kassa) however, you can receive up to 80 percent of your previous salary when you are between two jobs.

Unemployment insurance funds often cooperate closely with the trade unions but are legally independent. When you start working in Sweden, investigate which unemployment insurance fund (widely known as A-Kassa) is available. In order to receive income-based benefits, you must have been a member of a voluntary unemployment insurance fund (A-kassa) for 12 months and have worked (employed) for at least six months. In addition, some trade unions offer an additional insurance against loss of income. See Akademikernas a-kassa (AEA) and Alfakassan as well as Sweden - Unemployment benefits and Termination of employment at KI. 

Read tips from KI Career Service and The Job Security Foundation (Trygghetsstiftelsen – TSN) that supports government employees in their transition to new employment. 

Please note that being able to stay in Sweden while unemployed depends on your immigration status.

• Doctoral students can apply for Resi­dence permit for looking for work after studies
• Researchers and doctoral students can apply for Resi­dence permit after rese­arch. 
• Please, note there is no similar permit for work permit holders.
• The Migration Agency: Guide för statusbyte inifrån Sverige (in Swedish)