Information on studying in Sweden for Nepali students.

There is a Facebook page called 'We Are Nepali Living in Sweden' which gives factual information about studying in Sweden for Nepali students so that students would not be misled by agents in Nepal, whose sole propose is earning money rather than helping students make informed decisions. Just because you got a university admission in Sweden, or got the residence permit , does not mean that your struggle is over. You will need to consider plenty of aspects while moving to a foreign country for study.

Firstly, international students have to pay tuition fee to study in Sweden, and it ranges from € 8,000 to € 13,000, which is a lot of money. Alongside, housing cost and living cost in Sweden is very high. Below I have provided the list of useful bullet points from the Facebook Page compiled by the admin of the page to help the prospective students to Sweden. Make sure you do enough research to figure out whether or not Sweden is good country for you based on the points. You can also do further research on your own from the internet. This blog Study In Sweden is also pretty good. Written by international students themselves, it addresses pretty much all common concerns of students.

• For those who are financially sound, and can afford the living cost in Sweden and tuition fees for Swedish Universities, Sweden is an excellent destination for studies, with the presence of world-class universities and state-of-the-art education system.
  Such students are highly recommended to come and study in Sweden.

Now for those who need to do part-time jobs to help finance their studies.

• In order to be eligible for Personal Identity Number in Sweden, your study programme's duration should be more than 13 months. And,  please note that without Personal Identity Number it is impossible to get a job in Sweden. It's very unlikely to get an illegal job in Sweden, and if someone is running such rackets, he or she will be punished sooner or later. So, only option is to get a legal job is through getting Swedish Personal Identification Number. And don't trust education consultancies in Nepal if they say you can work even when you're in Sweden on courses less than 1 year. Many students have got in trouble because of this.
• One good thing about Sweden is there's no restriction on how many hours a student can work. HOWEVER (there's a big HOWEVER), it might take 2-4 months to 5-7 months to get a job even in big cities like Stockholm and Gothenburg. It isn't usually the case that you go to Sweden today and get a job within a week. Normally students get menial jobs such as cleaning, housekeeping, restaurant helper etc. with English language. Even for such jobs, you need connections or network with people who are already doing that job.
• In big cities it is relatively easy to get part-time jobs but difficult to find an apartment for you to stay. Please note that finding and apartment in cities like Stockholm is a nightmare even for Swedes not only for foreigners. Read this. Also you can google more such reports on housing problem in big cities of Sweden especially Stockholm. But it's the opposite in small cities i.e part-time jobs are hard to find and accommodations are easier to get.
• Even though you can study in English and Swedes speak very good English, learning Swedish language is a must for finding a decent job, excelling in your career, know Sweden more and if you want to stay in Sweden for longer terms. Students can learn language outside of their universities too.
• If your field of study is in demand in Sweden and you're a good student it's easy to get jobs in Sweden after graduation. Not to mention, Sweden has a lot of startups and big companies that seek international talents. Students majoring in  IT and Data Technology have good chances.
• It's equally important to remember that you need to get enough credits (normally 30 credits) for residence permit extension. Getting less than 30 credits without any valid medical or other acceptable reason, can lead to your residence permit extension application being rejected. Also you must pass the courses you've enrolled in to get enough credits. Even when you want to change your residence permit to work or business (provided that you have a contract of enough hours for full-time work from your employer or a good business idea for starting a business), you need to have at least 30 credits from university, without which it's not possible. You need to earn SEK 13,000 before-tax for work permit.
• If you are in Sweden on residence permit based on work for 4 years, you can directly apply for PR. Also, if you have either Swedish residence permit based on work or Swedish PR or Citizenship or Passport, you need not pay tuition fees in the university if you plan to study further.
• Students are allowed to bring in their spouses with them. But they need to show certain amount of money for their spouses' stay in Sweden (check on Swedish Migration Agency website). Student spouses can work full-time, if they get work, but as said before, jobs could be difficult to come by in small towns. Also, if a student has kids, they can bring them too. You can read the entire process on Swedish Migration Agency.
• You need to have at least 6.5 in IELTS with no band less than 5.5. TOEFL 4.5 written or overall 575 to meet the English Language requirements. Check if your degree programme has special requirements too or not. There are other ways to meet English requirements too which you can find HERE.  Check if it's applicable in your case.
• Cost of living is high in Sweden. An apartment in small cities might cost SEK 3000-5000, whereas it can cost SEK 4000-7000 in big cities.
• It is not necessary to come to Sweden through education consultancies. You can apply on your own doing enough research. All the information is available online and you can email your university to ask any information you need.

How to apply?

1. Create an account on https://www.universityadmissions.se/intl/start
   (This site contains all the information you'll need and more for applying to Swedish universities, take sufficient time and read all the important information).
2. Search for courses, programmes, information about fee and scholarship in the same website.
3. Apply for the course/programme, apply also for the scholarship at the same time.
4. After getting admission or offer letter it's very important apply immediately for a student apartment. You will find information about it in university website.
5. Apply to migration in Sweden online www.migrationsverket.se, choose English website and follow instructions (you can apply for  a visa or residence permit on this website)। You can create an account here and apply for a Residence permit. You need to book a time for Biometric in Embassy of Sweden, New Delhi. Take with you two months account information details of bank balance of last two months with you.
6. Before applying for a Study visa, make sure to have bank balance for fees and monthly SEK 8370 for fooding and lodging cost for the total study time, if spouse is also applying together SEK3500 extra a month is needed. Note: money must be in your own bank account and sponsorship is not enough. (This amount is different from University fee, so the total bank balance is University fees+ fooding lodging)

Note: do not apply for the course and programme shorter than 13 months if you intend to work while you study.