Moving to Sweden from New Zealand: 2025 Relocation Guide for NZ

Sweden is known for its great work life balance, stunning and often extreme natural environment, and its metropolitan cities. It’s a fantastic destination if you’re thinking of studying abroad, or if you’ve been given the opportunity to move for work. But what does relocating to Sweden from New Zealand really involve?

This guide looks at the basics of immigrating to Sweden from New Zealand, and highlights the Wise Account as a great way to manage your money as you move.

Sweden Visa for New Zealand Residents

You can travel to Sweden with your New Zealand passport with no additional visa needed¹. However if you’re moving to Sweden from New Zealand and intend to stay for over 90 days, or if you will work or study, you need to have a visa arranged before you leave New Zealand.

There are different visas for Sweden which are based on the reason for your move to Sweden - for example:

• Working or taking a working holiday
• Studying
• Moving to reunite with family

Most applications for a permit to move to Sweden will be dealt with online². There is no Swedish Embassy in New Zealand, and so any application needing a physical meeting at an embassy location is diverted to the embassy in Canberra, Australia.

Swedish Immigration Requirements

The requirements to move to Sweden are dictated by the type of visa or permit you want to apply for. To give an example, if you are looking to move to work in Sweden you’ll need in most cases to have a job offer already in hand³. Some residence permits for job seekers are offered, but these only allow you a period of up to 9 months in Sweden with the express intention of securing a position - and you’ll need to have high level qualifications to apply.

Assuming you already have a job offer you can apply for your work permit if you meet the following criteria:

• You have an employment contract with an eligible employer
• You have a valid passport which covers the length of the permit you apply for - you are not able to get a permit for longer than your passport is valid
• Your position is paid at least 80% of median salary, and with terms on par with others in the industry, or those set by Swedish collective agreements
• Your employer offers health, life, employment and pension insurance

Your employer will need to initiate the application for your work permit. Once this is done you will be contacted by the authorities and asked to submit your paperwork and personal information online. This will include submitting copies of your documents to support your application, and paying a fee. You’ll hear by email once a decision has been made. For highly skilled workers this can take up to 30 days, or longer in other situations.

Moving to Sweden checklist

Planning a move from New Zealand to Sweden is likely to be pretty complex. Unless you’re able to simply pop a few essentials in a bag and hop on a plane, you’ll need to sort out packing and shipping, visas, permits and flights for you, your family and pets, and all the admin on arrival too. You’re going to have a lot to think about - and every move is unique. However, to start you off in your planning, we've rounded up a few checklist items you’ll want to add to your list to make sure everything goes smoothly before departure and on arrival.

Before You Leave New Zealand

Getting your visa will be the most important step - but once you’ve got the visa or permit you need, there’s a lot of practical work to be done before you get on the plane to Europe. Here are some things to factor into your planning:

• Secure a visa - this usually requires you to have a job or study course, and processing could take a month or more, depending on the visa you select
• Learn as much as you can about Sweden to establish where you would like to live - taking some language classes is also a bonus
• Talk to expats already in Sweden online and through social media to build connections and to help you to settle on arrival
• Set a budget for your relocation, including shipping household and personal goods, flights and pet relocation if needed
• Book the practical aspects of your move including arranging packing, shipping, accommodation on arrival and familiarisation
• You may decide to get an international driving license before you travel, depending on your intentions when you arrive

Upon Arrival in Sweden

You’ll have a few important tasks waiting for you once you arrive in Sweden, which can help you hit the ground running. Here are some pointers:

• As soon as you can, submit biometrics and the required information to get your residence permit card at the Migration Agency
• Sign a long term rental contract and set up phone services, utilities, internet and so on
• Open a bank account or a multi-currency digital account which lets you manage SEK as well as NZD in one place
• Familiarise yourself with your local area - if you’re in Sweden through work or study your employer or educational institute may help

How much money does it cost to move to Sweden from NZ?

We’ll look at some tools to help you set your ongoing budget once you’re in Sweden in a moment. However, you’ll need a separate budget just to cover the move, which is usually an expensive affair. Unless you’re lucky enough to have an employer pay for your relocation, you’ll need to think about including the following:

• Packing for your household goods
• Shipping costs for household and personal goods
• Flights and initial living expenses for you and your family
• Pet relocation if needed
• Accommodation on arrival and until you arrange permanent housing

Moving with Pets?
Learn more about the costs of pet relocation in our handy guide.

Cost of Living in Sweden

Sweden has a reputation as being a fairly costly place - but any price shock you experience will be relative, and as life in New Zealand isn’t exactly cheap, you may be pleasantly surprised. In fact, in the Wise cost of living index, Sweden ranks as the 25th most costly place to live. New Zealand comes in at number 13.

The Wise cost of living index can be a handy indicator of average costs such as housing, food, transport and entertainment. Ultimately, though, everyone’s own budget is personal, and dictated by big ticket items like your rent, as well as the types of things you like to do for fun.

There’s lots of helpful information online to help you get a handle on the day to day costs of life in Sweden - plus you can get an idea of how the cost of living in Sweden compares with New Zealand, in the Wise cost of living by country index.

Open a Swedish bank account as a NZ Expat

The currency in Sweden is the Swedish krona - SEK. To integrate into life in Sweden you’ll need an account which can manage payments and spending in krona conveniently.

You will find it pretty easy to open an account locally once you arrive. We’ve got lots of handy information on how to open a Swedish bank account as an expat, including a look at top banks for foreigners, in the Wise guide to the top banks in Sweden.

You may find it more challenging to open a bank account in Sweden before you relocate. If your bank needs proof of a Swedish address you’ll usually find this tricky to produce until you’re physically in your new home. As a solution you may want to open a Wise Account before you leave.

Wise lets you hold and exchange SEK and NZD alongside 40+ other currencies, making it easier to make SEK payments before you travel. You can also order a Wise multi-currency debit card to tap and pay in SEK instantly when you land in Sweden. Wise uses the mid-market exchange rate for currency conversion with low, transparent fees, helping you to minimise the costs involved in managing your money across currencies.

Moving your Money to Sweden from New Zealand

Whenever you exchange your NZD to SEK you’ll need to keep an eye on the exchange rates you’re offered. If you decide to take cash with you when you travel, for example, you’ll want to watch out for currency conversion markups on money exchange places such as airport money exchange shops. These can be pretty high which means you get less SEK to spend in the end.

You might decide it is easier to use a Wise Account and card. Add money to your account in NZD, and convert to SEK in the Wise app with transparent exchange fees and the mid-market rate to spend and withdraw when you get to Sweden.

Open your Wise Account

Moving your KiwiSaver Savings to Sweden

Your KiwiSaver savings could be a significant slice of money, which you probably don’t want to leave in New Zealand if you plan to move to Sweden permanently.

The good news is that you can withdraw your KiwiSaver funds and use the money to add to a local fund in Sweden instead, as long as you meet certain eligibility rules.

Contact your KiwiSaver provider after you’ve left, to discuss withdrawing your money. You’ll need to complete a permanent emigration withdrawal from, and a statutory declaration which confirms your permanent emigration from New Zealand. You’ll then need to present these to the provider, along with evidence supporting your claim like your flight tickets or your passport, and your Swedish residency card.

Complete guide to withdrawing your Kiwisaver savings overseas 👉

Start your Swedish journey with Wise

Open a Wise Account to hold a balance in SEK and make SEK payments even before you leave New Zealand. You can add funds in NZD easily, and then spend with your linked debit card. You’ll automatically get currency conversion at the mid-market rate and low, fair fees - and you're ready to tap to pay like a local when you land.

Get Started with Wise

Plus Wise makes it easy to send money back home to New Zealand for those ongoing bills, and you can simply swipe your card for NZD spending when you go back home to visit.

Sweden has a huge amount going for it, making it a very popular place for adventurous people looking to relocate and experience a different lifestyle and culture. If you’re lucky enough to have an opportunity to move to Sweden you’re sure to have a great time - but you’ve got a lot of planning to do before you leave New Zealand. This guide gives you some planning tips to get started - and while you’re thinking about your next adventure, remember to check out Wise for an international account that supports you no matter where in the world you’re headed.