Hej! On behalf of the KTH bloggers team, I congratulate you again on your admission! After Martyna wrote about the guide to EU-admitted students in her previous blog post, It’s my turn to share another one for international-admitted students!
Residence permit
In contrast to EU citizens, we must get a student residence permit during our study period in Sweden. You should prepare the required documents before applying (a valid passport and bank statement, for instance). The application can be submitted online before your arrival to Sweden and is to be completed by taking a photograph and recording your fingerprint at the Migrationsverket (Swedish Migration Agency) office upon your arrival. More information can be found on their website, which includes step-by-step application guidelines.
Accommodation
Another essential thing that we, as international students, have to look for is accommodation in Stockholm. As non-EU KTH students, the most straightforward way to obtain a place to live is through KTH accommodation. The University guarantees all fee-paying international students two years of housing, and there are multiple options that you may choose from. For more information about each of them, you may also check out my previous post about Malvinas väg and Martyna’s review about Lappis!
Another popular alternative would be queueing for housing through SSSB (Stockholms Studentbostäder), as mentioned in Martyna’s post. In addition to Lappis, which is also available to choose from through KTH accommodation, SSSB offers students more options and locations around Stockholm. Still, I would suggest that getting a room through KTH accommodation would be better for newly admitted students as the process is less complicated, and you will be offered a place as long as you have applied before the deadline, regardless of the queuing days. But it certainly will not do any harm if you start lining up in the queue for SSSB as a backup plan!
Tuition Fees
Getting the admission offer from KTH is undoubtedly exciting. However, as fee-paying international students, you should remember to pay the first instalment of the first-year tuition fee (usually half of the total per year) to confirm that you will accept the offer at KTH. So always keep an eye on your email inbox for the invoice and pay it promptly to avoid any trouble!
I hope this guide may help you out in handling the list of things to be completed before embarking on your new adventure at KTH and Sweden! In my next post, I will share with you about the new system adopted at KTH, Mobility Online, which is used for applications, paying invoices, uploading documents, etc., as a follow-up guide to help you out with the preparation works. Meanwhile, you may check out Lorenzo’s new post about some budgeting tips for Stockholmers! See you soon:)
//Raygo