Moving to Sweden with Asperger's

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If you don't mind cold and wet/icy winters, you'll do fine in Sweden.

Things are expensive, though. The tax rate is high. It's hard to become a Swedish citizen if you don't have family in Sweden

Hello all,

I realise its been a couple of months since the last post and a few years since the OP but this topic is something I am also researching and would like to add a few things from my experience.

I have been to Sweden a few times now and feel it is a place well suited to people on the spectrum. It is true people do not pay any attention to you on the streets, no eye contact, no hello's, no forced polite interaction. I found it quite extreme actually after all these years of forcing myself to do such things. It can go quite far in certain situations, I noticed for example, they do not hold doors open for each other, which I found quite odd being an Englishman.

They love queueing, its almost religious (almost, but not quite considering as religion seems to be nonexistent which was another massive bonus for me). That certainly made life easier for me as you can just wait your turn. They also love ticket machines in shops, so you just grab a ticket and wait for it to be called. Sometimes they have two different coloured ticket machines in one shop apparently you just take one of each and see what comes first, never really got the point of that. While you are in the queue there is always a massive gap between each person, at bus stops its even more. I noticed on buses that people only seem to sit one person per double seat, if they are full, people stand, unless they have really have to sit next to someone.

The countryside and scenery is stunning and very unspoilt. You have to right to roam in Sweden meaning you can go off on walks and hikes all over the place and not get in trouble with land owners. I do a lot of cycling and its great for that. As there are so few people there (less than the population of London) there are very few cars on the roads which is nice too.

They follow all the rules, all the time. I am by no means any kind of rebel but I was quite surprised by how blindly people do what they are told. It is quite nice overall but it did get on my nerves a little in the end. I think it is more to do with culture shock than something wrong with the Swedes. We tend to do what we want in the UK as we are more about ourselves than the wider community and that's not how it works in Sweden.

It is a cold and dark place in the winter and the summer is short and not all that warm. I am from the UK which is not the hottest place in the world but I found it cold when they were all in shorts and t-shirts. I was smack in the middle of Sweden on my visits and in Winter is was dark 22 hours of the day, there was no sun at any time. In the summer it was daylight 24 hours a day.

If you are planning on working there then you might find that hard. I have been told by a few people that it is hard to get a job as a foreigner unless your Swedish is very good. Quality of life is high but at a cost. From a British perspective the benefit system is quite strict and you have to pay to go to the doctors/hospital although it is heavily subsidized (If you are from the EU!). It is also hard to get in to Sweden unless you can be sponsored by a Swedish national, can prove you have a LOT of money in the bank to support yourself, or you have a job lined up. Without these things, if you are from the EU they can't stop you going there but you cannot get an ID number which you need to pretty much do anything.

Renting an apartment is stupidly cheap compared to the UK. Everything else costs more, a lot more in quite circumstances. Tax is very high, food is expensive, alcohol is very expensive and heavily restricted. Restaurants and general going out are also pricey. They love takeaways there but expect to pay 2-4x what they cost in the UK.

A lot of that isn't an issue for me anyway as I rarely go outside yet alone for a takeaway or restaurant.

People were generally very pleased to meet an English person and wanted to know where in London I was from. Not sure why they have the common idea that everyone in England lives in London, might to universal, I don't know!

Some other random thoughts you might be interested in:

Their coffee can strip paint

They are very polite drivers

You get free refills on your drinks

Pizzas comes with "Pizza salad" which is a Swedish knockoff of sauerkraut

You must visit IKEA at least once a week

Everyone has a Volvo

There is zero confrontation. At worst expect a stare

Very clean

Their TV is pretty much UK TV from 3 years ago. I was surprised by how many of our shows are on!

Films and a lot of TV is in English with Swedish subtitles.

They eat cheese popcorn in the cinema, its horrible

Last edited by Hububalli on 05 Mar 2016, 4:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

While anecdotal, I have a Swedish friend who received an Asperger's diagnosis last year who was able to receive support in the form of a monthly pension and housing assistance, so if that's something that would benefit you it sounds like it should be alright.

Interesting post, Hububalli, thank you!

Since last posting in this thread 2 years ago I've visited Stockholm and Malmo and your observations are consistent with what I've seen. It all seemed quite pleasant overall. This was in the summer, mind you! Winter would probably be a bit difficult, although... if I'm at home on the computer all day anyway, does it really matter whether it's +5 or -15 outside? So I'm still seriously considering Sweden as a place to live.

Well, that seems fair enough. They don't want to people coming into the country to live at the Swedish taxpayers' expense and why should they? As an EU citizen, you need to show that you have enough to support yourself for one year. Interestingly, if you are a student you only need "a self-signed assurance that you have sufficient funds for your support for the duration of your studies". But even if you didn't need to show the money, you'd still need to have it to actually live on.