Frequently asked questions

The following documents can be submitted in order to document your right to apply for an evaluation:

• Swedish personal identity number (personnummer) – log in with your Bank ID or submit a population registration certificate (personbevis), Swedish driver's licence, or Swedish identity card. You can order a population registration certificate from the Swedish Tax Authority.
• EU/EES citizen - submit a copy of your passport or national identification card. Your passport copy must contain the page with your name and other personal data.
• Citizen of a country outside the EU/EES – submit a copy of your passport AND documentation of one of the following:
  
  1. Swedish residence permit, work permit or valid LMA card. If you’re currently in Sweden and waiting for a decision, please submit confirmation from the Swedish Migration Agency that they have received your application.
  2. Family member of an EU citizen – submit a copy of your residence card or certification of right of residence from the Swedish Migration Agency.
  3. Long-term resident of an EU country – You may have the right to a residence permit in Sweden. Find out more at the Swedish Migration Agency's website.

If you live outside EU/EES and do not live up to claim 1-3 you can not apply for an evaluation.

You don´t need to wait for the assessment before you apply to Swedish universities.

If you've completed your upper secondary studies and are ready to apply to a bachelor's programme, the best thing is to apply for courses and programmes directly at Universityadmissions.se

Your foreign upper secondary studies will be assessed during the application process and you don´t need to wait for a recognition statement.

Once we have received all the documents, the normal waiting period is 2 to 4 months.

Please note that you do not need a statement from us to study or apply for a job. If you have a foreign education, you can apply straight to the higher education institution and the evaluation is then carried out in association with your application to study. An employer can contact us by email at any time and get information about the foreign education.

What is a regulated profession?

Some professions are regulated through Swedish legislation that defines what is required to work within a certain profession, for example a particular qualification or authorisation, certification or other formal recognition.

If you wish to work in any of the below professions you should contact the competent authority and apply for the right to practise in that profession.

List of all regulated professions

If you have a upper-secondary education, post secondary vocational education or higher education, documents that are issued in a language other than English, French, Spanish, German or the Nordic languages must be translated. The translation must be done by an authorised translator to Swedish or one of the above languages.

Translation of your educational documents must be done by an authorized translator. You cannot translate your documents yourself.
You can find a translator by contacting Kammarkollegiet or the Federation of Authorised Translators. If there are no authorised translators for the language you require, you can use a translator who is a member of the Swedish Association of Professional Translators.

You can also translate your documents in the country where you completed your education, provided that the translation is done by an authorized translator, preferably in English.

Documenting my right to receive a recognition statement

The following documents can be submitted in order to document your right to apply for an evaluation:

• Swedish personal identity number (personnummer) – log in with your Bank ID or submit a population registration certificate (personbevis), Swedish driver's licence, or Swedish identity card. You can order a population registration certificate from the Swedish Tax Authority.
• EU/EES citizen - submit a copy of your passport or national identification card. Your passport copy must contain the page with your name and other personal data.
• Citizen of a country outside the EU/EES – submit a copy of your passport AND documentation of one of the following:

1. Swedish residence permit, work permit or valid LMA card. If you’re currently in Sweden and waiting for a decision, please submit confirmation from the Swedish Migration Agency that they have received your application.
2. Family member of an EU citizen – submit a copy of your residence card or certification of right of residence from the Swedish Migration Agency.
3. Long-term resident of an EU country – You may have the right to a residence permit in Sweden. Find out more at the Swedish Migration Agency's website.

If you live outside EU/EES and do not live up to claim 1-3 you can not apply for an evaluation.

Request review

If you received a decision (recognition statement or rejection) that you believe is incorrect, then you can contact Universitets- och högskolerådet (UHR) via utbildningsbedomning@uhr.se and request reviewing the decision.

UHR will reconsider your case. Please note that when contacting UHR you will need to provide your name and case number for us to retrieve your case from the system.

Appeal

You can also appeal the decision, which means that the court will review whether UHR:s decision should be changed. To begin the appeal process, start with “Förvaltningsrätten” and send it by post to Registrator, Universitets- och högskolerådet, Box 4030, 171 04 Solna, or to the e-mail address: registrator@uhr.se.

When writing to appeal, always provide:

• Your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address.
• Which decision you want to appeal (please provide your case number).
• The change that you wish to do.

The appeal must be submitted to UHR within three weeks from the day you received the decision, or it will be dismissed. If you have appealed in time, your letter of appeal will be sent by the Swedish Council for Higher Education (Universitets- och högskolerådet) to Förvaltningsrätten along with a copy of the decision and all documents pertaining to the case.

In our assessment for the university education, we indicate what the foreign education is equivalent to in the Swedish education system. Our assessment does not mean that the applicant is awarded the same education in Sweden but is instead a comparison. This is why we don’t list credits or courses in our recognition statement.

UHR’s statement on upper-secondary education evaluates both whether your upper-secondary education provides basic eligibility and access for higher education or not and the level to which some upper-secondary subjects are equivalent in Swedish upper-secondary education. UHR only evaluates subjects that may be demanded as specific entry requirements for Swedish higher education. These include mathematics, English, physics, etc.

If you’ve studied one or more subjects at upper secondary school that are not included in your recognition statement, the most common reasons are:

• The grade you received in the subject was too low.
• The course content is not comparable to the Swedish course. This can be the case with for example chemistry and English.
• If English isn’t included under “behörigheter” (eligibility requirements met) in your recognition statement, this means that the English you studied at upper secondary school does not correspond to the course English 6 in the Swedish education system.
• You can even apply for recognition of prior learning together with your application to university studies. Read more about recognition of prior learning.

Subjects such as computing, psychology and economics are not specific requirement courses, so these subjects are not included in the statement of your upper-secondary education.

A pure vocational upper-secodanry education will not give access to university studies and therefore no specific subject either.

If your case has been closed due to missing documents, you are welcome to submit a new application and send in the documentation that we have required. You only need to attach the missing documents in the new application as we already have your previous case file in the system. Log in to My Pages.

The recognition statement is issued as an electronic document with digital certification, not as a paper product. To prove the document is authentic and issued by UHR, a certified document blue bar with signature details is displayed.

It is possible to open the recognition statement in any PDF reader, but the certified document blue bar is only visible in Adobe Acrobat on a computer.

The recognition statement is always issued in Swedish as the assessment provides a comparison to the Swedish education system and is intended for the Swedish labour market.

• Degree certificate/diploma in the original language and translated where necessary.
  
  A degree certificate is a document that shows the qualification awarded. Please remember to also enclose the reverse side of the diploma.
• Transcript – a list of the courses that were included in your degree/qualification. In the original language and translated where necessary. The personal transcript should state
  •  the subjects included in your degree
  •  how long you studied each subject (credits)
  •  the grade you received in each subject
  •  whether you wrote a degree project (not for Upper-secondary education)

We can only accept files in pdf format.

For some countries, we often request documentation in addition to what we generally require. This can vary depending on what education level you have. Find out what applies by reading the information for your country of study.

When UHR already has issued a recognition statement, we do not make any new recognition statements due to name change or that one has been given a personal identity number. In order to prove change of name or a complete personal identity number you can add an extract from the population register (from National Tax Agency/Skatteverket) where name change or personal identity number is shown.

If you have a protected identity you should not use the web application. You must then submit a paper form.

In order to be able to perform the tasks for which UHR is responsible, we need to process personal data. Find more information regarding how UHR is processing personal data.

The recognition statement provides guidance for employers or for Swedish higher education institutions if you apply for university courses in Sweden. It can be regarded as a complement to your foreign degree, not a replacement.

If you have completed a foreign upper-secondary education and want to have your education evaluated in order to apply to higher education, the recognition statement informs whether your education gives access to university studies in Sweden or not. If your upper-secondary education gives you access to higher education the recognition statement will also show whether your education provides you with specific entry requirements for particular subjects. You can use this to know what you need to add to your education before continuing to studies at higher level. If you have a vocational upper-secondary education that does not give you access to higher education in Sweden, the recognition statement will show what degree awarded and the alignment of the education. You can then use the statement to show which vocational qualification you have when you are looking for work.

If you have a higher education or a higher vocational education you will receive a statement that compares your foreign qualification to a Swedish degree. In a comment, we describe the focus (content) of the foreign qualification.

The recognition statement is always issued in Swedish as the assessment provides a comparison to the Swedish education system and is intended for the Swedish labour market.

If we are unable to recognise your qualification, i.e. we cannot issue a statement about your education, you will receive a letter in which we explain why. If possible, we refer you to other public authorities and organisations.

You can submit your application for recognition of your foreign qualifications online. The application is free of charge.

There you can upload copies of your educational documents as PDF files.

You can apply even if you don´t have a Swedish personal identity number.

The Swedish Council for Higher Education (UHR) evaluates completed foreign qualifications from upper-secondary level and upwards (post-secondary vocational education and higher education). It is not possible to have part of your qualification/education evaluated.
Other authorities are responsible for evaluating education and training leading to professions that are regulated in Sweden.

If you haven't completed your higher educational qualification and want to continue studying in Sweden, you should contact the higher education institution at which you want to study. They can provide you with information about how to apply to have your credits transferred.

If you haven't completed your post-secondary vocational education and want to continue studying in Sweden you should contact the education provider you are interested in. They can provide you with information about how to apply to have your credits transferred.

If you haven't completed your secondary education and want to plan future studies, talk to a careers and study guidance counsellor.