Work Document Translation for Sweden

The Terms of the Job Offer Sit at the Centre of the File

In Swedish work permit applications the assessment turns less on the candidate personally than on the terms of the employment being offered. Migrationsverket looks at whether the job on offer fits the conditions established in the Swedish labour market, and the relevant trade union may also give an opinion on the offer as part of the process. That structure pushes the weight of document preparation towards the employment papers: the text of the job offer, the annexes setting out the working conditions and the insurance arrangements form the backbone of the file. The candidate’s diploma and experience certificates are read alongside them, as supporting evidence that the qualification suits the post. In regulated professions a separate route of professional authorisation comes into play as well.

Where the Auktoriserad Translator Authorisation Comes From

In Sweden the authority to produce official translations is conferred by Kammarkollegiet, and translators who hold it carry the title auktoriserad translator. Because the authorisation is granted language pair by language pair and only by examination, the number of authorised translators in any one pair can be small. A candidate putting a work file together needs to allow for that early; finding a suitable translator in the Turkish-Swedish pair is an item the planning has to account for. An authorised translator’s work is issued under their own seal and can be verified by the authorities. Our document types page summarises the documents that fall within this scope.

UHR Assessment and Authorisation in the Regulated Professions

UHR carries out an assessment showing what a foreign higher education diploma corresponds to in Sweden. That assessment makes the qualification legible to an employer; in fields such as the health professions and teaching, however, the right to practise is granted separately by the relevant specialist authority, which asks for the curriculum, records of practice and proof of language proficiency. Where the two routes are confused, the candidate can end up holding a work permit and still be unable to practise. Anyone aiming at a regulated profession is therefore best advised to open the authorisation file early.

Document, Reason, Counterpart

Document	Why it is asked for	Counterpart
The job offer and its annexes	Scrutiny of the terms of employment	Migrationsverket
Diploma and transcript	Assessment of the qualification	UHR, the employer
Curriculum	Professional authorisation	The relevant specialist authority
Social security employment record	Proof of experience	The employer, Migrationsverket
Passport and identity documents	Verification of identity	Migrationsverket

The Ground of Refusal Met With Most Often

In Swedish work permit files the negative outcome seen most often is that the terms of employment cannot be read clearly enough from the documents: where the working hours, the job description and the length of the contract are left incomplete or contradict one another, the application comes back with a request for further information. The second frequent ground is a translation not made by an authorised translator. Third, in fields that require professional authorisation, never having started that route bars the candidate from working in practice even once the permit has been granted.

When Family Members Are Assessed in the Same File

Including a spouse and children in a Swedish work permit application is common, and it is a step that doubles the document load. For family members a marriage certificate, birth certificates and a civil registry extract are asked for, and documents showing that the relationship is continuing may come up as well. Since this paperwork too is expected to be translated by an authorised translator, the capacity of translators in the Turkish-Swedish pair shapes the planning once again. Handing in the family documents at the same time as the employee’s allows the file to be assessed in a single pass; papers sent at different moments split the file and can cause delay.

A second point concerns the documents bearing on the maintenance requirement. If the family is coming too, the salary offered is assessed for whether it is enough to support the household, and that assessment makes the detail in the job offer papers more important still. The contract has to say plainly whether the pay is gross or net, what the payment periods are and what fringe benefits, if any, go with it. Choosing the right Swedish equivalents for these items in the translation lets the assessor do the arithmetic directly; a pay item left vague draws a request for further information and stretches the process out.

In a system where trade unions can give an opinion on the job offer, the translation of the contract matters all the more. Since the opinion turns on whether the terms offered fit established practice in the sector, the working hours, holiday entitlements, insurance arrangements and pay items in the contract have to be carried across in full. Clauses that Turkish contracts treat as standard and abbreviate cause a loss of information here. If the employer has drawn up the contract in Swedish, the candidate may need no translation at all; but where a preliminary agreement or letter of intent signed in Türkiye is going into the file, that document needs a translation by an authorised translator. Telling the translator which institution will read the papers lets the terminology be chosen to suit. If the contract is later amended, the supplementary protocol has to be translated the same way and added to the file; otherwise two different sets of terms are on view and an explanation is requested.

This page is for general information; because work permit conditions and the rules on professional authorisation can change, confirm the current requirements from the official announcements of Migrationsverket and of the relevant specialist authority. You can request a quotation for your documents, see the charges on our pricing page and compare other countries in our country directory.