Arbetsförmedlingen is less a job agency than the gatekeeper to Sweden’s unemployment system. Here is what it does, whether it applies to you, how to register on day one, the rules that follow, and what changed in 2025 and 2026.
When you need this
Your Swedish job has ended and someone told you to “register with Arbetsförmedlingen” before anything else. You’re an EU citizen looking for work and wonder whether you should sign up. Your work permit is tied to a job that just disappeared. You were granted protection in Sweden and received a letter about the etableringsprogrammet. Or a letter mentions a handlingsplan, an aktivitetsrapport or Rusta och matcha and you’d like to know what you’ve agreed to.
What Arbetsförmedlingen actually does
Arbetsförmedlingen (the Swedish Public Employment Service) is the state agency in charge of labour-market policy. Its government instruction tells it to collect and publish vacancies, bring jobseekers and employers together, shorten unemployment and, where justified, give support that improves a jobseeker’s chances. Everything it does for jobseekers is free; it may charge only for advertising or another special measure someone asks for.
In practice, the agency matters for three reasons:
| Role | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Job bank | Vacancies are published in Platsbanken, the national job bank |
| Gatekeeper | Registration is a basic condition for unemployment benefit (a-kassa) |
| Programme owner | It decides who joins labour-market programmes, from private coaching to the establishment programme for new refugees |
The gatekeeper role is the one that bites. Registering as a jobseeker is a condition for any a-kassa payment, and the fund assesses your right to compensation from the day you register, not from your last working day. Registering on your first day of unemployment also protects your SGI, the income level your sickness benefit is based on. How the insurance itself works is covered in a-kassa unemployment insurance.
Does it apply to you?
Registration is for people who live in Sweden and are allowed to work here. Arbetsförmedlingen can ask Migrationsverket about a foreigner’s work permit, exemption or residence status. What it means depends on who you are:
| You are | Why you’d deal with Arbetsförmedlingen |
|---|---|
| A tourist | You wouldn’t; registration is for people living in Sweden |
| A resident (folkbokförd) who lost a job | Register on day one for a-kassa and to keep your SGI |
| An EU, EEA or Swiss citizen | Optional while job hunting; required in two situations (below) |
| A work-permit holder whose job ended | Your permit can be revoked unless you find a new job, or apply for a permit that is granted, within three months |
| A new refugee or person with temporary protection | Registration is the entry ticket to the establishment programme |
EU citizens may work in Sweden without any permit and can register once they live here. EU law lets a jobseeker stay around six months without registering. Registration becomes important in two cases. If you bring unemployment benefit from home on a U2 form, you must register within 7 days, and the benefit runs at least 3 and at most 6 months. And if a Swedish job of under a year ends, registering as a jobseeker keeps your right of residence for at least six more months (see EU citizens’ right of residence).
Work-permit holders have a tighter clock: three months to find new work or apply for a new permit that is then granted. The details are in work permits for non-EU citizens.
How to register, step by step
- Prepare before your last working day. The digital registration can be filled in in advance and submitted on your first day without work. The service is open from 7:00 to midnight every day.
- Register on your first day of unemployment. Log in with Swedish e-ID on arbetsformedlingen.se. No e-ID? Go to a Statens servicecenter (state service office) with your ID, where staff help you log in with a one-time code. Your first registered day is the day of that visit.
- Finish the identity check if you started by phone. If the nearest office is far away you can begin by phone, but registration isn’t complete until you’ve visited a service office and proved who you are.
- Apply to your a-kassa separately. Registration isn’t a claim. Apply on your fund’s website, or to Alfa-kassan if you’re not a member of any fund.
- Attend the planning meeting. Within 30 days you and an officer agree an individual action plan (handlingsplan). If you have work starting within three months, you don’t need the meeting.
- Report every month. Send your activity report between the 1st and the 14th of each month.
- Keep the plan current. It must be renewed at least every six months.
- Deregister when you start a job. End your registration on My pages.
E-ID login in Sweden normally rests on a personnummer; why that is, and what to do without one, is explained in the personnummer guide.
Tip: You don’t need to register while you’re only under notice of redundancy. Register on the first day you’re actually without work.
The rules once you are registered
The action plan is a regulated document. It sets out your support needs, planned activities, your obligations, and the jobs and areas you search in. It’s drawn up within 30 days of registration (earlier for under-25s) and renewed at least every six months.
The activity report (aktivitetsrapport) is the agency’s main control. Anyone getting or claiming unemployment benefit must report at least monthly, within two weeks after the period ends, which in practice means between the 1st and the 14th.
If you take part in a labour-market programme and receive an allowance from it, the sanction rules sit in a government regulation that changed on 1 June 2026:
| What happened | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Missed action plan, activity report, appointment or assigned job application, or no active search | Warning first, then 1, 5, 10 and 45 days without allowance |
| Turned down suitable work, a course or a programme activity | 5 days at once, then 10, then 45 |
| Did not take part in a programme activity | 5 days at once, then 10, then 45 (new since 1 June 2026, previously warning first) |
Changed in 2026: older guides may still describe a warning first. Since 1 June 2026, skipping a programme activity costs 5 days directly, without a prior warning.
The a-kassa has its own, similar ladder for missed contacts. Programme participants aren’t employees of the workplace they’re placed at, but Swedish work-environment law still protects them there.
Rusta och matcha and the private providers
Much of the hands-on coaching is no longer done by the agency itself. Under a 2022 regulation, the main matching programme, run as the service Rusta och matcha, must be bought from private providers; the agency runs it itself only in exceptional cases.
- Who: mainly registered jobseekers aged 25 or more who are fully unemployed, plus people in the job guarantees or the establishment programme. Young people with disabilities and people aged 18 or more far from the labour market can also be assigned.
- How long: up to six months, extendable once by up to six more, normally full time.
- Who chooses: you do. Providers are procured under Sweden’s freedom-of-choice act (LOV), and the agency publishes ratings that it updates every other month. Compare them before you pick.
- How providers are paid: more for participants further from the labour market, and increasingly by results.
The model has been cut back. In December 2024 the government ordered payment to be tied harder to outcomes. The agency terminated 94 provider agreements in spring 2025 and 57 more in April–May 2026, and the minister confirmed in November 2025 that the agency no longer has a target to increase participation. If your provider is terminated, you’re paused for five days and must choose a new one.
The establishment programme for new refugees
The etableringsprogrammet is a full-time programme to help newly arrived people into work and Swedish society.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Who | Aged 20 up to the pension target age, with a residence permit as a refugee, subsidiary protection, temporary protection, resettlement or certain other grounds; family members who apply within six years |
| Entry | Register as a jobseeker as soon as possible after the permit decision |
| Not assigned if | You work full time, attend upper-secondary school, are on full parental benefit or sick pay, or live in Migrationsverket asylum housing |
| Content | Mapping and an action plan first, then SFI and civic orientation, plus work training or education |
| Length | Activities of up to 24 months full time, within 36 months of first registering in a municipality |
| Money | Establishment allowance via Försäkringskassan, plus an individual child supplement per child at home |
The core of the programme is SFI (Swedish for immigrants), explained in learning Swedish as a newcomer. Part-time participation is allowed for illness, parental leave, a child without a preschool place or another accepted obstacle.
The allowance was rebuilt on 1 September 2026: it rose to 335 SEK a day, the household-based establishment supplement and housing allowance were abolished for new grants, and an individual barntillägg (child supplement), higher from age 11 and for at most three children, replaced them. Further changes to the parental-leave rules take effect on 1 January 2027.
Practical information
| Item | What to know | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Registering and using Arbetsförmedlingen | Free | 2026-10-14 |
| Rusta och matcha | Free for you; the agency pays the provider | 2026-10-14 |
| Establishment allowance, full time (from 1 Sep 2026) | 335 SEK a day | 2026-10-14 |
| Establishment allowance during the initial mapping | 231 SEK a day | 2026-10-14 |
| Activity support, basic amount (without a-kassa) | 365 SEK a day, full time | 2026-10-14 |
| Activity report window | 1st to 14th of each month | 2026-10-14 |
FAQ
Who can register with Arbetsförmedlingen?
People who live in Sweden and have the right to work here. That includes residents, EU, EEA and Swiss citizens living in Sweden, and foreigners whose permit allows work; Arbetsförmedlingen can check a foreigner’s permit with Migrationsverket. You register online with Swedish e-ID, or at a state service office with ID. Tourists have no reason to register.
Do I need to register to get a-kassa?
Yes. Being registered as a jobseeker with Arbetsförmedlingen is a basic condition for unemployment benefit, and the fund assesses your right from the day you register, not your last working day. Register on your first day without work, then apply to your a-kassa separately, or to Alfa-kassan if you are not a member of any fund.
What is Rusta och matcha?
It is Arbetsförmedlingen’s main matching service, run by private providers that you choose yourself. It lasts up to six months, extendable by six, and is mainly for registered jobseekers aged 25 or more who are fully unemployed. Providers earn more for results, and the agency has terminated 151 underperforming provider agreements in 2025 and 2026.
What is the establishment programme?
A full-time programme for newly arrived refugees, people with temporary protection and their families, aged 20 or more. It starts with a mapping and action plan, then Swedish for immigrants, civic orientation, work training or education. Activities can last 24 months within 36 months of first registering in a municipality. The allowance is 335 SEK a day since September 2026.
Do EU citizens have to register with Arbetsförmedlingen?
Not to look for work: EU citizens may work without a permit and stay around six months as jobseekers. Registration matters in two cases. If you bring unemployment benefit from home on a U2 form, you must register within 7 days. If a Swedish job of under a year ends, registering keeps your right of residence for at least six months.
What happens if I miss my monthly activity report?
You are warned first. Repeated misses suspend your benefit for 1, 5, 10 and then 45 days for programme participants, and the a-kassa rules work in a similar stepwise way. Reports are due between the 1st and the 14th for the previous month. Not taking part in a programme activity is stricter: 5 days lost at once since June 2026.
Related guides
- A-kassa unemployment insurance — what registration unlocks, and how much you get
- Work permits for non-EU citizens — the three-month rule after a job ends
- Learning Swedish as a newcomer — SFI, the heart of the establishment programme
- Moving to Sweden for work — the registration steps in the right order
- Applying for jobs in Sweden — CVs, personal letters and slow hiring
Facts verified 2026-10-14. Sources: Sveriges riksdag (Förordning 2000:628, 2022:811, 2022:812, 2017:819, 2017:820; Lag 2017:584, 2000:625, 2024:506; Utlänningslag 2005:716), Arbetsförmedlingen, Regeringskansliet, Informationsverige and the European Commission — full register in this topic’s source file. This is general information, not legal advice. Found something outdated? Tell us and we’ll fix it.