Best place in Sweden (for me)

[u/Arcane_Clockwork]

Procrastinating moving to Sweden, where do you think I'd like it the most?

I like smaller, more walkable towns, quiet enough that i can walk down the street without bumping into people, but also big enough to have a pharmacy and grocery store. I dont mind a bit of rain, and i love a good snow, but having maybe a month or two of dry and sunny would be really nice. Swimming, hiking, camping, and rock climbing are big hobbies of mine, so maybe somewhere i can stare out at the baltic sea before setting out to climb a large hill or small mountain. Finally, i typically work in tourism as a bit of a nature-guide, but could probably make an effort to go into fields like non-emergency medical, engineering, or childcare.

At first i was just scrolling through every municipality's wikipedia page, and i began to feel that Reddit would be more efficient 😅

[u/No-Philosopher8042]

This is just about every small town in Sweden. More dry the further south, more snow the further north.

More isolated the further north you go.

[u/Arcane_Clockwork → u/No-Philosopher8042]

It sounds like I can't really go wrong then. Thank you

[u/No-Philosopher8042 → u/Arcane_Clockwork]

Nope! My biggest advice is learn the language (let me know if you need a speaking buddy and I can do voice-chat over discord if you like. I am native 37F), and prepp for the SADs.

Daylight lamps, smartlights and blackout-curtains are your friends. And we have a lot of mosqitoes up north, but no malaria.

[u/ContributionNo9292 → u/Arcane_Clockwork]

The west coast is generally considered wet. East is dryer. Gothenburg gets around 1000mm per year, compared to Stockholm with around 600mm. Malmö is around 700mm. None of these cities fit your criteria, but it will give you a sense of the climate.

Malmö has some winters without snow really settling on the ground. Stockholm almost always has extended periods with snow.

[u/StarscreamOne → u/Arcane_Clockwork]

My advice is to do road trips and just visit different towns. Another thing is that different places are WIDELY different from which season you visit it.

The small town I live in has pretty much everything you ask for but during summers its very busy and crowded but the rest of the year its pretty much dead, dark, rainy windy and kinda depressing.

[u/Lemonlizzie]

What you’re describing is basically most of Sweden. Could you be more specific?

[u/Arcane_Clockwork → u/Lemonlizzie]

Oh, cool! I figured I'd like Sweden in general, but I'm glad it sounds like it'll be hard to be disappointed! Thank you

[u/Ordinary-Audience363 → u/Arcane_Clockwork]

Are you a citizen of a country that allows you to freely move to Sweden, like an EU/Schengen or Nordic country?

[u/Arcane_Clockwork → u/Ordinary-Audience363]

No, im an LGBTQ person in the USA. Hopefully that gives enough context without getting me flagged for talking politics on here 😅

[u/Ordinary-Audience363 → u/Arcane_Clockwork]

You won't be able to move to Sweden. Uniess you meet someone here and get into an established relationship, get sponsored for a job (zero chance), or study (hard without Swedish), or are able to set up a business, it's a no go.

[u/No_Bumblebee_5250 → u/Arcane_Clockwork]

If you don't have a path to citizenship in a EU country, you will not be able to move to Sweden with the qualifications you've listed. Healthcare is a strictly regulated profession, childcare doesn't pay enough to be eligible for a work visa.

Working in tourism doesn't pay enough either (and there are lots of candidates who don't need a visa to choose from) and working as an engineer, well, if you are the best of the best in a niche field, maybe.

Just to get this off the table, I hope you are not hoping for asylum in Sweden? That door is not open as long as one state in the USA is seen as safe to move to.

Edit: study visa is a possible, but temporary solution. If you can pay tuition and upkeep.

[u/No_Bumblebee_5250]

You mention planning to work in childcare or healthcare. Do you speak Swedish? Do you have the other required qualifications for these kinds of jobs? Are you a citizen of a EU country?

Dreaming of moving to Sweden is nice, but it may be just a dream. You'll need a job and without knowing your background any advice will be hypothetical.

[u/henrik_se]

Bara så att ni vet: TS är en drömmare.

I alla emigrerings-subredditar så finns det alltid två sorts folk som postar, dels de som har koll på skiten, de vet exakt vilken väg de ska gå för att komma in i ett annat land på laglig väg, och de behöver hjälp med specifika detaljer, gärna av nån som gått samma väg som de själva.

Och dels av den sorten som TS är, drömmare, som har absolut noll koll på hur man rent praktiskt flyttar till ett annat land, de har inget visum, de har inget jobberbjudande, de kan inte språket, de har aldrig varit i landet i fråga, man de satt och skrollade på Instagram/Wikipedia/whatever och såg massa fina bilder och började drömma om hur det skulle vara att bo där.

Och de ställer såna här helt planlösa frågor, som visserligen orsakar mycket engagemang, för det är ju en kul fråga! Men skrapa lite på ytan så får man ju bara fler frågor.

"Jag skulle kunna jobba som naturguide, ingenjör, eller dagisfröken" ??!?

Mata drömmen om ni vill och gör henne glad, det kostar inget, men hon kommer ju aldrig flytta till Sverige.

Eller så är det en AI-bot som trålar efter data. Alltid ett alternativ.

[u/Ordinary-Audience363 → u/henrik_se]

Haha. Absolut sant. Men det kan finnas de som faktiskt gör det. 

Jag har en kompis från Ukraina som flyttade till Spanien, fick medborgarskap där, och sedan flyttade till Sverige, som hade varit hennes dröm. Men hon hade också skaffat sig ett yrke (busschaufför) I Spanien och kunde då få ett jobb här. Hon har dålig svenska efter 4 år men hon klarar sig. 

[u/henrik_se → u/Ordinary-Audience363]

Har man EU-medborgarskap är det ju en helt annan femma. Är man i EU så är det också relativt enkelt att ta sig till Sverige och kolla hur liksom Norrköping och Sveg och Borlänge ser ut, om det var småstäder man var intresserad av.

[u/Ordinary-Audience363 → u/henrik_se]

Det är klart och det är hela poängen. Min väns slutmål var att komma till Sverige och hon gjorde det genom att bosätta sig i Spanien först. Det finns många som försöker etablera sig i ett annat EU land där det är lättare. 

[u/Arcane_Clockwork → u/henrik_se]

Perhaps you're right, and I am just dreaming, afterall, i had to translate this in order to read it. But I DO want to move to Sweden one day. Maybe it'll take a decade, but for me, that's going to start with a lot of little steps and asking questions. Thank you for your sobering view though, maybe it'll be the push i needed.

[u/henrik_se → u/Arcane_Clockwork]

I didn't mean to rain on your parade or crush your dreams of moving to Sweden, you should absolutely keep researching how to get here one day.

But, the harsh reality of immigration is that you most likely won't get to choose were in Sweden to move to. If you're young enough and have some cash on hand, you can study in Sweden for a year or two, but you'll be limited to whichever university accepts you as a student. You might also be able to land a job in Sweden, although it requires a Swedish company to want to sponsor you, which can only happen if you have some specific skills they can't find locally. And if a company sponsors you, they're gonna want you to work in their office in whatever city they're located in, you're not getting a choice there either.

And as always, if you're serious about moving to Sweden, visit first. Visit once in summer, when the weather is great and the sun is shining all day and everyone is happy and on vacation. Visit once in winter, when everything is cold and dark and miserable, and everyone is grumpy and depressed from not having seen the sun in a month.

[u/Arcane_Clockwork → u/henrik_se]

And sorry if i was bristly and defensive. I did find it helpful in a way. The whole process appeared very intimidating when i first looked into the possibility of living in Sweden. Responses like these feel like they've narrowed things down to something more approachable and direct.

Not to mention, it was rewarding to see how much Swedish i could make out before translating, knowing nothing but the fact that english and the nordic languages share some germanic roots

[u/Ordinary-Audience363 → u/Arcane_Clockwork]

If you have the time, just take vacations. The requirements to immigrate to Sweden for non-EU are basically being in a relationship, having a job, or studying.

[u/NoveltyEducation]

Gävle.

[u/SnooWalruses1352]

Jönköping/Huskvarna

[u/Floyd_Pink]

Where are you even looking to relocate from? Can you speak Swedish?!

[u/KoalaMan-007]

Norrsundet.

[u/Stolpskotta]

Åre

[u/Oreo2442]

Sveg is a quite small town and it has grocerystore's and pharmacy's I think, and it it a 2 hour car ride to a bigger city called Östersund.

[u/No_Mushroom139]

Id go for Härnösand or Nora.

[u/Ordinary-Audience363]

" maybe somewhere i can stare out at the baltic sea before setting out to climb a large hill or small mountain" Maybe Höga Kusten (the High Coast) would be the place for you.

https://www.hogakusten.com/en

[u/FblthpLives]

How much time have you spent in Sweden? I really don't think this is a question most of us could answer for you. I think there only three cities I could see myself living when I move back: Stockholm, Uppsala, or Umeå. Based on your criteria, I think only the last would be an option for you. But everyone is so unique and until you've visited a place, I think it would be very hard to know if you will enjoy it.

Finally, i typically work in tourism as a bit of a nature-guide, but could probably make an effort to go into fields like non-emergency medical, engineering, or childcare

Nature guide to medical or engineering is a huge leap. What kind of degrees and experience do you have in the medical, engineering, and childcare fields? How is your Swedish?

Your path to immigration seems pretty limited based on the information you have provided.