Apply for authority to perform certain duties in the social services

If you are qualified as a social worker or equivalent outside Sweden and are to work in the social services’ care services for children and young people, in certain cases you will need to apply for authority with us.

This applies to those who are to work with

  • assessment of whether to initiate an investigation
  • investigation and assessment of the need for measures or other measures
  • follow-up on agreed measures.

To be able to work with this, your qualification needs to be comparable with the Swedish social worker qualification. You can find more information (in Swedish) on the knowledge required in order to be given authority in HSLF-FS 2017:79 Behörighet att utföra vissa arbetsuppgifter i socialtjänstens barn- och ungdomsvård.

How to apply

You apply for authority by completing an application form and submitting it together with a number of documents. Which documents have to be submitted varies, depending on whether you were educated within or outside the EU or the EEA.

When you apply, please include

  • An extract from the Swedish population register issued within the last three months, if you have a Swedish personal ID number, or a certified copy of your current passport.

Also please send certified copies, in both the original language and translated, of

  • exam certificates
  • documents from the school or university where you qualified, describing which courses you attended, the content of the courses and how long they lasted
  • documentation of any name change if you have changed your name since completing your course.

Form to apply for authority to perform certain duties in the social services’ care services for children and young people (in Swedish)

If you were educated within the EU or the EEA

If you were educated in the EU or the EEA, you must also submit certified copies and translations of

  • a certificate no more than three months old confirming that you have not been banned from exercising your profession, for example a Certificate of Good Standing or a Certificate of Current Professional Status (if you cannot do this, you may submit an extract from your country’s criminal register instead)
  • a certificate that shows your level of qualification in accordance with Article 11 of EU Directive 2005/36/EC.

If neither your profession nor your education is regulated in the country where you were educated, you also need to show that you have been working in your profession for at least one of the last ten years in one or more EU or EEA countries.

If you were educated outside the EU or the EEA

If you were educated outside the EU or the EEA, you must also submit certified copies of a certificate or testimonial showing that you have

  • language skills
  • knowledge of Swedish statutes.
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