Moving from Taiwan to Sweden (2026): Relocation Guide

Moving from Taiwan to Sweden (2026): Relocation Guide

Key takeaways

• Taiwan is a third country for the EU, so your belongings enter Sweden under flyttsaker (removal-goods) relief. You must have lived outside the EU for at least 12 consecutive months and have owned and used the goods for at least 6 months.
• The declaration goes to Tullverket (Swedish Customs); your mover or appointed representative files it, typically with an inventory.
• As a Taiwanese national you must first obtain a residence permit from Migrationsverket (valid at least 12 months), then register with Skatteverket to receive your personnummer.
• Pets are straightforward: Taiwan is an EU-listed third country, so your cat or dog needs only a microchip, valid rabies vaccination and an EU animal health certificate — no rabies antibody (titre) test.
• Sea freight from Kaohsiung to Gothenburg runs roughly 7–10 weeks door to door (often via a transhipment hub); air freight from Taoyuan reaches Sweden in about a week.

1. Leaving Taiwan: what to close out

Settle your Taiwanese affairs before you leave. Most foreign residents hold an Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) from the National Immigration Agency (NIA); when your stay ends permanently, notify the NIA, and if your ARC has expired or you are leaving on an overdue permit, follow the agency’s exit procedure rather than simply departing — an unresolved status can complicate any future return.

Clear your income tax with the National Taxation Bureau. Departing residents are expected to file and settle tax for the year of departure; a clearance keeps your record clean. Close or convert bank accounts, end your National Health Insurance enrolment on your departure date, and cancel your lease, utilities and phone contracts.

Your household goods leave Taiwan on an export declaration lodged with Customs Administration (Ministry of Finance). Your international mover prepares and files this and will usually ask for copies of your passport and ARC (front and back) as proof of who is exporting. Keep your dated departure evidence — the passport exit stamp and any original stamped customs form from when you first shipped goods into Taiwan — because Swedish Customs uses it to confirm how long you lived outside the EU.

If a pet is coming, begin the veterinary steps early: Taiwan’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency (APHIA), formerly BAPHIQ, issues the export health certificate that lets your animal leave. Section 5 covers the timing.

2. How your household goods ship to Sweden

Taiwan’s excellent liner network makes the sea route easy to arrange. Most household shipments load at the Port of Kaohsiung in the south — Taiwan’s largest container port — or at Keelung near Taipei. Their Swedish destination is normally the Port of Gothenburg (Göteborg), Scandinavia’s largest port and the main gateway for goods entering Sweden.

Pick the service by volume. A full container load (FCL) in a dedicated 20ft or 40ft box suits a whole home and is the fastest, most secure choice. For smaller volumes, less-than-container-load (LCL) groupage shares a container at lower cost, in exchange for a few extra consolidation days at each end.

Plan the transit generously. The ocean leg from Taiwan to Northern Europe is typically around 30–45 days to a hub such as Rotterdam; because relatively few services run direct to Gothenburg, cargo is often transshipped onto a feeder for the final Baltic/North Sea leg, adding several days. Combined with packing and export clearance in Taiwan and import clearance and delivery in Sweden, a realistic door-to-door timeline is seven to ten weeks. Deep-sea sailings depart roughly weekly.

If you need essentials sooner, an air freight shipment from Taiwan Taoyuan (TPE) reaches Sweden in roughly five to eight days. A small air shipment of clothing and electronics plus the bulk of the home by sea is a popular combination, letting you settle in from day one.

3. Sweden customs & transfer-of-residence relief

Because you are importing from outside the EU, your goods must be declared to Tullverket (Swedish Customs). A genuine move qualifies for relief from customs duty and VAT on your personal property — your flyttsaker (removal goods).

The conditions follow the EU-wide framework: you must have lived outside the EU for at least 12 consecutive months; you must have owned and used the goods for at least 6 months; and you must bring them within the permitted window around your move. “Personal effects” is defined broadly — household goods, furniture, curtains, bed linen, clothing, and even your car or other vehicle and your pet all count. Alcohol and tobacco are excluded from the relief (though small traveller allowances apply separately).

When you hire a moving company or appoint a representative, they take care of the customs declaration, normally lodging it with an inventory. Prepare:

• a detailed inventory of the goods being imported;
• proof you lived outside the EU for the required period (your Taiwan ARC, tenancy, employment records, dated passport stamps);
• evidence you are moving your residence to Sweden, such as your residence permit and, once available, your population-register registration; and
• your passport and residence-permit card details.

Keep the dates consistent across documents. Because your mover files with Tullverket, brief them early with accurate departure and arrival dates so the relief is applied cleanly at Gothenburg.

4. Arriving: registration, residence, driving, healthcare

Residence permit first. As a Taiwanese (third-country) national you must obtain a residence permit from Migrationsverket (the Swedish Migration Agency) before you move — common routes are work, EU Blue Card, study, researcher, self-employment or family reunification. This step is critical because the next one depends on it: to register with the tax agency you must show a valid permit, and it generally needs to be valid for at least 12 months.

Skatteverket and your personnummer. Once you hold a qualifying permit and have arrived, register your move with Skatteverket (the Swedish Tax Agency) to be entered in the population register (folkbokföring) and receive your personnummer — the personal identity number that underpins healthcare, banking, employment and almost everything else in Sweden. Do this soon after arrival (within about a week) if you intend to stay a year or more. You typically visit a Skatteverket office in person with your passport and residence-permit card. If your permit is for less than a year you may instead receive a temporary coordination number rather than a full personnummer.

Driving. A licence from a non-EEA country such as Taiwan is valid in Sweden only until you have been a registered resident for more than one year; after that it ceases to be valid, and Sweden does not exchange Taiwanese licences (only a short list, including Switzerland and Japan, can be exchanged). To keep driving long term you must obtain a Swedish licence through Transportstyrelsen, which means taking the Swedish theory and practical tests. Plan for this well before your first year is up.

Healthcare. Once you are registered in the population register with a personnummer, you gain access to Sweden’s publicly funded healthcare through your regional provider (region). Register with a local health centre (vårdcentral) after your personnummer comes through.

5. Pets

Taiwan-origin owners are well placed here. Under EU rules, Taiwan is a listed third country (Annex II, Part 1 of Regulation 577/2013, carried into the current EU pet-entry framework). That listing means a dog or cat travelling from Taiwan to Sweden needs only:

• a microchip (ISO 11784/11785 standard), implanted and readable;
• a valid rabies vaccination, given after the microchip and at least 21 days before travel; and
• an EU animal health certificate issued by an official veterinarian, valid for 10 days to reach the EU border and for onward EU movement for four months.

Critically, no rabies antibody (titre) blood test is required — the three-month wait that catches owners moving from unlisted countries does not apply to Taiwan. To leave Taiwan you also need the APHIA export health certificate, so the sequence is: microchip, then rabies vaccination, then pre-export vet checks and APHIA endorsement, then the EU certificate issued close to departure. Non-commercial movement covers up to five pets travelling with you. Sweden treats pets as part of your removal goods for customs purposes, but the animal-health rules above are what govern entry. Book the animal’s flight and an approved crate well ahead, as live-animal cargo space is limited.

6. Money, banking & tax basics

In Sweden almost everything financial hinges on the personnummer, so getting it is your first priority. Opening a full bank account without one is difficult; until it arrives, a multi-currency or e-money account can hold your transferred savings and cover initial costs. Convert your TWD funds with a specialist currency service rather than a plain bank wire to keep the exchange spread reasonable, and keep records of what you transfer in.

You become a Swedish tax resident once you are registered in the population register and living in Sweden, and you are then taxed on worldwide income; Sweden’s income tax has both municipal and (above a threshold) state components. Newly arrived key employees may be able to apply for expert tax relief (a reduction on part of salary for a limited period) through the Taxation of Research Workers Board — worth checking with your employer. Because you are also winding down Taiwanese tax in the same year, a short cross-border consultation prevents double reporting.

How Flyto handles your Taiwan to Sweden move

Flyto Relocation runs its own hubs across Northern, Central and Southern Europe, so your shipment is received and cleared by our own Nordic team rather than handed to anonymous subcontractors. We manage packing and export clearance in Kaohsiung or Keelung, the sea or air leg to Gothenburg, and the flyttsaker declaration with Tullverket — and we guide you through the Migrationsverket permit, Skatteverket personnummer and pet paperwork before any of them becomes urgent. One team, one contact, from your Taiwan flat to your Swedish home. Get a quote and we will build your timeline around your permit and sailing dates.

Frequently asked questions

Does my cat or dog from Taiwan need a rabies titre test for Sweden?
No. Taiwan is an EU-listed third country, so a cat or dog needs only a microchip, a valid rabies vaccination and an EU animal health certificate — no antibody titration test. See European Commission — entry of pets into the Union.

How long must I have lived outside the EU to import my goods duty-free?
At least 12 consecutive months, and you must have owned and used the goods for at least 6 months. See Tullverket — moving to Sweden from outside the EU.

Do I need a residence permit before I can get a personnummer?
Yes. As a non-EU citizen you must show a valid Swedish residence permit (generally valid at least 12 months) when registering your move with Skatteverket. See Skatteverket — moving to Sweden (non-EU/EEA).

Can I exchange my Taiwanese driving licence in Sweden?
No. Sweden does not exchange non-EEA licences except from a short list (such as Switzerland and Japan); a Taiwanese licence stops being valid once you have been resident over a year, so you must take the Swedish tests. See Transportstyrelsen — driving licences.

How long does the container take from Taiwan to Gothenburg?
The ocean legs plus a feeder to Gothenburg often total around six weeks or more; door to door, plan for seven to ten weeks. See Customs Administration, Taiwan.

Who files the customs declaration in Sweden?
Your moving company or appointed representative files it with Tullverket, normally with an inventory of your goods. See Tullverket — moving to and from Sweden.

Related moves

• Moving to Taipei from Abroad
• Moving from Sweden to Taiwan

Sources

• Tullverket (Swedish Customs) — Moving to Sweden from a country outside the EU
• Skatteverket (Swedish Tax Agency) — Moving to Sweden, non-EU/EEA citizen
• Migrationsverket (Swedish Migration Agency) — residence permits
• Transportstyrelsen — foreign driving licences in Sweden
• European Commission, Food Safety — Entry of pets into the Union
• National Immigration Agency, R.O.C. (Taiwan) — residence and exit procedures
• Customs Administration, Ministry of Finance (Taiwan) — export of goods
• Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency (APHIA), Taiwan — export of dogs and cats

Hiring an international mover? See our full International removals to Taiwan service — Flyto’s own European hubs, vetted local partners and one English-speaking coordinator, door to door.