Swedish Citizenship Test in English: A 2026 Guide for Expats

Sweden’s new citizenship rules apply from 6 June 2026. Applicants aged 16 to 66 must now show knowledge of Swedish and of Swedish society. For the second of those there is a test, medborgarskapsprovet, run by the Swedish Council for Higher Education (UHR). It is being introduced in stages: the first sitting, in civics (samhällskunskap) only, was in August 2026, and a test in Swedish is to follow at a later date [official: UHR, Frågor och svar; Migrationsverket].

This page explains the test in English from start to finish. One thing has to be said first, because it is what most English-language searches are really asking: the test itself cannot be taken in English. Everything below is written with that in mind.

Official: UHR’s pages, read 13 October 2026. The chapter and page figures are from the guide’s table of contents.

No. UHR’s own answer to the question “Kan jag göra provet på mitt modersmål?” (can I take the test in my mother tongue?) is: “Nej, medborgarskapsprovet kan bara göras på svenska” — no, the citizenship test can only be taken in Swedish [official: UHR, Frågor och svar]. The Act says the same thing in legal language: the civics test “ska utformas på svenska på funktionell nivå”, it is to be drawn up in Swedish at a functional level (13 §) [official].

What you can do in English is prepare. Migrationsverket publishes its citizenship pages in English. The study guide and UHR’s pages about the test, as we read them, are in Swedish. The practical consequence for an English speaker: learn the facts in whatever language is fastest for you, then learn to recognise them in Swedish, because that is how they will be asked.

The reasoning behind each row, and why the August sitting says little about the next one, is in the format guide.

Many expats do not. The knowledge requirement applies from 16 and stops when you turn 67 (Migrationsverket states it as ages 16 to 66). Inside that range, a pass grade in samhällskunskap from Swedish school or municipal adult education (Komvux) shows the knowledge without any test (13 c §) [official]. Migrationsverket’s Swedish page also says that Nordic citizens who have made a notification (anmälan), and stateless persons born in Sweden who are under 21, are exempt; the English version of the page says Nordic citizens who “have applied”.

If you moved to Sweden as an adult for work and have never taken a graded Swedish school course in civics, expect the test to apply. The guide on who must take the test goes through every group, with a checker. The residence period, the permit condition, the income rule and the SEK 2,900 application fee are separate requirements, set out in the requirements guide.

One point catches people who have lived in Sweden on a foreign passport for years: on the day UHR asks for a valid Swedish identity document showing your personal number, and its test-day page says a foreign passport is not accepted. The ID rules and the list of what you may bring are in the format guide; if you have no Swedish ID card, order one well before a date is announced.

The Act describes the level of the paper as “funktionell nivå”. For the separate language requirement Migrationsverket names CEFR level B1 for reading and listening and A2 for speaking and writing; what those levels mean, and how to show them, is in the språkkrav guide. For the civics test you only read and tick, so reading is the skill to build.

Ten new questions, each from a different chapter of the study guide, in the real format: four options, one correct. The Swedish line is the question; the English under it is a translation to check yourself with. None of these repeats the questions in the first mini test, the 30 practice questions, our quiz library, the revision kit or UHR’s own five examples.