Sweden, the social wellfare country

The system is set up so that you need to register with Skatteverket as soon as you arrive, pretty much. Not much can get done until that is done. That is how you get your social security number, or personnummer, that gets you access to everything else. It is possible to go to the hospital if you are sick before you get that number, but it's easier if you can wait. It takes about 15-20 business days to get it in the mail, which is the way it works today. Once you get it, you can register for all kinds of things. Some things, like Forsakringskassan, that deals with things like child stipends and parental support, which you have a right to, takes a long time to register for. They told us 4-8 months, which is ridiculous, but they also say that if you are persistent and keep at them, things may go faster!
So much to learn, and we have barely gotten started here!

In my experience, the way to get things done here now is to keep pushing and asking, and to be nice but firm. And you get a different story from a different person at the same place every time. I went to the bank to get some information, and one person told me one thing, and a few days later I went back and got a different story. But my dear husband has been good at not taking no for an answer, and his solution is to look things up on some of the english speaking sites about living here. And they have come to great use, as the things they say there are geared towards being an immigrant, and helping you with all kinds of things that you don't know anything about. Which actually is more useful, since everything I used to know isn't really that way anymore. It really is like a clean slate, to truly start over...