Before you start

Folkbokföring completed, which is what starts the one-year clock
Your existing licence, valid and not expired
A Swedish eyesight certificate and health declaration for the licence application
A körkortstillstånd (learner permit) before lessons or tests, if you are testing rather than exchanging
A BroBizz or ØresundCOMMUTER agreement, if you genuinely will drive across

Step-by-step

1
Check whether your licence is exchangeable at all
EEA licences are valid in Sweden indefinitely and can be exchanged on request. Swiss and Japanese licences can be exchanged. No other country's can — the answer is the Swedish tests, regardless of how long you have been driving.
OnlineWho: YouWeek 1
2
Write down the date you were registered, because that starts the clock
The one-year validity runs from your entry in the population register, not from arrival and not from the date on the permit card. Missing that distinction is how people end up driving unlicensed without realising it.
OnlineWho: You
3
Apply for a körkortstillstånd early if you must test
Before lessons or a test booking you need a learner permit from Transportstyrelsen, requiring an eyesight certificate and a health declaration. This step alone takes weeks and is the usual reason people run out of their year.
OnlineWho: YouMonth 2–3
4
Decide honestly whether you need a car at all
Malmö is flat, compact and built around cycling, and Skånetrafiken covers the city and the region. The Öresund train runs every twenty minutes and reaches Copenhagen Central in about 35 minutes and Kastrup in about twenty. Most Öresund commuters do not drive, and the arithmetic is why.
In personWho: You
5
If you will drive across, get a commuter agreement before the first crossing
A one-off car crossing of the Öresund Bridge is expensive. Øresundsbron sells commuter agreements — ØresundCOMMUTER, with an annual fee and a heavily reduced per-trip rate, and ØresundCOMMUTER+ for unlimited crossings at a flat monthly price. Paying the full rate for a month because nobody mentioned the scheme is a genuinely common and avoidable mistake.
OnlineWho: You
6
Fit winter tyres in the winter season, because it is a legal requirement
Winter tyres are compulsory on Swedish roads in winter conditions during the statutory period. Skåne rarely gets settled snow, which is exactly why people here get caught out by the two days a year that it does.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Existing driving licence
Passport and personnummer
Eyesight certificate from an optician or doctor
Health declaration for Transportstyrelsen
Proof of completed risk-awareness courses, for the test route

Things most newcomers don’t know

Malmö has no congestion tax, because Sweden only levies one on two cities and this is not one of them.

Trängselskatt applies in Stockholm and Gothenburg only. A driver moving from either of those cities to Malmö should stop budgeting for it, and a driver moving here from abroad should not go looking for a scheme that does not exist. The cost that replaces it is the bridge, and that one you can opt out of by taking the train.

Source: Transportstyrelsen

The train beats the car across the strait by so much that the car is a lifestyle choice, not a commute.

The Öresund train runs every twenty minutes, takes about 35 minutes from Malmö C to Copenhagen Central and about twenty to Kastrup, and costs roughly SEK 120–160 each way. A full-price single car crossing is an order of magnitude more, before parking in Copenhagen. Even with a commuter bridge agreement the car rarely wins. This is why the overwhelming majority of the roughly 17,000 Sweden-to-Denmark commuters are on rails.

Source: Øresundsbron; Öresundståg

Only the EEA, Switzerland and Japan can exchange a licence into a Swedish one.

Sweden has no exchange agreement with the United States, Canada, Australia, India or — since Brexit — the United Kingdom. Experienced drivers with decades on the road sit the Swedish theory and practical tests like a beginner. The most common failure is discovering this in month eleven, when there is no longer time to do anything about it.

Source: Transportstyrelsen

A Danish car and a Swedish address is a combination that creates real problems.

Vehicle registration, road tax, insurance and inspection all follow the country the vehicle is registered in, and a cross-border commuter who buys a car on the Danish side while living in Malmö can find themselves outside the rules of both systems. Denmark's vehicle registration tax is famously high and the temptation to buy Swedish and drive Danish, or the reverse, is obvious. Ask Øresunddirekt before you buy, not after.

Source: Øresunddirekt

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming a long-held licence from outside the EEA can be exchanged — it cannot.
Counting the one-year validity from arrival rather than from population registration.
Leaving the learner permit application until you need to book a test.
Driving the bridge at full price for months without a commuter agreement.
Buying a car on the wrong side of the strait without checking the registration consequences.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.