Waiting for residence permit in Sweden. What can I do?

[Bornholmeren]

Hey, guys, I'm borrowing my wife's account to ask this since we're a little confused about what I'm allowed to do while waiting for the residence permit.

So we (my Danish wife and me, an American) moved to Sweden late last year and it took a few months to get set up, including an apartment, and a job for my wife, but we got the required documents for the permit in to Migrationsverket in late December.

After that, I decided to try to apply for personnumer since my wife's coworker and her husband, who are in a similar situation, managed to get him one while waiting for the permit. In roughly two months, I received my personnumer in mail and a little later I even got a letter telling me I could choose a doctor or something to that extent, so that's good.

However, since my residence application is still processing, what can I do with those? Can find work and visit a doctor if needed or do I have to wait until my application is finalized? I've looked around but can't seem to find a straight answer, so thank you for taking your time.

[skaanebo]

As your wife is an EU citizen in Sweden, did you apply using EU laws? Or did you only apply according to Swedish law?

If you apply for a RESIDENCE CARD (not residence permit) under EU laws, you have all your rights in Sweden instantaneously, including the right to work.

But if you only apply under Swedish law, you have no rights until the residence permit has been granted. That also means you would need to have a private health insurance in case you get ill.

[Bornholmeren]

We applied using EU rules and it was for the residence card, so that means I can actually do something useful now. Just what we wanted to know.

Thank you very much, skaanebo! You're the best!