Published: 20-01-2023 08:00 | Updated: 04-09-2023 14:51

Changed regulations regarding eligibility for housing

From January 1st, 2023, the Swedish government has changed the regulations regarding which categories of international students and researchers that may be offered accommodation from the universities.

The new directive came with very short notice and Karolinska Institutet (KI) is working on the implementation.

Between 2010 and 2022, Karolinska Institutet (KI) and eight other Universities in Sweden were given an exception that made it possible to offer all international students and researchers housing. Other Universities in Sweden, that were not given this exception, could only offer housing to limited categories of students and researchers. The new regulations within the new directive apply to all Universities in Sweden which give all Universities the same possibility to offer housing. There are however certain limitations given regarding eligibility for housing. For KI, this means that fewer categories of students are now eligible for housing.

Below, the new ineligible/eligible categories are listed:

Ineligible categories according to the new directive

This new directive affects incoming international students at KI as the following categories are now ineligible to get accommodation from KI:

– Students coming from an EU- or EEA-country and Switzerland who have been accepted to a Bachelor or Master program at KI
– Students who organize their studies independently without being a part of any exchange program that has an agreement with KI or are not part of a mobility program such as Erasmus +

Eligible categories according to the new directive

The following categories are eligible to apply for accommodation according to the new directive:

– Exchange students are studying at a partner university that has an exchange agreement with Karolinska Institutet
– Fee-paying students who have been admitted to a Bachelor or Master program at KI and are charged a tuition fee (students from a non-EU country)
– PhD students who have been newly admitted to a PhD-program or doing a doctoral project at KI
– PostDocs have a temporary employment/postdoctoral research position at KI.
– Guest researchers are not employed by KI but are conducting their research at a department at KI.
– Guest lecturers who have been invited to KI
– Internship students and traineeship students who are coming to KI within Erasmus + or another mobility program

Invitation/acceptance letters
– Exchange students must upload the acceptance letter from an international coordinator at the Education Support Office at KI
– Fee-paying students must upload the acceptance letter from Universityadmissions.se confirming that they are admitted to a program at KI and that they will pay a tuition fee for this program
– PhD students must upload an acceptance letter or invitation letter from KI
– PostDocs, guest researchers and guest lecturers must upload the invitation letter from their contact person at KI
– Internship students and traineeship students coming within Erasmus + or another mobility program must upload supportive documentation that confirms that they are invited to KI and are coming within a mobility program

Already signed contracts and submitted applications during 2022

Already signed rental contracts will not be affected by the new regulations.

Applications for accommodation with requested moving-in date before June 4th, 2023, that were submitted before the 31st of December 2022, will be handled in accordance with the old regulations.

Applications submitted after January 1st, 2023

The directive is effectual from January 1st, 2023, and applications from ineligible applicants will not be handled.

If you are a student in one of the categories above that are ineligible to get housing from KI, we recommend you to search for other accommodation alternatives. At this link we have compiled some information that may be useful.