In Stockholm you apply for förskola (municipal preschool, from age one) through the municipality's online service, rank several preschools in order of preference, and the municipality is obliged to offer a place within four months of your preferred start date. Your queue date is the date your application was registered. Municipal and independent (fristående) preschools are applied for in the same application and cost the same.
The preschool queue is your first encounter with the municipality as a parent, and it is rarely a good one: online services, queue dates, preferences, offers with reply deadlines. Here is how it works, in order, what you can influence, and what happens once the place is sorted.
Step by step
- Apply through the municipality's online service. Stockholms stad (the City of Stockholm) has its own, the surrounding municipalities theirs. You need your child's personnummer (Swedish personal identity number) and e-legitimation (electronic ID).
- Choose preschools. You rank several, municipal and independent mixed together. Look at the distance from home and from work, not just reputation.
- State your preferred start date. The place guarantee counts from that date, or from the application date if you apply at short notice.
- Wait for an offer. It arrives digitally, often a few months before the start, and has a reply deadline.
- Reply. Yes means you accept that particular preschool. No can mean you drop out of the queue, read the terms.
- Inskolning (settling in). Usually one to two weeks. We have a Settling in at förskola.
Timeline: when you do what
| When | What | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| The child is a few months old | Apply and rank | Your queue date is set now. You can change your preferences later without losing it. |
| About four months before your preferred start | Your application must be in by now at the latest | This is where the guarantee counts from |
| A few months before the start | The offer arrives | Reply deadline, often one to two weeks. A missed deadline counts as a no. |
| A couple of weeks before the start | The preschool gets in touch | Settling-in schedule, forms about allergies and pick-up |
| Start | Settling in, one to two weeks | Expect one parent to be away from work |
| After six months | A switch is possible | If you stay in the queue for your favourite, you can switch when a place comes up |
What decides who gets a place
| Factor | What it means |
|---|---|
| Queue date | Whoever applied earliest goes first, within the same preschool |
| Sibling priority | Children with a sibling at the preschool usually go first |
| Proximity | Used by many municipalities to meet the guarantee |
| Start date | Places are offered for the date you have stated |
| Independent preschools' own rules | May have their own queues and criteria, within the law |
The guarantee, and what it does not promise
Four months is the legal limit for offering a place, and Stockholm meets it in the vast majority of cases. But the guarantee is for a place within reasonable distance, not for your first-choice preschool. Many families start at a preschool they did not ask for, stay in the queue for the one they wanted and switch after six months. That is allowed and common.
The guarantee also says nothing about when in the year the place comes. Most places become free in August, when the oldest children move on to förskoleklass (the compulsory preschool year before school). If you want to start in February the supply is smaller, and the chance of getting the exact preschool you asked for is lower. You can ask for a later start date than you need, but then you have to arrange childcare yourselves in the meantime.
Municipal or independent
| Municipal | Independent | |
|---|---|---|
| Fee | Maxtaxa (the national fee cap) | Maxtaxa, same amount |
| Application | The municipality's online service | The same online service in Stockholm, sometimes their own queue too |
| Curriculum | Lpfö 18 | Lpfö 18, same requirements |
| Profile | Varies between preschools | Often a clearer profile: outdoors, languages, teaching philosophy |
| Supervision | The municipality | The municipality |
| Queue rules | The municipality's | Their own rules may apply, within the law |
The fee is calculated as a share of household income up to a cap, lower for each additional sibling. The full sums are in our guide to How much does förskola cost? Maxtaxa and fees explained. From the autumn of the year the child turns three, Allmän förskola applies, with a number of free hours a week.
What to look at when you rank
- The route. Drop-off and pick-up happen ten times a week for several years. A preschool on the way to the tunnelbana (the Stockholm metro) beats a better preschool that requires a detour.
- The outdoor space. Children in Stockholm are outside every day, in all weathers. A yard with trees, slopes and shade is worth more than a new kitchen.
- Opening hours. Many preschools close between 17:00 and 18:00. If one of you commutes, that last half hour is decisive.
- The staff. Ask how long they have worked there. Low turnover is the only thing you can measure from the outside.
- The number of children per group. Ask, it varies more than you would think.
Common mistakes
- Listing only one preschool. Then the municipality offers whatever free place there is when the guarantee has to be met.
- Missing the reply deadline. No reply counts as a no.
- Changing the start date back and forth. Every change can affect when you get an offer.
- Forgetting to give notice on the place when you move or switch. The notice period runs, and the fee with it.
After the place: the afternoons
Most preschools in Stockholm close between 17:00 and 18:00. For parents who commute, it is often that last hour that does not add up. A nanny who picks up two or three days a week is the most common arrangement among our families, and because it is the same nanny every time, the preschool staff get to know her. How it works in practice, with pick-up lists and authorisation forms, is in our guide to A nanny who picks up from preschool.
How we do it with our families
When a family contacts us, the child usually already has a place, and what is missing is the pick-up. We start by looking at where the preschool is in relation to home and your commute, and set the nanny's hours accordingly. If you switch preschool after six months, the nanny comes with you. One family in Hägersten got a place in February at a preschool two stops away from the one they wanted. Nike, who has been with us since January 2025, picked up there on Tuesdays and Thursdays at half past four through the spring, and when the switch went through in August it was she who walked the new route home the first week, so that the child had a familiar adult beside them when everything else was new.
Would you like a nanny who comes on the same days every week, someone the children know? Book a free first meeting with the nanny in your home, and we will work out the hours with you.
Read more: How much does förskola cost? Maxtaxa and fees explained · Allmän förskola · Settling in at förskola · Prices
Frequently asked questions
How long is the preschool queue in Stockholm?
Under the Education Act the municipality is obliged to offer a place within four months of your application. That means a place somewhere within reasonable distance, not necessarily at the preschool you ranked first. Popular preschools in the inner city can have longer waits, and there it is the queue date that decides.
When should we put our child in the queue?
As soon as you know roughly when you want to start. Your queue date is your application date, so earlier is better, but the municipality counts the place guarantee from the date you want the place. Many families apply when the child is around six months old, with a start around the age of one when parental leave ends.
Can we choose an independent preschool?
Yes, independent preschools are part of the same application as municipal ones in Stockholm. The fee is the same, maxtaxa applies to both. The difference lies in who runs the preschool, how the queue is handled and sometimes in the teaching approach, not in what you pay.
What happens if we turn down an offer?
If you turn down a preschool you asked for yourselves, you normally lose your place in the queue and have to apply again. If you turn down a preschool you did not ask for, one the municipality offered to meet the guarantee, you can usually stay in the queue. Read the terms in the offer carefully.
Can we switch preschool later?
Yes. You can stay in the queue for the preschools you asked for even after accepting another one, and switch when a place comes up. Switches mostly happen in the autumn, when the oldest children move on to förskoleklass. Expect a new settling-in period, shorter than the first.