Preschool Queue in Stockholm: How It Works and When to Apply
A practical guide to Stockholm's preschool queue and application system — when to apply, how queue dates work, the place guarantee, and what to compare before ranking your choices.
If you are looking for a preschool (förskola) in Stockholm, one of the first questions is usually: When should I join the queue?
Stockholm has its own application and queue system for preschool. Here is how it works.
You can submit an application before your child is six months old.
However, in Stockholm, the earliest possible queue date is the day your child turns six months, even if you applied earlier.
This six-month rule is a Stockholm City queue rule — not a national Swedish rule.
Other municipalities can calculate queue or application dates differently.
How do you apply?
Stockholm City uses a common application system called Edlevo for all municipal and independent preschools and pedagogical care providers in the city.
You can include up to five choices and combine municipal and independent preschools in the same application.
The five-choice limit is also part of the Stockholm system, rather than a national rule.
How do queue dates work?
Each preschool choice has its own queue date.
If you add a new preschool later, the newly added choice receives the date it was added as its queue date.
Changing the order of existing choices or changing your requested start date does not change the existing queue dates.
However, submitting a completely new application replaces the previous application and gives all choices new queue dates.
These rules apply to Stockholm City's queue system and should not be assumed to work the same way in another municipality.
Does the longest queue time always get the place?
No.
For Stockholm City's municipal preschools, available places are currently allocated in this priority order:
- Children who need preschool as support for their development
- Children covered by the Stockholm place guarantee who risk not receiving a place in time
- Children with a sibling in the same household already attending the preschool
- Children with the longest queue time who want to start in the month the place becomes available or earlier
If two children in the fourth group have the same queue time, the older child receives priority.
Independent preschools may use a different priority order, so always check the rules for the individual preschool.
What is Stockholm's preschool place guarantee?
This is an important distinction between national law and Stockholm's local system.
Under the Swedish Education Act, when guardians request a place in a publicly run preschool for a child who is entitled to preschool, the municipality must offer a preschool place within four months.
Stockholm has a more specific local guarantee:
Stockholm City aims to offer a guaranteed municipal preschool place within three calendar months from the application date, or according to a later requested start date.
So:
- Swedish national rule: within 4 months
- Stockholm place guarantee: within 3 calendar months
Stockholm's guarantee does not mean that you are guaranteed a place at one of your five preferred preschools.
If none of your choices has availability, the city can instead offer a municipal preschool as close to your home as possible within the district where your child lives.
Do all one-year-olds automatically have the same right to preschool?
Not quite.
Nationally, from the age of one, children are entitled to preschool according to circumstances such as their guardians' work or studies, or the child's own needs based on the family's situation.
Children whose parents are unemployed or on parental leave with another child must be offered at least 15 hours per week from age one.
From the autumn term of the year a child turns three, all children are entitled to at least 525 hours of preschool per year, regardless of their parents' employment situation.
Stockholm also has its own local rules regarding attendance hours.
This is separate from the question of how the Stockholm queue itself works.
When are most places available?
Stockholm City says that the largest number of preschool places become available in August, when many older children leave preschool to start school.
During other parts of the year, vacancies arise mainly when children move or change preschool.
This is information about the Stockholm system and should not automatically be assumed to apply in exactly the same way in every municipality.
What happens when you receive an offer?
In Stockholm's system, you normally receive information by email and SMS and have seven calendar days to accept or decline, unless otherwise stated.
Independent preschools may use different response deadlines.
Stockholm's place guarantee ends once you receive an offer, whether the offer is one of your chosen preschools or another guaranteed municipal place.
Can you accept a preschool and stay in the queue?
Yes, in Stockholm you can remain in the queue for choices ranked higher than the place you were offered.
For example, if you receive your third choice:
- you can accept it
- you remain queued for choices 1 and 2
- choices 3–5 are removed
This applies whether you accept or decline the offer, although declining means the place guarantee ends.
If your child remains in the Stockholm queue after receiving an offer, you currently need to confirm the queue place every three months. Stockholm sends reminders by SMS and email.
Again, this is a Stockholm-specific process.
So when should you apply?
If you live in Stockholm and already know that you will need preschool, applying before or around your child's six-month birthday allows you to receive the earliest possible queue date under Stockholm's current rules.
But queue time is only one factor.
Before ranking your five choices, compare things such as:
- children per staff member
- qualified preschool teachers
- group size
- language
- location
- outdoor environment
- pedagogy
- experiences from other parents
Choosing between preschools in Stockholm? School Reviews can help you explore available information, compare preschools and read experiences shared by other families before deciding how to rank your choices.
Sources
Stockholm's six-month queue-date rule, five-choice limit, Edlevo application system and eligibility information are based on current information from Stockholms stad.
Stockholm's queue priorities, three-month place guarantee, offer rules and queue-confirmation requirements are based on the city's current Kötid och erbjudande om plats guidance.
The national four-month requirement and general right to preschool are based on Skollagen and Skolverket's current guidance.
Information checked 10 September 2026. This guide applies specifically to the City of Stockholm. Preschool application, queue, priority and guarantee systems can differ between municipalities, so families outside Stockholm should always check the rules of their own municipality.