Speaking as a Swede; Not everyone here speaks English, some people are pretty, just as everywhere else, we have a 30% taxrate and 25% extra on everything we buy. Oh, and the politicians are idiots.
On the "plus" side of things, people here seems to want us to become more American by the day!
Don't have a clue about permits or visas I'm afraid. Yet, atleast.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that we have some huge unemployment issues amongst youths here. Atleast, so say the politicians.
What about schools?
The schools are generally speaking decent, the future of wich is somewhat dependant on the elections later this year. But generally speaking you only have to pay for Chalmers or Uppsala types of education, if you want to be a professor/engineer of something that is. Other than that we have free schooling that gives you work opportunities, i.e. electrician/mechanics and constructionworkers. As far as I remember atleast.
Looking for Work in Sweden page. The unemployment-numbers are'nt up to date though since this was printed in 2007, but I think the beuracracy parts are up to date.