Demand for programmers is very high. Given that you speak English and have good programming skills getting job in Stockholm is pretty easy. In my current team there're 3 Russians, 3 Brasilians and one Iranian(among non-EU workers). All of them were relocated by the company. The relocation takes up to several months.

It depends a lot on how much the company that you apply to would need you. Of course there is also a factor of luck and dependency on the immigration authorities' processes (particularly now that Brexit is said to occupy a lot of resources). But if you have a skill set which is highly in need, your chances should not be tooo bad.

Be aware though that finding a good apartment in Stockholm is extremely hard right now. Although even the craziest rents are way below the SF Bay Area (but of course the pay is, too).

I live and work as a developer in Stockholm. I have registered as an employer and have been able to help people from abroad before by taking the fight with the governmental authority handling immigration.

The visa situation is a bit borked right now since the EU was unable to humanely handle the civil war in Syria so staying permanently isn't a given anymore. Right now we have to make do with "for the foreseeable future".

Feel free to reach out to me at plata@plomo.se.

I'm not sure of Sweden, but here in neighbouring Finland it's pretty quick and easy to get a visa if you have a job with a local technology company. Our applications have been processed in 2-4 weeks after completing the online application.

You can find startup jobs in Nordics from e.g. https://thehub.fi (Finland) or https://thehub.se (Sweden)