Applying for asylum 

Last updated: 11/4-2023

You have to submit your asylum application at one of the Migration Agency’s application units in Göteborg, Malmö or Stockholm.

Children arriving in Sweden without their parents can also apply for asylum in Boden, Norrköping, Sundsvall, Umeå, Uppsala and Örebro.

Every asylum application has to be examined individually. This means that the Migration Agency will investigate your specific reasons for applying for asylum in Sweden.

What you have to do when you apply for asylum:

  • Fill in forms to state your name, your citizenship and to answer questions about your family, for example.
  • Hand in your passport or other identity documents to prove who you are.
  • Have your photograph taken.
  • Have your fingerprints taken. Your fingerprints are used to check whether you have applied for asylum in any other country in Europe, and whether you have a residence permit or travel restrictions for any other country in Europe.
  • Tell the Migration Agency who you are. You will be helped by an interpreter to describe, for example, why you left your home country and how you travelled to Sweden.
  • Apply for financial support if you don't have any money of your own. You will be given a bank card and information about what financial support you can apply for.
  • Get information about the asylum process, about what the next step is and what you have to do.
  • Get information about practical issues such as your right to accommodation and medical care, and schooling for your children.

Once you've submitted your asylum application you will be given a receipt. This serves as proof that you have applied for asylum.

A case officer at the Migration Agency will go through your application. The case officer reads the account you have given and checks what the search on your fingerprints has shown. The case officer then decides how much your application needs to be investigated.

A public counsel may be appointed to you if the case officer determines that you need one. A public counsel is a lawyer who can help you with your asylum application.

The case officer will contact you if there is anything missing from your application. For example, if you didn't provide any identity documents when you submitted your application.

There may be many people seeking asylum, and you may have to wait a long time before being called to your asylum investigation at the Migration Agency. Waiting times may vary from person to person. Every asylum application is different and therefore there is no general rule for how long it takes to investigate an application.

When it is your turn to go for your asylum investigation, the Migration Agency will send you a letter. The letter will say when and where you have to meet the Migration Agency's case officer.

It's important that you notify the Migration Agency if you move, so that they have the right address when they send the letter to you.

An asylum investigation is an interview in which you tell the case officer who you are and why you fled. You also have to say what you think would happen to you if you had to return to your home country.

You must tell the truth during the asylum investigation. It is your responsibility to describe all your reasons for seeking asylum. You are not allowed to leave out anything that could be significant for your asylum application. If you don't tell the truth, or if you change your account, this can influence the Migration Agency's assessment of your application. If you have any further documentary evidence that you would like the Migration Agency to look at, make sure you take it with you to the investigation.

Once the asylum investigation is done, and the Migration Agency has made its assessment, you will be issued a decision on whether your asylum application has been granted or refused.

A child's reasons for seeking asylum have to be examined separately. Children may have different grounds for asylum than their parents.

Children who apply for asylum together with their parents are entitled to meeting with the case officer at the Migration Agency if their parents approve of this. When the child's reasons for seeking asylum are being examined, the case officer at the Migration Agency must adapt the interview to the child's age, level of maturity and state of health.

The child is entitled to be accompanied by an adult at the interview. This can be a parent, another guardian or a public counsel. Children who have arrived in Sweden unaccompanied are always entitled to be accompanied by their appointed guardian at the interview.