Finances, money and bills

Last updated: 11/4-2023

Until you turn 18 years old, your legal guardian or specially appointed custodian is responsible for your finances.

It is the family home, HVB home or auxiliary accommodation in which you are living that has to ensure that you have the things and the money you need. Different rules apply depending on whether you are an asylum seeker or have been granted a residence permit.

If you are an asylum seeker

As an asylum seeker you are entitled to a daily allowance. In some cases you may also be entitled to a special grant.

If you are under 16, it is always your legal guardian that applies for a daily allowance and any special grant for you. If you are 16 or older, you are entitled to apply for these things yourself. You will receive your own bank account and card, into which the daily allowance and any special grant is paid.

Your daily allowance is intended to cover expenses for things such as:

  • Clothes
  • Shoes
  • Toiletries and other items that you consume over a limited period of time, such as food, kitchen roll paper and so on
  • Leisure activities
  • Medical care and medication

The Migration Agency will not give you a daily allowance if you are already receiving an allowance for the same expenses from the municipality.

If you are earning money for work you have to inform the Migration Agency, as this can affect your right to a daily allowance from them.

You can apply for a special grant if you have needs that the daily allowance does not cover. This might be costs for winter clothes, prescription glasses, disability or baby equipment. If you are under 16, your legal guardian has to fill in the application. If you are 16 or older you can make the application yourself. In it you have to explain why you need a special grant. If your application is turned down and you don't agree with the decision, you can appeal it.

If you are older than 16 and have a child, you can apply to the Migration Agency for a daily allowance and a special grant, if any, for your child.

If you are between 8 and 19 years old you are entitled to a grant from the region for costs for prescription glasses and contact lenses. How the grant works depends on which region you live in. You can then apply for a special grant from the Migration Agency if the grant from the region does not cover the entire cost.

Your legal guardian is in charge of your bank card. The Migration Agency can issue a bank card to you when you have turned 16.

Payments into your account are usually made once a month.

If you have been granted a residence permit

One month after you have been granted your residence permit you will be discharged from the Migration Agency's system. You will no longer receive a daily allowance. Your bank card will be cancelled. It is therefore important that you withdraw any money in your account before you are discharged from the Migration Agency.

The social services will assume responsibility for your maintenance once you have a residence permit.

If you are living with your specially appointed custodian you may in some cases be eligible for maintenance support, orphan's pension or survivor's pension.

If you are under 16 and have been granted a residence permit, you will receive a child benefit from Försäkringskassan. This will be paid out to your specially appointed custodian, or to your family home or HVB home if the social welfare committee decides to do that.

If, for example, you continue to study at the compulsory school level after having turned 16, you may be eligible for an extended child benefit.

You have to have a specially appointed custodian in order for child benefits to be paid out. Child benefits cannot be paid out retroactively.

The Swedish Board of Student Finance, CSN, is a government agency that handles grants and loans to young people and adults who are studying.

If you are studying in upper secondary school your specially appointed custodian has to apply for a study grant or supplementary allowances from CSN. Until you turn 18, your custodian will receive the grant money for you. Once you turn 18 the money will be paid directly to you.

If you have turned 16 and you work at weekends or during school holidays, you are entitled to make your own decisions about the money you earn.