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- | Our vision and mandate
Our vision and mandate
Our vision
"Sweden — a nation open for the possibilities of global migration"
Our mandate
The operations of the Migration Board are decided on by the Swedish Parliament and Government. How we work is laid out in the annual budget and policy specification. The goal for the migration policy is:
to ensure a sustainable policy which protects the right to asylum and, within the framework of regulated immigration, facilitates freedom of movement across borders, promotes needs-based labour immigration, considers and makes the most of the development effects of migration as well as expanding European and international cooperation.
The Migration Board is charged with impartially and correctly implementing the decisions of the country's elected representatives. The Government controls the Migration Board by means of statutes and ordinances, but also through ongoing management. For example, every year the Swedish Parliament decides what budget the Migration Board will receive for its operations from the government's proposal in the budget bill.
Budget and policy specification
Once the Parliament has decided on the national budget, the Government ensures that the decision is implemented. This is carried out primarily by means of the so-called budget and policy specification which is sent to all authorities. In the budget and policy specification, the Government lays down the goals and mandates the authority has for its work. It also states the budget they will receive for their operations. The budget and policy specification is sent out at the end of December every year and applies for the following year.
Budget foundation document and forecasts
In order for the Government to be able to calculate how much money the Migration Board needs, it works from the budget foundation document which the Board sends to the Government by 1 March at the latest every year. In the foundation document, the Board specifies the resources it will need for the next three years and how the Board will develop its operations. Several times each year, the Migration Board also submits forecasts of how the operations and costs will develop over the coming years.
Checking application of the law
The Migration Board's decisions are in line with Swedish statutes and ordinances, see below. Applicants may appeal the Board's decisions to a migration court (divisions within the administrative courts in Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö). There is also another higher court — the Migration Court of Appeal (Administrative Court of Appeal in Stockholm) — which decides on the practice which shall apply in alien cases.
Ordinances which govern the Migration Board
Ordinance with instructions for the Swedish Migration Board SFS 2007:996
Government Agencies Ordinance, SFS 2007:515
Ordinance on Internal Management and Control, SFS 2007:603
Other statutes and ordinances of relevance to the Migration Board
The Migration Board reaches decisions in accordance with statutes such as the Aliens Act (2005:716), the Swedish Citizenship Act (2001:82) and the Public Counsel Act (1996:1620). The Dublin Regulation (2003/343/EC) regulates which Member State in the EU shall be responsible for examining an application for asylum made within the EU territory. According to the Reception of Asylum Seekers and Others Act (1994:137), the Migration Board has primary responsibility for the reception of asylum seekers. The Migration Board also pays government compensation to the municipalities for costs incurred in association with the reception and introduction of refugees and their families in accordance with the Ordinance on State Compensation for Refugees and Others (1990:927).
The Administrative Procedure Act (1986:223) lays out general provisions on how the Migration Board and other administrative authorities shall handle cases. The Official Secrets Act (1980:100) contains provisions relating to the obligation of confidentiality in the public sector and to the prohibition of disclosing public documents.
