You have received a decision Your application has been rejected – asylum

Your application for asylum in Sweden has been rejected.

A rejection of your application means that the Swedish Migration Agency assesses that you do not have enough reasons to get to stay in Sweden. In that case, you will receive a refusal of entry or expulsion decision and have two choices: you can accept the decision and leave Sweden in accordance with the decision, or you can appeal. You must leave the territories of the Member States and the Schengen area.

Can I receive grants or other support when I return to my country of origin?

Depending on which country you come from, you may be able to receive financial support or other support measures to make things easier for you when you first return to your country of origin.

Support for those who are returning

Accept the decision

If you accept the decision of the Swedish Migration Agency, you can sign a declaration of acceptance. A declaration of acceptance means that you accept the decision and will refrain from appealing it, and that you intend to start planning your outward journey. Even if you do not sign a declaration of acceptance, the decision will take effect three weeks after you have been served (unless you choose to appeal). Once the decision has taken effect, you must leave Sweden in accordance with what is stated in the decision.

Appeal the decision

You can appeal the Swedish Migration Agency’s decision. Information about how to appeal and the deadline for doing so is provided in the decision. If you choose to appeal, a court will review the decision. The court bases its decision on the same laws and rules as the Swedish Migration Agency, and it is therefore unusual for the court to change our decisions. For this reason, you must start planning your outward journey, even if you are appealing the decision.

In some cases, you may have to leave the territories of the Member States and the Schengen area while waiting for the court’s decision. The decision states whether or not you have the right to stay in the country while your appeal is being examined.

Appeal a decision

You are assigned accommodation at a return centre

If your application for asylum has been rejected, you will be assigned a place at a return centre. At the return centre, you will receive help with preparing for your return. This can include obtaining a travel document or booking travel.

If you are a childless adult, once the decision has gained the force of law (taken effect) and any deadline for you to voluntarily return to your country of origin has expired, you will no longer be entitled to stay at a return centre. This applies even if you have been unable to obtain a travel document or ticket for your outward journey. Families with children have the right to stay at a return centre until they leave the country, and school-age children have the right to attend school while at the return centre.

Once the decision has taken effect and can no longer be appealed, you must leave Sweden in accordance with the decision. It is your responsibility to make sure you know what applies to you, so that you leave Sweden in time.

If you do not leave the country voluntarily, the Swedish Migration Agency can ask the Swedish Police Authority to take over responsibility for enforcing the decision by force.

If you have received a refusal of entry decision that must be implemented immediately

If it is clear that you do not have grounds for asylum and there is no other reason to grant you a residence permit in Sweden, you may have received a refusal of entry decision that must be implemented immediately. In that case, you must leave Sweden as soon as you have received the decision, even if you choose to appeal.

In most cases, you will be summoned to a conversation at which you and a case officer will talk about your outward journey. You will be informed of the options available and the support you can receive when you return. If you cannot arrange the trip on your own, we will make a plan together for how this will be done.

If you plan to obey the decision before you have been summoned for a conversation about your return, please contact your nearest Unit for Reception for more information.

Arrange a temporary travel document (passport)

If you do not have a valid travel document, you are responsible for applying for one from the embassy of your country of origin. The Swedish Migration Agency can also request a temporary travel document for you. In that case, we will need to provide your personal data to the authorities in your country, but we will not inform them that you applied for asylum in Sweden.

Book a ticket

You must book a ticket to the country specified in the decision. Make sure you have a valid travel document when booking your trip. Your journey may not include a stopover in another Schengen country. If you choose to book a trip with a stopover in another Schengen country, you must make sure that you have the right to stay in that country.

It is normally your responsibility to pay for your trip. If you do not have any money or other assets of your own, the Swedish Migration Agency can book and pay for your ticket.

Travel to a country other than the one specified in the decision

You can travel to a country other than the one specified in the decision, as long as you have a valid passport and can show that you have permission to live in that country. For example, having a tourist visa or being visa-free is not enough.

If you have received a decision sending you to another country in the EU

According to the Dublin Regulation, in some cases the Swedish Migration Agency may decide that you should return to another EU country, because your application for asylum is being handled there. If you would rather return to your country of origin, this is also possible, as long as it does not mean that your return will take longer or become significantly more expensive.

The Swedish Migration Agency receives information that you have left the Schengen area

In most cases, the Swedish Migration Agency will be informed that you have left the territories of the Member States and the Schengen area, as our decision to reject your asylum application is registered in the Schengen Information System (SIS). This means that the information will be available to authorities in Sweden and in other countries that have access to this system. If you leave Sweden in accordance with the decision, the information in SIS will be deleted.

If you received a decision before 7 March 2023, it is your responsibility to show the Swedish Migration Agency that you have left the territories of the Member States and the Schengen area, for example by submitting an exit certificate to the Swedish passport control or by submitting a copy of your passport with an exit stamp to the Swedish Migration Agency. You will receive an exit certificate during your conversation with your reception officer. If you cannot show that you have left the Schengen area, you risk becoming subject to a re-entry ban.

Once the decision has gained the force of law or your deadline for voluntarily leaving Sweden has passed, you are no longer entitled to accommodation arranged by the Swedish Migration Agency. If you have lived in one of the Swedish Migration Agency’s accommodations, you must leave the accommodation and return the keys. You should also return your Asylum Seeker card (LMA card).

If you have received a bank card from the Swedish Migration Agency, you must withdraw any remaining money from the account and return the card.

Families with children are entitled to accommodation at a return centre and may keep their LMA and bank cards until they leave Sweden.

Healthcare and school

Until the day you leave the country, you have the same right to healthcare as before, but you will not receive any financial compensation for medications and care after the decision has gained the force of law.

Children have the right to attend school for as long as they remain in Sweden.

There may be documents that you or your child may need when you have arrived at your country of origin or the country to which you are returning, and which it is wise to obtain before you leave Sweden.

Register extracts for children born in Sweden

Register extracts from the Swedish Tax Agency for children born in Sweden will facilitate their registration and schooling in their country of origin. You may also need register extracts when arranging travel documents for your child. Contact the Swedish Tax Agency if the information in the register extract is incorrect or if you need a new one.

Grades/certificates from school

In order for you or your child to be able to show the education you have undergone in Sweden, you may need to present grades or certificates, for example when you are going to start school or apply to an education programme in your country of origin. Contact the school at which you received education in Sweden. More information can be found on your municipality’s website.

Medical certificates and documents about your health

To obtain medical certificates or other documents about your health status, contact your healthcare centre or the hospital where you received care. You can find contact details at www.1177.se External link..

Translation of your documents

There may be reasons to have your Swedish documents translated into English or the language of your country of origin. For help with this, you can contact the person who issued the document.

Criminal record extract

You have the right to receive a record extract from the Swedish Police’s Criminal Records Database External link. upon request. The record extract shows whether you have committed any crimes in Sweden. For example, a criminal record extract may be needed when you apply for a job in your country of origin.

If you do not leave Sweden and the Schengen area within the deadline stated in the decision, you will be in the country illegally. You will then no longer be entitled to accommodation and financial aid from the Swedish Migration Agency. Families with children retain their right to accommodation; the adults may receive a reduced daily allowance if they fail to cooperate in preparations for them to leave the country.

If you do not leave the country in accordance with the decision, you may be subject to a re-entry ban. A re-entry ban usually applies for one year from the date on which you left the territories of the Member States and the Schengen area, and means that you do not have the right to return during that time. It is therefore important that you plan for your return, for example by making sure you have a valid travel document, even before the decision takes effect.

Supervision or detention

If the Swedish Migration Agency considers that there is a risk that you will abscond or otherwise fail to cooperate in preparations for you to leave the country, we can issue a supervision or detention decision. Being placed under supervision means that you must register with the Swedish Migration Agency or the police at certain times while waiting to start your journey home. If you are placed in detention, you will stay in a locked accommodation until your return journey.

Supervision and detention

Your case can be handed over to the police

If you stay away or if you don’t leave the country voluntarily, the Swedish Migration Agency can ask the police to take over responsibility for enforcing the decision by force.

A re-entry ban means that you are not allowed to enter Sweden, the territories of the Member States, or the Schengen area for at least one year from the time you left Sweden.

You may be subject to a re-entry ban if

  • you fail to leave the territories of the Member States and the Schengen area within the deadline specified in the decision
  • the Swedish Migration Agency assesses that you will not return home voluntarily.

If you have received a refusal of entry decision that is to be implemented immediately, you will be subject to a re-entry ban for two years.

You may also be subject to a re-entry ban if the Swedish Migration Agency assesses that there is a risk that you will abscond. Such a re-entry ban is usually valid for between two and five years, and may be issued if, for example,

  • you have absconded in the past
  • you have said that you do not intend to leave Sweden
  • you have used a false identity or have refused to help the Swedish Migration Agency determine your identity
  • you have deliberately provided incorrect information
  • you have been convicted of crimes that can lead to imprisonment.

In exceptional cases, the Swedish Migration Agency may suspend the implementation of the decision that you should be refused entry or expelled, and grant you a temporary permit to stay in Sweden. We can do this if there are new circumstances that prevent you from travelling to the country in the decision. Such an obstacle is called an impediment to enforcement. The possibility of an impediment to enforcement may arise if we at the Swedish Migration Agency realise the existence of the new circumstances ourselves, or if you notify us of them.

Circumstances that may constitute impediments to enforcement include:

  • changes in the political situation in the country to which the decision says you must travel, and which put your life or health at risk if you travel there
  • that you have become too ill to complete the trip
  • a plausible assumption that the country to which you are supposed to travel will not receive you.

If you want the Swedish Migration Agency to examine whether the new circumstances constitute an impediment to the implementation of the decision that you should be refused entry or expelled from Sweden, you can write us a letter. In the letter, please indicate

  • your case number (the case number can be found on your LMA card)
  • what is new and why it means that you cannot leave Sweden in accordance with the decision
  • your address.

If you have documents that support the new circumstances, you should send them to us, preferably in original form.

You should sign the letter with your name. Please write in Swedish or English. This will ensure a faster response.

If you are unable to write the letter yourself, ask someone else to do it for you. In that case, you need to submit a power of attorney to the Swedish Migration Agency.

Read more about power of attorney

Send the letter to:

Migrationsverket
601 70 Norrköping

Once the Swedish Migration Agency has received your letter, we will assess whether the circumstances you cite are actually new or, if they are not new, whether you have a valid excuse for failing to mention them before. We will also assess whether the circumstances entail an impediment to the implementation of the refusal of entry or expulsion decision. You may remain in Sweden until we have made this assessment.

You must continue to plan for your outward journey

Even if we decide that the refusal of entry or expulsion decision cannot be enforced, the decision still applies. This means that you only get a temporary permit to stay in Sweden and that you should continue to prepare to leave the country. For example, you are responsible for arranging a passport or temporary travel document and anything else you need to do in order to return to your country of origin or to another country where you have a right to live. You may still be summoned to the Swedish Migration Agency for a conversation or notification about the decision. The same applies while you are waiting for a decision about impediments to enforcement.

Enforcement halt

In some cases, the Swedish Migration Agency can decide to temporarily halt all refusals of entry and expulsions to a country for a limited period of time. This is known as an enforcement halt.

Read more about enforcement halts

News

2025-04-01

Changed rules for statute of limitations, re-entry ban and track change

On 1 April, several legislative changes will be introduced that affect those who have applied for asylum. The rules for when a decision to leave Sweden reaches its statute of limitation changes, re-entry bans may become longer, and the possibility of changing track disappears. The changed rules affect you if your application for asylum has been, or will be, rejected.

2025-02-18

If you are returning to your country of origin, you can receive support worth EUR 5,000

If you withdraw your application for asylum or if it is rejected, you can receive support from the Swedish Migration Agency. On 1 March 2025, the support we provide for efforts to help you and your family members reintegrate into society in your country of origin will change. The amount of support you can get depends on when you choose to return.

2025-01-30

Legislative change on accommodation and financial aid for asylum seekers

The Swedish Parliament has decided on a legislative change that will affect asylum seekers’ right to financial aid and the option to live in their own accommodation. The change will be introduced in two stages. From 1 March, the change only applies to new asylum seekers, and from 1 September 2025, anyone who applied for asylum before 1 March and who lives in their own accommodation is also affected.

2025-01-20

The Upper Secondary School Act ends on 20 January

The 20 January is the last day to apply for a permanent residence permit under the Upper Secondary School Act. After this the law will expire, but many people who currently have a residence permit under the Upper Secondary School Act will be able to have their application for permanent residence considered even after 20 January.

2024-12-16

Now you can see your complete decision on My Page

If you are waiting for a decision from the Swedish Migration Agency, you can now see the complete decision on My page. Previously, you have only been able to see if the decision is positive or negative, and the justification has only been sent home to you in paper format.

The Swedish Migration Agency is responsible for considering applications from people who want to live in Sweden, seek protection or become Swedish citizens. Our work is based on Swedish laws and international conventions, with a focus on legal certainty and effective reception and return.