Returning voluntarily
Returning voluntarily means you are cooperating in your return. When you have received a rejection of your application for asylum, you must make plans to leave Sweden.
When you have received a decision on refusal of entry or expulsion, you will be invited to an interview with an officer of the Swedish Migration Agency. You will be given information on what the options are in your case, and you may also ask questions.
If you are unable to arrange the journey yourself, the officer will help you to draw up a plan for what should be done. You may also be entitled to cash support or other support to make it easier for you to resettle in your country of origin.
Read more about who can receive support with their return
Arrange a passport or temporary travel document
You are responsible for arranging a passport and other things that are needed in order for you to return to your country of origin, or another country where you have the right to reside.
If you need help with a travel document, the Swedish Migration Agency can contact the authorities in your country of origin, to apply for a temporary travel document for you. The Swedish Migration Agency will then have to disclose your personal data to the authorities in your country, but we will not tell them you have applied for asylum in Sweden.
If a temporary travel document cannot be arranged, you may, in exception cases, be given an emergency alien's passport by the Swedish Migration Agency. The emergency alien's passport will then only be valid for your return journey to your country of origin.
Travel ticket
You must book travel to the country that is specified in the decision on refusal of entry or expulsion.
You must primarily pay your return travel home yourself. If you do not have any money or other assets of your own, the Swedish Migration Agency can book and pay for your ticket. If you pay for the journey yourself, bear in mind that you must have valid documents for travel when booking your journey.
If you buy a ticket with a stopover in a country in which you do not have a permit to remain, you risk paying a fine or being required by that country’s authorities to travel back to Sweden. Therefore, book a journey without a stopover in another Schengen country. The Swedish Migration Agency accepts no liability for travel you have booked yourself. If you choose to book a journey with a stopover in another Schengen country, you must ensure that you have the right to remain in the country by obtaining an entry visa for the country.
Accommodation, bank cards and Asylum Seeker cards
You must hand back your Asylum Seeker card to the Swedish Migration Agency before leaving Sweden. If you have been given a bank card from the Swedish Migration Agency, you must withdraw the money from your account and hand the card back. If you have been staying in accommodation provided by the Swedish Migration Agency, you must vacate the accommodation and hand back the keys.
Return centres
You will be offered a place at a return centre no later than the date on which your refusal of entry or expulsion decision comes into force (has acquired legal force). You will stay at the return centre until you leave Sweden or until you are no longer entitled to financial support and accommodation. At the same time, this means that the Swedish Migration Agency no longer offers you any other accommodation. At the return centre, you will receive advice and support to prepare for your return.
You can choose to stay at a return centre or in your own accommodation until you leave Sweden.
Healthcare and schooling
You have the same right to healthcare up until the day you leave the country as previously, but you will not receive any financial assistance for medicines and care after the decision has acquired legal force and your entitlement to financial support has ceased.
Children have the right to go to school as long as they remain in Sweden.
Read more about children in the asylum process
Departure
It is always your responsibility to prove to the Swedish Migration Agency that you have left Sweden in accordance with the decision reached in your case. Unless the Swedish Migration Agency is informed that you have left, we may decide to impose a re-entry ban, in which case you will not be permitted to travel back into the Schengen Area. Your case may also be passed on to the Swedish Police.
If the decision to refuse you entry to or deport you from the country is dated 6 March 2023 or later, you do not need to notify the Swedish Migration Agency, as the decision will be registered in the Schengen Information System (SIS). If you comply with the decision and travel before the deadline, the register entry will be deleted and the Swedish Migration Agency will receive automatic notification that you have left the Schengen Area.
If the decision to refuse you entry or deport you is dated before 6 March 2023, you need to inform the Swedish Migration Agency that you have left the country. If you have received a certificate of departure (utresebevis) from the Swedish Migration Agency, you must hand this in at Swedish passport control when you leave the country (the certificate can only be handed in at a Swedish airport). You can also prove that you have left the country by sending the Swedish Migration Agency a copy of the first page of your passport containing your personal data and the page containing the exit stamp (marked with your case number). A plane ticket or boarding pass alone is not considered proof of departure.
Please note that you must not purchase travel that includes a layover in another country within the Schengen Area unless you have permission to be in that country. If you have any questions about your departure, please contact your nearest reception unit.
Contact information to the Migration Agency
Travel to a country other than the country of origin
Another country within the European Union
The Swedish Migration Agency may decide that you should travel back to another EU country and that your application for asylum should be considered there. This may depend, for example, on whether you were in another EU country before you came to Sweden, or whether you have a visa for, or have applied for asylum in, another EU country. These rules are contained in the Dublin Regulation.
If you would rather return to your country of origin, this is fine, provided that your return does not take longer or is not more expensive.
Read more about the Dublin Regulation
Another country than that specified in the decision
You may return to another country than the one specified in the decision if you can show that you will be received there. You must have a valid passport and a permit to reside in the country concerned. The fact that you have a tourist visa, for example, or can travel without a visa is not sufficient. Nor must your return take longer or be significantly more expensive.