Asylum – from application to decision

• You must answer questions about, for example, your name, citizenship and family.
• You must hand in your passport or other identification documents to show who you are.
• The Migration Agency will photograph you and take your fingerprints. The fingerprints are used to see whether you have applied for asylum or a visa in any other country in Europe, or if you have permission or prohibition to stay in any other country in Europe.
• With the help of an interpreter, you must tell us more about who you are, why you have left your country of origin and how you have travelled to Sweden.
• You can tell us if you need special support during the asylum process or to cope with everyday life. In some cases, the Migration Agency can help you; otherwise you will be given information about whom you can contact.
• If you do not have any money, you can apply for financial support. You will receive a bank card and information about daily allowance and special benefits.
  
• You will get information about the asylum process, the next steps and what you must do. You will also get information about practical issues, such as your right to housing, medical care and schooling for your children.

• When you hand in your application for asylum, you will get an appointment letter for the asylum interview. You will get the appointment letter when you have your first meeting with the Migration Agency or it will be sent to you by post after your first meeting. The appointment letter will say when and where you will meet a case officer. It is important you inform the Migration Agency if you change your address so that we are able to contact you.
  

• Once you have handed in your application, a case officer will go through all your documents, what you have said and what the searches of your fingerprints have shown.
• Based on the information you have given in your application, the case officer will decide how much investigation is needed in your case. All applications are different, and the time needed to investigate therefore differs.
• The case officer prepares your application for the continued investigation. For example, information may be needed from other public authorities.
• If it is deemed necessary, a public counsel will be appointed for you.
  

• The investigator will start by telling you what the interview is about and what rights and obligations you have. For example, you must tell the truth and not omit anything. The investigator and the interpreter have a professional duty of confidentiality.
• If you need a public counsel, the counsel can be present at the interview. The counsel also has a professional duty of confidentiality.
• With the help of an interpreter, you must say who you are, where you come from, why you are seeking asylum and what you think might happen to you if you have to return to your country of origin. You will also get questions about your family, your health and your situation in your country of origin.
• Take your passport and other identification documents with you to the asylum interview, if you have not already handed them in.
• It is your responsibility to present all your reasons for seeking asylum, and to provide evidence, if you have any, that you want the Migration Agency to consider.
• The investigator keeps notes of what is said. You will be able to approve the notes which are then filed together with all the documents you have handed in.
• At the end of the interview, you can ask questions about the asylum process or anything else to do with your contacts with the Migration Agency.

Interview with children

All children have the right to speak and to be listened to. Children who are applying for asylum together with their parents have the right to meet the investigator at the Migration Agency. The asylum reasons for children are considered separately – a child may have other reasons for seeking asylum than the parents. When investigating a child’s reasons for asylum, the Migration Agency investigator should, as far as possible, adapt the investigation to suit the child’s age, development and health. Children have the right to be accompanied by an adult during the interview. The adult can be a parent, another legal guardian or a public counsel. Unaccompanied children always have the right to be accompanied by a guardian during the interview.

• Once the Swedish Migration Agency has made a decision about your application, we can inform you of the outcome in different ways. We can tell you about the decision at a meeting at which you meet with a case officer, or we can notify you by post.
• The decision is written in Swedish, but even if you receive the decision by post, you will still be invited to an in-person meeting at your Unit for Reception, where you will receive oral information about the decision with the help of an interpreter.
• The decision is based on your story and the documents you have submitted in support of what you have told us about your identity and your reasons for seeking asylum, as well as the Swedish Migration Agency’s knowledge of the situation in your country of origin. Your case officer will explain why we came to the conclusion that this decision was the right one in your case.
  
• If your application is approved, you will be granted a temporary residence permit that gives you the right to live and work in Sweden. If your application is refused, you can either travel back to your country of origin or appeal the decision if you think it should be changed.