Appeal a decision

You can appeal most of the Swedish Migration Agency’s decisions. It is a court that will examine your appeal, but you must submit it to the Swedish Migration Agency.

  • Important to know
  • How it works

Appealing means that you want the Swedish Migration Agency's decision to be changed. When you receive the decision, you can see if it is possible to appeal and how you can do so.

You must appeal within a certain period of time

If you want to appeal a decision, it is important that you submit your appeal within a certain period of time after you have received the decision. The deadline for the Swedish Migration Agency to receive your appeal is specified in the decision.

If you submit the appeal too late, the Swedish Migration Agency will dismiss your appeal and will not forward it to the authority that would otherwise examine it.

Plan to leave Sweden

If the decision concerns your right to stay in Sweden and you are currently in the country, you should always start planning to leave Sweden, even if you appeal the decision.

Keep in mind that some types of decision may mean that you must leave Sweden immediately, even if you choose to appeal.

Send the appeal to the Swedish Migration Agency

You must submit your appeal to the Swedish Migration Agency. We will review the appealed decision again and decide whether to change it. If we believe that the decision should be changed, we will write a new decision that replaces the previous one.

Once the Swedish Migration Agency has reviewed the appealed decision, we will forward your appeal to the authority that will examine it. It is usually the Migration Court that examines the appeal, but some decisions are examined by the Administrative Court. In certain special cases, the appeal may be examined by the Government. If we have changed our decision, we will also attach the new decision when we forward your appeal.

It is the court that decides whether the Swedish Migration Agency has made the right decision about your application.

You will receive a new decision from the court

The Migration Court or Administrative Court makes a new decision (usually in the form of a judgment) in your case. The new decision will be sent to you and your representative, if you have one.

If you want to appeal the court’s decision

If you are dissatisfied with the court’s decision, you can usually appeal this decision, too. It is stated in the decision of the Migration Court or Administrative Court whether it is possible to appeal and how long you have to appeal. You must submit your appeal to the court that issued the decision. You should not send it to the Swedish Migration Agency. In order for the higher court, either the Migration Court of Appeal or the Administrative Court of Appeal, to examine the case, so-called “leave to appeal” from that court is usually required.

The Migration Court of Appeal or the Administrative Court of Appeal only examines certain cases, for example where there is no guidance in the law or if there are exceptional grounds to do so. In most cases, the Migration Court of Appeal or the Administrative Court of Appeal decides not to examine the appeal. That means that the decision of the Migration Court or Administrative Court will apply.

Read more about leave to appeal on the Migration Court of Appeal’s website External link.

You cannot appeal a decision that has gained the force of law. A decision gains the force of law when any of the following applies:

  • According to the law, the decision cannot be appealed (it is stated in the decision whether or not it can be appealed).
  • The deadline to appeal has passed.
  • The highest court has issued its decision.

Once you have accepted a decision from the Swedish Migration Agency and signed and submitted a document certifying that you are satisfied with the decision (a so-called “declaration of acceptance”), you can no longer appeal the decision.

If you have submitted your appeal too late, the Swedish Migration Agency will reject your appeal. If you do not accept the Swedish Migration Agency’s decision to dismiss your appeal, you can do one of the following:

  • appeal the decision to dismiss your appeal
  • apply to the Administrative Court of Appeal for the time to appeal to be restored, if you believe you have a valid excuse for why your appeal did not arrive in time.

If you have questions about how to appeal one of our decisions, you can contact the Swedish Migration Agency. If you have already filed an appeal and have questions relating to it and/or the work of the court, you should contact the Migration Court or the Administrative Court.

Contact details of Sweden’s migration courts External link.

It costs nothing to submit an appeal to the Swedish Migration Agency. The courts also do not charge a fee for examining an appeal.

If you have appealed the decision of the Swedish Migration Agency, but you change your mind and wish to withdraw your appeal, you should contact the Swedish Migration Agency if the appeal has not yet been handed over to a court. If the appeal has already been handed over, you must contact the relevant court.

If you have withdrawn your appeal and the deadline to appeal has expired, you cannot change your mind and appeal again.

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.