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Asylum-seeking children have full access to the Swedish preschool and school system, and they are largely integrated in regular schools. The municipality where the asylum seeker live is responsible for ensuring that asylum seeking children and young people get access to preschool and school under the same conditions as other children living in the municipality. Asylum seeking children are not covered by the law obliging children between the ages of 6 and 16 to attend school but have the right to attend if they wish so. The right to go to school extends to children that absconded with their families and are present in Sweden with a removal order.[1] However, these children do not have the right to attend preschool.[2]
Children between 16 and 18 often have to attend a preparatory course to improve their skills in Swedish and other core subjects before being able to access vocational education. Nevertheless, once they have gone through this preparatory phase, in theory, they are not prohibited from taking a vocational course. If a teenager begins a 3-year course at the age of 16 or 17 and is still in Sweden without a permit 2 years later, they will be allowed to continue their studies. Persons who are over 18 years old upon their arrival in Sweden, on the other hand, have no right to access upper secondary education but, municipalities are still allowed to offer upper secondary education if they have the possibility to enrol more students.[3]
Children also have the right to lessons in their own mother tongue on a regular basis, if there are more than 5 pupils with the same language in the area. Itinerant mother tongue teachers are employed for that purpose.[4]
The possibility to get a residence permit for studies in upper secondary school, that originally was introduced in 2017, ended 20 January 2025.[5]
The public inquiry on the implementation of the EU Pact, Ds 2025:30, suggested changes regarding children’s right to study, making the responsible municipality obliged to offer schooling within two months instead of one (as was the case before).[6] The amendment, which is in line with the minimum requirements in Article 16.2 of the new recast Reception Condition Directive, is motivated by the view of the Swedish Migration Agency that such a timeframe would be more in line with the APR, according to which many applicants will be in special procedures like the asylum border procedure and, therefore, must be available during the process.[7] However, the Government decided in its bill not go forward with the proposed change.[8]
[1] Swedish Parliament, Betänkande 2012/13:UbU12 Utbildning för barn som vistas i landet utan tillstånd, available in Swedish here.
[2] Swedish Parliament, Betänkande 2012/13:UbU12 Utbildning för barn som vistas i landet utan tillstånd, available in Swedish here.
[3] Skolverket, Nyanländas rätt till utbildning, available in Swedish here.
[4] The 2011 School Regulation (Skolförordningen 2011:185), Chapter 5, Paragraph 7.
[5] Migration Agency, ‘permanent residence permit for holders of permits for studies at upper secondary level, available in Swedish here. For more information on the now abolished law, see earlier AIDA-reports here.
[6] Migrations- och asylpakten, volym 2, Ds 2025:30, p. 879, availabe here.
[7] Migrations- och asylpakten, volym 2, Ds 2025:30, p. 879, availabe here.
[8] Government, Utmönstring av permanent uppehållstillstånd och anpassning av svensk rätt till EU:s migrations- och asylpakt, lagrådsremiss, 6 April 2026, available here.