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Asylum seekers can be exempted from the requirement to have a work permit if they can provide identity documents or other means to establish their identity, establish that Sweden is responsible for their asylum application, and establish that there are solid reasons for their application in Sweden. An asylum seeker will not be able to work in Sweden if they have received a refusal of entry decision with immediate effect, including if they fall within a Dublin procedure or have a claim considered manifestly unfounded.
This right lasts until a final decision on their asylum application is taken, including during appeals procedures. The right ends when the applicant leaves Sweden if they cooperate in preparations to leave the country voluntarily. If the applicant refuses to cooperate and the case is handed over to the police for expulsion procedures, then the right to work is suspended.[1]
In the Government Bill “A New Reception Act”, Prop. 2025/26:229, it is proposed that a waiting period of six months be introduced before an exemption from the requirement to hold a work permit can be granted. If adopted, this would mean that asylum seekers would not have access to the labour market unless the processing of their case took at least six months before a first-instance decision was issued. If the processing time were shorter, the applicant would not be granted an exemption from the work permit requirement and would therefore not be permitted to work. The bill is expected to be voted on in spring 2026, and the legislative amendments are proposed to enter into force on 1 October 2026.[2]
In 2023, 6,560 asylum-seekers were granted the right to work. The number decreased to 4,405 in 2024. In 2025, numbers fell to 3,043.[3]
According to Article 15 of the recast Reception Conditions Directive (2013/33) Member States can postpone the granting of access to the labour market to asylum seekers for nine months, as long as the delay cannot be attributed to the applicant. There’s no such time-related restriction in Sweden. Changes regarding in that regard are, however, suggested in the public inquiry SOU 2024:68, mottagandelagen.[4] The inquiry suggests that access to labour market should be granted only after six months, according to the minimum conditions prescribed in Article 17 of the newest recast Reception Conditions Directive (2024/1346). The inquiry on the implementation of the EU Pact, Ds 2025:30, suggested some minor changes compared to the ones of SOU 2024:68, which were related to the new three steps of the process of applying for international protection in Articles 26-28 of the Asylum Procedures Regulation (APR).[5] It is suggested that the six-month period in Article 17 should count from the registration of the application (Article 27 APR) rather than from the “application”, which was suggested in SOU 2024:68.
In public inquiry SOU 2024:68 it is noted that the proposed changes will result in few applicants being granted access to the labour market, as decisions are often made before six months have passed.[6]
Asylum seekers can generally not work in areas that require certified skills such as the health care sector, in practice making their choice limited to the unskilled sector. Jobs are not easy to get because of language requirements and the general labour market situation with high youth unemployment and a general unemployment rate of 8.4% in 2024. In 2024 the general unemployment rate increased to 8,5%.[7]
Should an asylum seeker obtain a job or job offer at another place in Sweden, they can apply for accommodation compensation. This is meant for employment which is longer than a three-month period and when they have to move to a place where the Swedish Migration Agency does not have any residences to offer. The accommodation compensation is SEK 350 (€30.55) for a single person household and SEK 850 (€74.21) for a family. It is a monthly allowance that is provided for as long as the asylum seeker remains employed. [8]
The possibility to, after rejection of the asylum application, switch from the asylum procedure to being a labour migrant, which was introduced in 2008, was abolished on 1 April 2025.[9] It was done by adopting changes proposed by public inquiry SOU 2024:15.[10] The change was adopted without any transitional provisions, so that, after 1 April 2025, no new permits were granted to asylum seekers according. This is reflected in the number of permits granted on this ground during 2025, which was 73.[11] By contrast, 309 asylum seekers were granted work permits according to the rule in 2024.[12] The change also affected persons who already were holding permits, as they were no longer able to extend them.[13] The media has reported on this effect, making many holders of work permits unable to extend them and often leaving them with no other option than to apply for work permit from abroad.[14]
Even when allowed to work, asylum seekers might face difficulties in accessing employment. Factors like language barriers and discrimination limit this access. Difficulties to open a bank account have been another obstacle for a long time.
[1] Swedish Migration Agency, Handbok i Migrationsrätt, section AT-UND, 5.
[2] Mottagandelagen. En ny lag för ordnat asylmottagande och effektivt återvändande (SOU 2024:68),, available in Swedish here.
[3] Information provided by the Swedish Migration Agency. The numbers regarding 2023 and 2024 differs from the numbers in the 2024 AIDA-report due to changes in how data is classified by the Swedish Migration Agency.
[4] Mottagandelagen. En ny lag för ordnat asylmottagande och effektivt återvändande (SOU 2024:68), p. 411, available in Swedish here.
[5] Migrations- och asylpakten, volym 2, Ds 2025:30, p. 880, availabe here.
[6] Mottagandelagen, p. 413, available in Swedish here.
[7] The Government Statistics Sweden, ‘Unemployment in Sweden’, available in Swedish here.
[8] The Migration Agency, ‘Financial support for asylum seekers’, available in English here.
[9] Government, prop. 2024/25:92, Preskription av avlägsnandebeslut och vissa frågor om återreseförbud, available in Swedish here.
[10] SOU 2024:15, Nya regler för arbetskraftsinvandring m.m., availabe in Swedish here.
[11] Information provided by the Migration Agency by email in January 2025.
[12] Information provided by the Migration Agency by email in January 2025.
[13] Migration Agency, news, The possibility of changing tracks ends on 1 April, available in English here.
[14] Swedish radio, article, Slut för spårbytet: Tusentals riskerar utvisning, available in Swedish here.