Author
Housing offered by the Swedish Migration Agency is either in an apartment, in a normal housing area or at a reception centre, and is acquired through public procurement. Ordinary apartments are usually the Swedish Migration Agency’s primary option for accommodating asylum seekers.[1] Asylum seekers can choose to live at a centre but in that case, they might need to move to a town where the Swedish Migration Agency can offer them a place. There are differences in the way material reception conditions are provided depending on the procedure (“track”) in which asylum seekers are in. For applicants in the Dublin procedure (“Track 5A”) and the Accelerated Procedure (“Track 4”), for example, accommodation is located close to airports, with the aim of speeding up a potential removal from Sweden.
If asylum seekers have financial means, although they can still access the accommodation system, they must pay for it themselves. If not, accommodation at a centre is free. Single persons need to share a room. A family can have its own room but must expect to share an apartment with other people. It is possible that asylum seekers are moved around within the centre or to another centre during the processing period.
Asylum seekers may also choose to opt for private accommodation with friends or relatives. However, the Swedish Migration Agency can only influence matters concerning the accommodation they themselves provide since they hold the contracts for the flats and can make demands on the owners regarding material conditions.
Should the asylum seeker choose to settle in so-called socio-economically challenged areas, the rules foresee that these persons are no longer entitled to a daily allowance (see Criteria and restrictions to access reception conditions).[2]
The total number of asylum seekers and Temporary Protection beneficiaries registered in the reception system at the end of 2024 was 45,661 (down from 57,499 in 2023), of which 3,835 were living in Swedish Migration Agency accommodation, 31,445 in private accommodation and 14,356 in other forms of accommodation.[3] Most likely the decrease from the end of 2022 is due to fewer persons from Ukraine coming to Sweden.
The number of places in Migration Agency accommodation decreased from 14,784 in 2023 to 13,979 in 2024.[4]
The Swedish Migration Agency also operates “departure centres” for persons who have agreed to voluntary depart to their country of origin or for Dublin cases. In 2023, the Migration Agency started a new kind of departure centre (återvändandecenter). Persons with a deportation order that has become final are offered places at a departure centre. Upon refusal to move to a departure centre one needs to arrange private accommodation.[5] At the end of 2024, the centres had about 1,400 places in total and are situated in Burlöv, Märsta, Malmö, Mölndal and Stockholm. The Migration Agency aim to increase the number of places with additional 400 places. It is only persons that are still in the reception system that are entitled to a place in a departure centre, in practice meaning that it is mainly families with minor children that are entitled to a place in a departure centre.[6] Only few places in the departure centres are used, but the numbers are predicted to rise when the option to arrange private accommodation, due to announced changes (see Housing), is no longer available.[7]
[1] The Swedish Migration Agency, ‘Accommodation for asylum-seekers’, available in Swedish here.
[2] Section 10a, Law on Reception of Asylum Seekers and Others, 1994:137.
[3]The Swedish Migration Agency, Annual Report 2024, Dnr: 1.3.2-2025-1844, available in Swedish here.
[4] The Swedish Migration Agency, Annual Report 2024, Dnr: 1.3.2-2025-1844, available in Swedish here.
[5] The Swedish Migration Agency, ’Your application has been rejected – asylum’, available in Swedish here.
[6] Migration Agency, ‘’Your application has been rejected – asylum, available in Swedish here.
[7] Migration Agency, Annual Report 2024, Dnr: 1.3.2-2025-1844, available in Swedish here.