Accommodation during the asylum application period
Last updated: 24/8-2023
As an asylum seeker you can either have the Migration Agency help you find accommodation or arrange your own accommodation. You can find more information about what the rules are here.
Staying in the Migration Agency's accommodation centres
The Migration Agency will offer you temporary accommodation while you are waiting for a decision on your asylum application. The Migration Agency will pay for your accommodation if you have no money.
If you stay in the temporary accommodation offered by the Migration Agency, you cannot choose where you are going to stay. You have to be prepared to move to a place where accommodation is available. It is also possible that you will have to move to another accommodation centre while you are waiting for a decision on your asylum application.
If you are offered accommodation, the place offered applies only to you. Accommodation is often in a flat that is shared with others. If you arrived in Sweden with your family, you and your family will always be given your own room together. If you are single, you will be sharing a room with others of the same sex.
Losing your right to accommodation
You have to move out of the accommodation if you have received a decision on rejection or expulsion, and that decision has come into force, or when your grace period for voluntary departure has expired. This applies if you are an adult and you are not living together with children under the age of 18 of whom you are the custodial guardian.
Staying in your own accommodation
If you don't want to stay in a Migration Agency accommodation centre you can find your own accommodation. Many asylum seekers choose to stay with friends or relatives while they wait for a decision on their application. If you choose to arrange your own accommodation you have to pay any costs for it yourself.
If you arrange your own accommodation you have to inform the Migration Agency of your address, so that they can contact you. If you are staying in your own accommodation when you are granted a residence permit, you will not be eligible for help from the Migration Agency with settling in a municipality.
Staying in certain residential areas may affect your right to a daily allowance
Certain residential areas can have an influence on your right to an allowance and benefit. If you move to one of these residential areas you may lose your right to a daily allowance and a special benefit. You can also lose you right to a daily allowance and a special benefit if you state a different address, such as a post office box address, than the one where you are actually living.
Municipalities in Sweden
Everyone who lives in Sweden lives in a municipality. A municipality can be a city, a town or several towns together. There are 290 municipalities in Sweden.
Informationsverige.se has information about all of Sweden's municipalities. You can read about what the different municipalities have in terms of schools , work and housing, for example.
