New laws 2025 that affect LGBTQI asylum seekers
Several legislative changes will come into force this year. For you as an LGBTQI asylum seeker, this can have a major impact and it is therefore good to be informed about these changes.
Statutory limitations
As of April 1, 2025, a deportation order will not expire as long as the person is in Sweden. Instead, the expulsion decision will expire five years after the person, for example a former asylum seeker, has complied with the expulsion decision and left Sweden (and in most cases also the EU territory and Schengen area).
This means that rejected asylum seekers will have to leave Sweden before they can reapply for asylum. A new asylum application cannot be submitted until after five years counting from when the person left Sweden, the territory of the EU countries and the Schengen area. However, if new circumstances arise that have not previously been examined, it may be possible to invoke obstacles to enforcement of the deportation and apply for a new trial before the five years have passed.
Track change abolished and rules on statutory limitation period changed
Change of track – one of several new laws 2025 that affect LGBTQI asylum seekers
The system of changing tracks has meant that those whose asylum applications have been rejected, and who have worked during their asylum process in Sweden, under certain circumstances could have their application for a residence permit on the basis of work examined without having to leave the country. They were exempted from the main rule that applications for residence and work permits must be made from the country of origin or another country in which the person has the right to stay.
The possibility of applying for a work permit through a so-called track change was removed as of April 1, 2025. The new rules apply to all persons who have a current deportation order or pending applications, regardless of whether the application for a change of track was submitted before April 1 or whether it has been several years since the person received their deportation order. Persons who have previously been granted a work permit through a change of track will not be able to have their permits extended. Co-applicant family members will also be affected.
The Migration Agency will examine whether there are other grounds for a residence permit or whether there are grounds for not enforcing deportation. However, most people who have been granted a residence permit on the basis of work through a so-called change of track will have to leave Sweden when their current permit expires.
The possibility of changing tracks ends (migrationsverket.se)
A new arrangement for asylum seekers’ accommodation
From March 1, new asylum seekers will, as a general rule, only be entitled to financial assistance if they live exclusively in the asylum accommodation they have been allocated. f they choose to arrange their own accommodation instead, they will not receive a daily allowance or special grant from the Migration Agency. Exceptions can be made if you live with your immediate family who are already residents in Sweden, or if there are other exceptional reasons.
An application for a residence permit is considered to be withdrawn for asylum seekers who do not live in an asylum accommodation allocated and have not informed the Swedish Migration Agency of their address.
Asylum seekers who applied for asylum before March 1, 2025 and live in their own accommodation will be allocated a place in the Migration Agency’s accommodation. To keep your daily allowance and special allowance, you need to have moved into the accommodation by August 31, 2025.
The Migration Agency offers you accommodation while you are an asylum seeker. When you receive a decision on your residence permit application, it may mean that your right to accommodation ends. Alternatively, it may mean that you have to move to a return center.
It is important that those applying for asylum based on LGBTQI+ grounds, inform the Migration Agency about this as early as possible, so that their vulnerability and safety can be taken into account when placing them in an accommodation and in the asylum procedure. You can contact RFSL’s asylum lawyers for legal advice and assistance.