Appealing a decision in Sweden: omprövning, överklagande and the court tracks

Who this article is for

This article is for anyone a Swedish authority has decided against: a refused permit, a rejected benefit, a tax decision by Skatteverket (the tax agency), a social services decision by a kommun (municipality). It explains the system that the specific guides on Sweden Unpacked rely on. More guides sit in the hub Appeals, Rejections & Disputes.

It is not for disputes with a private company such as an insurer, a landlord or a bank. Those are not decisions by an authority, and förvaltningslagen does not apply to them.

This article does not cover challenging a court judgment; the court ladder is only outlined. A visitor refused a Schengen visa gets an outline here only; appealing a rejected decision in Sweden has the practical steps for any rejection. If your decision is a refused citizenship application, go to appealing a denied Swedish citizenship.

Prerequisites before any step applies

Three things must be true before the steps below apply to you.

• You hold a written beslut. Förvaltningslagen 33 § requires the authority to tell you the full content of the beslut and, if you may appeal, how.
• You are a part, meaning a party, to the beslut. It may be appealed by the person it concerns, if it has gone against that person (förvaltningslagen 42 §).
• The beslut can affect your situation in a not insignificant way (förvaltningslagen 41 §).

The general rules in this article do not mention a permit, a folkbokföring entry (your registration as resident) or a personnummer as conditions. The authority-specific rules can add their own. A Schengen visa refusal handed out abroad is appealed under a three-week rule, per Migrationsverket, and the first review is by the embassy, the consulate or Migrationsverket.

The system: förvaltningslagen and the court ladder

Förvaltningslagen (2017:900) is the general procedure law for authorities, in force since 1 July 2018. It applies to how förvaltningsmyndigheterna, the administrative authorities, handle ärenden, meaning cases. Other laws can set different rules, and when they do, the other law wins (förvaltningslagen 4 §).

The court side is run by the förvaltningsdomstolar, the administrative courts, which belong to Sveriges Domstolar (the Swedish courts). Per Sveriges Domstolar, as of October 2026, they have three levels:

1. Förvaltningsrätt, the first instance. This is the court you meet first.
2. Kammarrätt, the second instance. A kammarrätt only hears your case if it grants prövningstillstånd, which means permission to appeal (förvaltningslagen 40 §).
3. Högsta förvaltningsdomstolen, the final instance.

The migration track is part of the same system. Sweden has four migrationsdomstolar, which are sections of the förvaltningsrätter in Stockholm, Göteborg, Malmö and Luleå. Their decisions go to Migrationsöverdomstolen, which is Kammarrätten i Stockholm (utlänningslagen, the aliens act, 16 kap. 2 and 9 §§). Prövningstillstånd is required there too, with listed exceptions (16 kap. 11 §).

Omprövning and överklagande are different steps

Omprövning means the same authority looks at its own decision again. Överklagande means an appeal that a court decides. Förvaltningslagen lets the authority change its own decision in 37 to 39 §§, and the sector laws build the omprövning step on top.

The authority may change a decision that is incorrect because of new circumstances or for any other reason. It must change one that is obviously wrong in an essential respect, if this can be done quickly and simply and without harm to any party (37 and 38 §§). When you appeal, the authority may still change the decision itself until the file has been handed to the court (39 §).

Two practical rules follow.

• Appeal to the authority, not the court. The appeal is written to the court but handed in to the authority that decided (43 §). The authority first checks that it arrived on time (45 §). If it does not reject the appeal, it promptly forwards the file to the court (46 §).
• Omprövning first is a rule of some laws, not of all. Försäkringskassan and the a-kassor require it. For other decisions, such as those of Migrationsverket, you appeal directly.

A late appeal is normally rejected. It is not rejected if the lateness is caused by the authority giving you incorrect information about how to appeal, or if the appeal reached the court within the time (45 §).

Deadlines by authority, as of October 2026

The deadline runs from the day you received the decision, not from the date printed on it. Always read the överklagandehänvisning, the appeal instruction that the authority must attach (förvaltningslagen 33 §).

The rows in detail:

• Försäkringskassan, per its page as updated 15 July 2026. The omprövning request must be in writing and must reach the agency within two months. An appeal after omprövning must also arrive within two months of receiving the omprövning decision.
• A-kassa, as of October 2026, per lag (2024:506) om arbetslöshetsförsäkring, chapter 11. An a-kassa is an arbetslöshetskassa, an unemployment insurance fund. You may not appeal before the kassa has done omprövning. An appeal sent too early counts as an omprövning request.
• Skatteverket, per its page on declarations. For a tax decision, skatteförfarandelagen (SFL, the tax procedure act) sets the same limit for omprövning and for an appeal: the request or appeal must reach Skatteverket by the end of the sixth year after the end of the tax year (66 kap. 7 §, 67 kap. 12 §). For tax year 2025, that is 31 December 2031. Some other decisions, such as F-skatt and registration decisions, must be appealed within two months of receipt (67 kap. 12 §). If Skatteverket does not change the decision, it forwards the case to the förvaltningsrätt.
• Skatteverket, folkbokföring, per folkbokföringslagen (1991:481). A refused or changed folkbokföring is appealed directly; there is no omprövning step. The appeal must reach Skatteverket within three weeks of the day you received the decision (40 §). Skatteverket may change the decision itself before it forwards the appeal to the förvaltningsrätt (förvaltningslagen 37 to 39 §§).
• Kommun, as of October 2026, per Sveriges Domstolar on social services appeals and laglighetsprövning. A decision about you from the social services is appealed by sending the appeal to the kommun, which forwards it to the förvaltningsrätt. That page gives no number of weeks, so the three weeks come from förvaltningslagen 44 §. A laglighetsprövning is different: a review of whether a decision by a kommun or region was lawful. Sveriges Domstolar states you must be 18 or older. You must also be registered in that kommun, own property there or pay tax there. It is sent straight to the förvaltningsrätt. Förvaltningslagen 23 to 49 §§ do not apply to it (2 §).

The detail guides cover each authority step by step: A-kassa, Försäkringskassan and Skatteverket.

Migrationsverket: route and deadline for an appeal

Route. You write an appeal and send it to Migrationsverket, not to the court. Migrationsverket assesses whether the decision should be changed. If it does not change the decision, it forwards the appeal, usually to the migrationsdomstol. The appeal costs nothing.

Which decisions. Utlänningslagen 14 kap. 3 § lists the Migrationsverket decisions that may be appealed to a migrationsdomstol. They include refusals of a residence permit or work permit, and withdrawals of such permits.

Deadline. Three weeks from the day you received the decision. This follows förvaltningslagen 44 § and Migrationsverket's visa page, as of October 2026. Migrationsverket's general appeal page says only that a time applies, and it tells you to read the decision. The letter states the last day by which Migrationsverket must have received the appeal, and it controls if it names a different time. Receipt counts, not posting.

One week. Utlänningslagen 14 kap. 1 a §, in the text amended by lag (2026:1142) and read in October 2026, sets one week for transfer decisions under the asylum and migration management regulation. It sets the same for decisions under article 67.7 a of the asylum procedure regulation. Decisions under article 67.7 b get three weeks.

Next level. A migrationsdomstol judgment can be appealed to Migrationsöverdomstolen, and that court requires prövningstillstånd.

For waiting cases, see the Migrationsverket dröjsmålstalan guide. For citizenship, see the citizenship appeal guide.

Forcing a late decision

Förvaltningslagen 12 § gives a tool for a case that has stalled. If a case that you started has not been decided in the first instance within six months, you may ask the authority in writing to decide it. The authority must then, within four weeks, either decide the case or refuse your request in a separate decision.

A refusal can be appealed. If the court or the higher authority upholds your appeal, it must order the authority to decide the case promptly or within a time it sets. That order cannot be appealed (49 §). This route is commonly called dröjsmålstalan, a case about delay. The statute itself uses the words begäran att avgöra and föreläggande.

Migrationsverket has its own form for this, per form 270011 dated 3 December 2025. The request applies after six months. The wait is four months for a work permit, or for a permit for a long-term resident third-country national coming from another EU country. For an EU Blue Card it is 90 days. You can make the request only once while the case is open.

Citizenship cases use a separate request. Migrationsverket states that after more than six months you can send a written request that it decide your citizenship case.

What to do, in order

1. Read the beslut and find the överklagandehänvisning. Note the receipt date and the last day.
2. Check which route your authority uses: direct appeal, or omprövning first.
3. Write what you challenge, which decision it is, and how you want it changed (förvaltningslagen 43 §; this does not apply to laglighetsprövning).
4. Hand it in to the body your route names. This is usually the authority that decided, and for laglighetsprövning it is the förvaltningsrätt. Make sure it arrives before the last day.
5. If nothing is decided after six months, use the förvaltningslagen 12 § request.