Work Permit Refused in Sweden: Reconsideration or Appeal?

A refusal is a deadline, not a verdict. It is also not an invitation to send the same application again with more attachments. Two separate routes exist, they do different jobs, and choosing the wrong one usually costs you the right one.

First, find the date you received it

Appeal deadlines run from receipt, not from the date printed on the decision. Before anything else, establish when it actually reached you and write that date down. Everything else follows from it.

Reconsideration: when the file was the problem

Under Section 37 of the Administrative Procedure Act, Förvaltningslagen (2017:900), an authority may reconsider its own decision where the decision is manifestly incorrect on account of new circumstances or for another reason, and the change can be made quickly, simply and without detriment to a private party.

This is the right route when the evidence existed and simply was not before the case officer: an insurance certificate that was issued but not submitted, an advertisement that ran but was not evidenced, a payroll correction already made but not explained.

Appeal: when the assessment was the problem

An appeal goes through Migrationsverket to the Migration Court. It is the right route when the error is legal rather than evidentiary:

• A condition applied that the Aliens Act, Utlänningslagen (2005:716), does not impose
• An overall assessment replaced by a mechanical month-by-month test where the law requires the former
• A decision that recites a general standard without applying it to your facts, against the objectivity requirement in Chapter 1, Section 9 of the Instrument of Government, Regeringsformen, and the right to good administration in Article 41 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights

Permission to appeal further to the Migration Court of Appeal is granted only on limited grounds, principally where the case raises a question of precedential importance.

The most common work permit refusals we see

• Historic salary shortfall found on retroactive review of an earlier permit period
• Insurance in force late, often by days
• Advertising that cannot be evidenced, even though it ran
• Terms below the collective agreement in a component the employer had not considered, such as pension or holiday pay
• Passport validity shorter than the permit sought

The first four are usually reconsideration cases. The fifth is usually a fresh application.

When the honest answer is that neither route helps

Sometimes the authority applied the law correctly and the case is weak on its facts. We say so. An appeal filed to buy time costs money, burns the deadline, and leaves you in the same position later with fewer options. What we do instead is set out what would need to change for a fresh application to have a real prospect.

What to send us

The decision itself and the date you received it. That is enough for a first assessment. See appeal cases, work permits and do you need an immigration lawyer in Sweden.

Sources: Förvaltningslagen (2017:900); Utlänningslagen (2005:716); Regeringsformen; Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Last reviewed 27 August 2026. General information, not individual legal advice. Deadlines are confirmed against your own decision document.