Organisations helping migrants in Sweden: asylum, legal advice, healthcare, who to contact

Asylrättscentrum for free legal advice to asylum seekers, the Swedish Red Cross for migration advice, tracing relatives and trauma treatment centres, Läkare i Världen for access to care: the organisations helping migrants in Sweden, what each one does and how to reach it.

Espero AKPOLI

Founder · Compatri, the social network for diasporas

Information checked on 2 November 2026.

In an emergency in Sweden: call 112. For medical advice that is not an emergency, 1177 answers by phone. For free legal advice on an asylum application, contact Asylrättscentrum; for migration advice whatever your status, the Swedish Red Cross (Röda Korset).

Organisations helping migrants in Sweden mainly cover three needs: the right to asylum, access to healthcare, and support for children and families. This guide is part of our guide to organisations helping migrants in Europe and the Americas.

Organisations helping migrants in Sweden, in one table

Organisation	What it does	For whom	Where	Link
Asylrättscentrum	Free legal advice on asylum	Asylum seekers	Stockholm, Gothenburg, remote contact	Contact
Röda Korset (Red Cross)	Migration advice, family reunification, tracing relatives, healthcare	Anyone, whatever their status	Branches across the country	Asylum and migration
Läkare i Världen	Care and support for people facing barriers to healthcare	Including people without a residence permit	Seven cities, including Stockholm and Malmö	lakareivarlden.se
Rädda Barnen	Child-friendly spaces, homework help, psychological support	Refugee children and their families	Reception centres, cities	Children arriving in Sweden
Stadsmissionen	Meeting places, meals, housing support, help with authorities	People in poverty or homeless	Ten regions, including Stockholm and Gothenburg	Sveriges Stadsmissioner
FARR	Network for the right to asylum, general information	Asylum seekers, volunteers	National	farr.se

Compatri is not linked to any of these organisations: we list them because they are recognised references in the country.

The public service, listed separately: Migrationsverket, the Swedish Migration Agency, examines applications from people who want to live in Sweden, seek protection or become Swedish citizens. Its website is available in English and other languages: migrationsverket.se.

Asylum: free legal advice

Asylrättscentrum has given free legal advice to asylum seekers for more than thirty years. It is the former Rådgivningsbyrån för asylsökande och flyktingar: its old web address now redirects to asylrattscentrum.se. It has offices in Stockholm and Gothenburg and answers by email or phone. By email, attach the decisions of Migrationsverket and the migration courts, as PDFs, and say whether there are new facts that have never been examined.

Good to know: because of high demand, the organisation says it currently cannot advise on work permits, study permits, visitor visas, permanent residence, citizenship, social rights, EU citizens' right of residence or security cases. It focuses on asylum.

Röda Korset, the Swedish Red Cross, advises at every stage, whatever your status: arrival, asylum, settling or return. It explains the procedure and your rights and, in special cases, after an asylum procedure has ended, can represent you if new decisive information comes to light.

FARR is a network of organisations and individuals defending the right to asylum. It does not take individual cases, but publishes general advice and an overview of the procedure, useful for understanding where you stand.

Family: reunification and tracing relatives

The Swedish Red Cross advises people living in Sweden who want their family to join them: rules, documents, submitting the application. It can help pay for the journey, under conditions, with a fixed contribution from the family. Its tracing service is free: you must be in Sweden, and the person you are looking for must be abroad.

Health: getting care without a residence permit

Läkare i Världen (Doctors of the World) sees people facing barriers to healthcare at its clinics in Luleå, Umeå, Östersund, Uppsala, Stockholm, Malmö and Helsingborg, and campaigns for the right to care of people without a residence permit.
The Red Cross runs a care referral service (vårdförmedling) in Stockholm for people without full access to public healthcare: undocumented people, asylum seekers, holders of temporary permits.
Its treatment centres for trauma from war, torture or flight, open since 1985, are free and accept people whatever their status: Gothenburg, Malmö (branch in Hässleholm), Skellefteå (branches in Luleå and Umeå), Skövde (branch in Vänersborg) and Uppsala. The Stockholm centre is closed.

Children, poverty and housing

Rädda Barnen (Save the Children Sweden) sets up child-friendly spaces in reception centres and asylum housing, gives homework help, and the psychologists at its support and treatment centre help newly arrived children work through what they have lived through. It also guides young people who arrived alone with authorities, housing and education.

Stadsmissionen refers to the city missions fighting poverty and homelessness, brought together in Sveriges Stadsmissioner: Stockholm, Gothenburg, Skåne, Uppsala, Umeå, Västerås, Örebro, Östergötland, Kalmar and Sörmland. In Stockholm, the mission runs meeting places with meals, a street team, housing options and support in dealing with authorities.

Beware of scams

A genuine organisation never promises you a residence permit. Only Migrationsverket and the courts decide.
The organisations listed do not charge when they announce their advice as free, like Asylrättscentrum. Be wary of anyone asking for money to "speed up" a case.
Applications are made on migrationsverket.se. A site that charges for an official form is not the authority.
For representation in court, go to a lawyer or a recognised organisation, never to an unqualified intermediary who promises a result.

Finding your compatriots in Sweden

Migrationsverket's processing times are long; you get through them better with people around you. On Compatri, the Sweden page brings together cities and meetups, in Stockholm and Gothenburg, and diaspora pages lead to communities, for example Somalis in Sweden or Eritreans in Sweden. Join your country's community from the communities page, and read how mutual aid between compatriots works. The directory of associations also lists diaspora associations.

Elsewhere in Scandinavia, see organisations helping migrants in Norway and in Denmark. Compatri gives no legal advice: for your situation, contact one of the organisations listed here or a lawyer.

Sources

Swedish National DayJune 6

Help for migrants Settling in Newcomers Mutual aid Diaspora

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Where can I get free legal advice on an asylum application in Sweden?

Asylrättscentrum (formerly Rådgivningsbyrån för asylsökande och flyktingar) gives free legal advice to asylum seekers, by email or phone, from its offices in Stockholm and Gothenburg. The Swedish Red Cross also advises on the procedure, whatever your status.

Can you get healthcare in Sweden without a residence permit?

Organisations help: Läkare i Världen sees people who cannot access care at its clinics in seven cities, and the Red Cross runs a care referral service in Stockholm for people without full access to public healthcare. Its trauma treatment centres are free and open whatever your status. In an emergency, call 112.

How can I trace a missing relative from Sweden?

The Swedish Red Cross tracing service is free. You must be in Sweden, and the person you are looking for must be abroad. The request is made through the online form or by phone, as shown on Röda Korset's "asylum and migration" page.

What does Migrationsverket do?

Migrationsverket, the Swedish Migration Agency, is the public authority that examines applications from people who want to live in Sweden, seek protection or become Swedish citizens. It decides, not the organisations, which advise and support you.