Source description last updated: 20 July 2020

In brief: The Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) is a government body responsible for decision-making and the provision of services in matters relating to asylum, migration and citizenship. The Migration Agency runs Lifos, a database on country of origin information (COI).

Coverage on ecoi.net:

Reports, query responses and legal positions

Covered monthly on ecoi.net, for countries of priorities A-E (all available countries).

Mission/Mandate/Objectives:

“In Sweden, the Migration Agency is the authority that considers applications from people who want to take up permanent residence in Sweden, visit, seek protection from persecution or get Swedish citizenship. […]

The Swedish Migration Agency is commissioned by Parliament and Government, who set the Swedish asylum and migration policy. […] Each year we receive appropriation directions from the Government stating objectives and commissions, and how much money the Migration Agency may spend.” (Migrationsverket website: Our Mission, undated)

In May 2019, the Migration Agency established a new unit tasked with country and intelligence analysis, called Migration Analysis, which is part of the Migration Agency’s National Coordination Department (see, for example, Migrationsverket: Säkerhetssituationen i östra Demokratiska republiken Kongo, 15 June 2020).

The Migration Agency collects, analyses and maintains information on countries and regions from which people migrate to Sweden. Staff analysts collect and process country information stemming from a variety of sources. Every year, the analysts produce between 20 and 30 country reports and some 1,000 query responses. Lifos is the Migration Agency’s database for information relating to country and intelligence analysis. (Migrationsverket website: Lifos: Om Lifos, undated, summary working translation by ACCORD)

Funding:

Funds appropriated by the Swedish State

Scope of reporting:

Geographic scope: all countries of origin; a list of countries of focus is available here: https://lifos.migrationsverket.se/fokuslander.html

Thematic scope: security, human rights and socio-economic issues

Methodology:

The Migration Agency’s analysts’ task is to review and analyse information sent to the Migration Agency, especially from Swedish diplomatic missions, as well as to actively search for information that is available on the Internet or in commercial databases. Publications of the Agency may also be based on findings from fact-finding missions, of which the Agency conducts 10-15 per year (Migrationsverket website: Lifos: Om Lifos, undated, summary working translation by ACCORD). Oral sources may be quoted in reports with reference to the institution with which the source is affiliated or more generically (see, for example, Migrationsverket: Säkerhetssituationen i östra Demokratiska republiken Kongo , 15 June 2020, pp. 69-70). Analysts collaborate with other Migration Agency staff to identify the needs regarding the content of the Lifos database and to answer queries from users. Quality assurance procedures ensure that published information is relevant to the needs of work procedures, stems from credible sources and is current. Prior to publication, an assessment is made as to whether the information is subject to confidentiality or copyright and meets the requirements set under data protection law. (Migrationsverket website: Lifos: Om Lifos, undated, summary working translation by ACCORD)

Languages of publication:

Swedish and English

All links accessed 20 July 2020.