Children under the age of 18 cannot undertake legal actions such as appealing decisions or representing him/herself in matters involving authorities. Usually the person who has legal custody of a child is also the one with legal capacity to represent the child. Due to the lack of a legal system in Somalia and the fact that documents issued within Somalia usually is based on oral reports the court said that it had not been showed that the reference persons in Sweden were legal guardians for the child. Therefore they had no right to represent the child in front of the court.

The court noted that there are measures that can be taken for a child without a legal guardian if the child is in Sweden but that these legal measures are not applicable for Somali children applying at an abroad mission. Therefore, the Migration Supreme Court rulings affect Somali children applying for resident permits based on family ties at a Swedish abroad mission. In spite of the existence of an actual caregiver who take care of the child in absence of a legal guardian, the actual caregiver has no legal capacity to apply for a resident permit on behalf of the child.

According to the current case-law a Somali child outside Sweden cannot provide sufficient proof of the existence of a legal guardian when it comes to application of residence permit. The result will be that the Migration Board will refuse their application. This also applies to other children who are not able to show that they are represented by a legal guardian.

If you have further questions you can contact the Migration Board:
+46 (0)771-19 44 00
Telephone hours: Monday –Friday 9–15 (local time).
Closed the first Friday every month.