Sweden is offering immigrants a high price tag to voluntarily depart the country and return home.

The Swedish government announced Thursday that certain immigrants who leave will be eligible to receive up to 350,000 Swedish kronor ($34,000) per family.

The policy is set to take effect in 2026.

According to TRT World, the new policy is a “substantial increase from the current grant of up to $970 per adult and $485 per child.”

Per TRT World:

During a press conference on September 12, Sweden’s migration Minister Johan Forssell described the new policy as a “paradigm shift” in the Nordic country which in 2015 opened its borders to 162,877 asylum seekers, mostly of Syrian, Afghan, and Iraqi descent as a “humanitarian superpower”.

The grant system, implemented in 1984, was intended to provide financial incentives for immigrants to voluntarily return to their home countries, yet, only one person took the existing offer last year, according to Forssell.

If more people were aware of the grant and its size was increased, more would likely accept the offer, Ludvig Aspling of the Sweden Democrats told reporters.

WATCH:

Newsweek reports:

It is unclear what the exact criteria to receive the new sums of money will be. Newsweek contacted the Swedish government and the Sweden Democrats for comment via email.

The Swedish government’s decision to dramatically increase the amount paid to migrants who leave came despite the policy being criticized last month in a report from a government appointed probe, which argued the benefits don’t justify the costs.

According to the AFP news agency a number of other European countries already have schemes that pay migrants to return to their home countries, with offers of around $2,000 in Germany, $2,800 in France, $1,400 in Norway and more than $15,000 in Denmark.

Since coming to power the new Swedish government has tightened asylum and other immigration rules, as a result of which the country is on track to receive its lowest number of asylum applications since 1997 this year according to the Swedish Migration Agency.

According to the government agency Sweden received 5,600 asylum applications up to July 28 this year, and Statistics Sweden estimates it will record net emigration for the first time in half a century.

 

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.


We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.