The government greatly increased a grant to encourage more immigrants to return home. Critics say it sends the wrong message and, in any case, may not tempt many refugees.
Sweden plans to boost payments to up to US34,000 to immigrants who leave the nation that has been a haven for the war-weary and persecuted, the right-wing government said Thursday.
The Scandinavian country was for decades seen as a “humanitarian superpower”, but over the years has struggled to integrate many of its newcomers.
Immigrants who voluntarily return to their countries of origin from 2026 would be eligible to receive up to 350,000 Swedish kronor US34,000, the government, which is propped up by the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, told a press conference.
“We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in our migration policy,” Migration Minister Johan Forssell told reporters, as the government presented its latest move to crack down on migration.
Currently immigrants can receive up to 10,000 kronor per adult and 5,000 kronor per child, with a cap of 40,000 kronor per family.
Immigrants groups could not immediately be reached for comment on the change.
“The grant has been around since 1984, but it is relatively unknown, it is small and relatively few people use it,” Ludvig Aspling of the Sweden Democrats told reporters.
Forssell said only one person had accepted the offer last year.
Aspling added that if more people were aware of the grant and its size was increased, more would likely take the money and leave.
He said the incentive would most likely appeal to the several hundred thousand migrants who were either long-term unemployed, jobless or whose incomes were so low they needed state benefits to make ends meet.
“That’s the group we think would be interested,” Aspling said.
A government-appointed probe last month advised the government against significantly hiking the amount of the grant, saying the expected effectiveness did not justify the potential costs.
The Nordic nation has struggled for years to integrate immigrants, and the head of the inquiry, Joakim Ruist, said that a sizeable financial increase would send a signal that migrants were undesirable, further hampering integration efforts.
Other European countries also offer grants as an incentive for migrants to return home. Denmark pays more than US15,000 per person, compared to around US1,400 in Norway, US2,800 in France and US2,000 in Germany.
Agence France-Presse