By Thomas Brooke of Remix.news
Sweden has announced plans to pay migrants 350,000 SEK (€30,809) to return to their homeland in a new voluntary remigration scheme proposed by the center-right government.
Remix News was one of few English-language sites to report on the plans proposed last month by then Migration Minister Maria Stenergard and reviewed by the Swedish justice ministry.
“For those who have not entered Swedish society, remigration can be a way to create a better life for themselves,” Stenergard said at the time.
"This is one of several ways we achieve sustainable immigration that strengthens integration and reduces exclusion,” she added.
This week, Stenergard was appointed the new foreign secretary and succeeded by Johan Forssell who announced the new policy on Thursday.
“Migrants who voluntarily return to their home countries from 2026 onwards will be eligible to receive 350,000 Swedish kronor (€31,000),” he said. Even those with Swedish citizenship will be eligible.
Forssell, whose appointment was backed by the right-wing Sweden Democrats who influence government policy, said upon starting his new role that the government must commit to remigration and abandon the open borders policies of the previous liberal administrations.
“The important thing now is that we should not return to the previous policy, which after all put Sweden in a very difficult situation. A lot of people were affected by it,” he told Aftonbladet.
“It is clear that it is an important issue for Sweden and for this government,” he added.
The country, previously lauded as a migrant magnet and known for its hospitality, has cracked down on the number of new arrivals permitted after a radical cultural shift across the country that has seen crime and particularly gang warfare skyrocket."
Sweden isn’t the first European nation to give migrants a golden handshake upon leaving the bloc. Last month in Germany, convicted criminals including child rapists were handed €1,000 upon their flight back to Afghanistan, although these, however, were forced deportations and only amounted to 28 people.
Earlier this year, the Swedish government announced it was toughening up its family reunification laws to slash immigration with income requirements expected to increase and extra DNA testing to prove relations is likely to be rolled out.
Last month, Stockholm announced that for the first time in 50 years the country had seen net emigration over the past 12 months. These figures were contested, however, by some right-wing groups with some claiming the government has ramped up naturalizations to massage the figures.
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