Sweden Considers Offering Naturalized Citizens Money to Return to Countries of Origin

People stroll along the Standvagen quayside in Stockholm, in a file photograph. TT News Agency/Fredrik Sandberg via Reuters

The Swedish government is considering offering foreigners who become naturalized citizens money to leave the country.

The current “voluntary remigration“ scheme offers 10,000 Swedish kroner ($960) per adult and 5,000 kroner ($480) per child, as well as travel costs for refugees and migrants to leave Sweden.

Stockholm is considering widening the program under which migrants struggling to integrate into Swedish society are encouraged to leave, including naturalized Swedes and migrant families, according to a proposal submitted to Swedish Immigration Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard on Aug. 13.

A report based on an inquiry recommended widening the proposal but rejected increasing the grant in case it sends a signal to immigrants that “they are not welcome in Sweden.”

Ministers in Stockholm had sought advice on how emigration could be “greatly stimulated.”

Those who carried out the inquiry were asked by the government to consider whether a more generous grant, similar to the one offered in Denmark worth about $14,800, could be offered in Sweden.

The report warned there would be a hit to public finances if the higher sum were offered and that it also could have “negative consequences for societal integration.”

“[A large grant] sends a signal to the grant’s target group that they are not welcome in Sweden—even to the extent that Sweden is willing to pay large amounts to get rid of some of them,” it reads.

“Such a signal could hardly not have a negative impact on the target group’s willingness—and outlook on their opportunities—to become an integrated part of Swedish society.”

The report states that this may have implications such as lower labor market participation and an increase in crime levels among the immigrant groups that the grant targets.

Instead, the report encourages ministers to widen the scope of those eligible for the grant to include Swedish citizens.

“The grant should no longer be means-tested and people should remain eligible even if they acquire a Swedish passport,” it reads.

“Grants should not be given to people who move within the EU or to another country with close migration ties to the nation.”

However, the inquiry states that it had “failed” to find a policy that would “considerably increase” voluntary migration out of Sweden, ”due to the apparent lack of any experiences or indications of appropriate methods.”

The report was issued shortly after figures showed that more people left Sweden than arrived in the past year, the first net loss for more than five decades. The Swedish Ministry of Justice stated that up to July 28, a total of 5,600 asylum applications have been registered, a decrease of 27 percent compared with the same period the previous year.

Negative net migration was found among people born in Iraq, Syria, and Somalia who had moved to the country.

“Development towards sustainable immigration is necessary to strengthen integration and reduce social exclusion,” Stenergard said.

“The number of asylum applications is looking to be historically low, asylum-related residence permits continue to decrease and Sweden has net emigration for the first time in 50 years.”

Gang Violence

Migration and integration have been hot-button issues in the Scandinavian country in recent years after an explosion in gang violence across several cities.

Police statistics show that there were at least 363 shootings in 2023, with 53 being fatal, and a spike in the number of bombings to 149 from 90.

Earlier this week, Denmark’s justice minister denounced organized criminal gangs hiring Swedish teenagers to carry out deadly shootings on Danish soil.

Inspections on trains across the Oresund bridge linking Copenhagen with the southern Swedish city of Malmö have been increased after a spate of shootings carried out by teenage Swedes in Denmark.

Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard said that since April, there have been 25 instances involving young Swedes being hired by Danes to commit crimes across the Oresund strait.

“We are increasing surveillance, in part to increase security, but also to prevent hired Swedish child soldiers who come to Copenhagen to carry out tasks in connection with gang conflicts,” Hummelgaard said.