Sweden to pay immigrants up to US$34,000 to go back to home country
Photo credit: Agence France-Presse
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Sweden plans to boost payments to up to US$34,000 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 (US$34,000), the government, which is propped up by the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, told a press conference.
Most of Sweden’s immigrants have come from conflict-ridden countries such as the former Yugoslavia, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iran and Iraq.
In 2015 alone, at the height of the migration crisis in Europe, Sweden took in 160,000 asylum seekers, the highest per capita in the EU.
“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.
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 US$15,000 per person, compared to around US$1,400 in Norway, US$2,800 in France and US$2,000 in Germany.
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In 2015 alone, at the height of the migration crisis in Europe, Sweden took in 160,000 asylum seekers, the highest per capita in the EU.
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 (US$34,000), the government, which is propped up by t
... righteous bucks. how much are they paying americans to stay away?
What makes you think that Americans want to emmigrate to those countries?
(When Americans do want to settle in another country to retire, its often to escape winters. Popular places in the South of Meditteranean countries and a few warmer places south of our border.)
Other European countries also offer grants as an incentive for migrants to return home. Denmark pays more than US$15,000 per person, compared to around US$1,400 in Norway, US$2,800 in France and US$2,000 in Germany.
With much higher rates of unemployment among those born abroad, the situation had widened Sweden’s wealth inequalities and straining its generous cradle-to-grave welfare system.
A slew of measures have been taken by both left and right-wing governments since then to curb migration, including issuing only temporary residence permits to asylum seekers, tightening family reunifications requirements, and hiking income requirements for work visas for non-EU citizens.
Kristersson’s government also plans to make it easier to expel migrants for substance abuse, association with criminal groups or statements threatening Swedish values.
A shame the US is incapable of and/or refuses to follow Sweden's example.
They need to come to the USA. Newcomers are welcome here.
/s
Depends.
I have an Indian (India) friend who is a highly paid (and highly skilled) software engineer.
I don't know if its still true, but at one point the big Tech companies were begging the goverment to provide more visas to that sort of person.
And they were needed!
Why? Because there's a real shortage of kids in the U.S. that want to go into the tech field.
A while back I was going through the halls of a major university. I was a bit lost. I was in the "Technology Dept".Finals had just finished, and grades were posted in the halls on bulletin boards.
I looked at them-- almost all the names (and especially those of students with top grades) were either Chinese or Indian (with maybe a few Jews in the mix).
The top American tech companies need programmers and computer engineers. And since surprising;ly few Americans want to go into the fields, we have to "import" skilled foreigners.
Crazy. I was told illegal immigration paid for itself.
The situation in the Scandinavian countries is very different than that in the U.S.