Sweden’s government announced Thursday that it will significantly raise incentives for immigrants who opt to leave the country and return home, in order to encourage more migrants to do so.
As of 2026, immigrants who willingly return to their home countries would be eligible for up to 350,000 Swedish kronor ($34,000), according to the right-wing administration, which is supported by the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats, at a news conference.
“We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in our migration policy,” Migration Minister Johan Forssell told reporters.
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 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.
Aspling went on to say that if more individuals were aware of the gift and its size was increased, more would likely accept it.
The announcement came despite a government-appointed study last month advising against a major increase in the grant amount, claiming that the predicted effectiveness did not warrant the possible expenses.
Conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson promised to combat immigration and crime when he took office in 2022 with a minority coalition government supported by the Sweden Democrats, which finished second in Sweden’s general election with 20.5% of the vote.
Since the 1990s, Sweden has welcomed a substantial number of migrants from conflict-ridden nations, including the former Yugoslavia, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iran, and Iraq.
However, the Nordic countries have struggled for years to assimilate immigrants.