In an effort to curb net migration, the Swedish government is planning to introduce a peculiar initiative in which they would pay “foreign-born” Swedish passport holders to emigrate. According to a report by The National News, foreigners who became Swedish nationals could be offered money to leave the country.

It is pertinent to note that there is a voluntary exit scheme that currently offers 10,000 Swedish crowns ($960) along with travel costs for refugees to leave the country. An inquiry group has recommended that the proposal should be widened to include naturalised Swedish citizens along with families of migrants.

However, they maintained that they didn’t want to send a wrong signal to immigrants that “they are not welcome in Sweden”. The group also rejected the idea of increasing the grant money usually offered in this regard. Interestingly, the proposal came after recent figures reflected that more people left Sweden than arrived last year. This was the first time the country recorded a net loss in more than 50 years.

Sweden doesn’t want to send the wrong message but keeps the migration in check

As per the government records, net migration was negative for people born in Iraq, Syria and Somalia. “A development towards sustainable immigration is necessary to strengthen integration and reduce social exclusion,” said Migration Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard.

“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,” she added. However, the Swedish authorities maintained that they didn’t want to send a wrong message over the matter.

According to The National News, the inquiry was asked to consider whether a more generous grant worth about $14,800 in Denmark could be offered in Sweden. However, in the recommendation report, the group warned that increasing grants would hit public finances and that a higher sum could have “negative consequences for societal integration”.

“A larger 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,” the report averred.

“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. This could have consequences such as lower labour market participation and more crime among the immigrant groups that the grant targeted,” it further reads.

The Swedish government was instead encouraged to widen the scope of those eligible for the grant, to include Swedish citizens.

Why the need?

In recent years, Sweden’s migration and integration policies have been scrutinised after instances of gang violence were reported in several cities. In May this year, a counter-intelligence service accused Iran of recruiting Swedish criminal gangs, known as Foxtrot and Rumba, to do their bidding.

A police figure indicated that last year, Sweden witnessed 348 shootings. At least 52 people were killed and the number of explosions rose from 90 to 149. Hence, the ministers in Stockholm, which is filled with far-right Sweden Democrats, sought advice on how emigration could be “greatly stimulated”.

Indian economist, author and part of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PM-EAC) reacted to the initiative and asked Sweden’s Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute, “how many points” Stockholm would be granted in their “democracy index” with such policies.

“So Sweden is introducing a scheme for “foreign-born” citizens to “voluntarily” leave the country. Note that this is for people who already have a Swedish passport,” Sanyal wrote on X, formally known as Twitter. “Wonder what variety of democracy this implies? Am sure the supercomputer at @vdeminstitute can compute exactly how many points should be granted for this in the Democracy Index,” he added.