The Swedish government wants to make it more attractive to leave Sweden. The return migration allowance is therefore proposed to be increased, from the current SEK 10,000 per person to SEK 350,000. This was announced by representatives of the Tidö parties during a press conference on Thursday. The new levels will apply from 2026.
Interest in returning to their home country from Sweden has so far been cool. Last year, only one person applied to be granted a return migration allowance. Through a greatly increased contribution, the Tidö parties hope that more people will choose to leave Sweden of their own accord.
But not everyone can apply. According to Sverigedemokraterna (SD), the grant should be aimed at people who live in Sweden, foreign citizens or possibly Swedish citizens who were born in other countries.
– And if you’re going to narrow it down a little more if you’re going to do some type of needs test, maybe people who are unemployed or long-term unemployed. We will get back to the details, says Ludvig Aspling, migration policy spokesperson in SD, to Expressen.
There must also be rules for the country to which the recipient of the grant must move. Those who apply for the return migration allowance must either return to their own home country or another aid-receiving country. Ludvig Aspling therefore does not believe that the return migration allowance will be granted to “well-integrated persons”
In order to be entitled to the support, the person must return to their home country or another country to which aid is directed. Aspling also announces that a national coordinator is to be appointed to inform about the re-migration grant and cooperate with the municipalities.
The proposal is made despite the fact that the government’s investigator Joakim Ruist has previously been negative to a proposal for an increased return migration allowance, which he believed would only have a marginal effect. According to Ruist, a clear commitment to return migration would also risk worsening integration in Sweden because people could then feel “designated as unwelcome”.
The investment in return migration is estimated to cost SEK 105 million in 2025, SEK 1,425 million in 2026 and SEK 920 million in 2027.
In addition to a greatly increased re-migration allowance, the government’s budget bill for 2025 contains reforms to combat fraud and abuse, implement expanded internal controls on foreigners and strengthen the attachment principle in the sickness and activity allowance basic protection.