Once known for opening its doors to asylum seekers, Sweden has shifted the policy it implemented over the last decade. The country’s right-wing coalition government has begun providing significant financial support to encourage the return of migrants.
“Elchi” reports that Sweden, which accepted 163,000 asylum seekers in 2015, ranked second in Europe in terms of the number of asylum seekers per capita.
By 2025, this figure had decreased by 96 percent.
The government, which took office with a commitment to reduce crime rates and immigration, launched a program starting in early 2026 that offers payments of up to 350,000 Swedish kronor to non-EU foreign citizens who choose to leave the country.
The far-right Sweden Democrats party, which supports the government from the outside, has fully backed the initiative.
In July, the party promoted the return grant by displaying advertisements on buses aimed at Somali migrants.
The government also announced the program, which has a total budget of 1.3 billion Swedish kronor (100 million pounds sterling), in various languages on their official websites.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson stated that increasing the number of returns is one of the government’s priorities.
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