The Government and the Sweden Democrats have now completed their proposal for a repatriation grant.
The purpose of the grant is to give asylum seekers, primarily with permanent residence permits, who do not thrive in Sweden and have ended up in exclusion, an opportunity to start anew in another country.
The requirement to receive the grant is that the foreigner moves from Sweden and settles permanently outside the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, or Switzerland.
Significant increase
An adult can receive a grant of 350,000 kronor and families with children 600,000. This can be compared to the current grant of 10,000 kronor for an adult.
A challenge has been to design the rules to prevent fraud.
There are comprehensive control measures being built in, says Migration Minister Johan Forssell (M).
Most importantly, according to him, is that the grant only applies to those who had a residence permit before September 2024.
The risk of more people seeking to come to Sweden just to receive the grant does not exist now, says Forssell.
Payback
If a person who received the repatriation grant were to return to Sweden, the money must be repaid. This also applies if the person seeks asylum here again.
The Government makes no assessments of how many will take advantage of the grant.
Forssell points out that only one person used the current grant last year.
So it's highly likely that more will do so now, naturally, he says.
Discouraged
The investigation that examined a new repatriation grant discouraged a large increase in the amount. The investigator Joakim Ruist warned that many immigrants would feel unwanted in Sweden and that integration would thereby be made more difficult.
The Government's proposal is based on the repatriation grant that exists in Denmark.
The Danes are satisfied. They say it has had positive effects and has not made integration more difficult, says Forssell.
The Government has previously announced that 1.4 billion kronor will be allocated to the repatriation grant in 2026.
The Migration Agency decides on repatriation grants
The grant applies to asylum seekers
The grant can only be given to applicants who show that they are accepted in the country where settlement is intended to take place.
Settlement must take place permanently outside the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, or Switzerland
One-fifth of the repatriation grant is paid out when the grant is decided.
The rest of the grant is paid out in two stages - when the person has arrived in the country where settlement is to take place and when the residence permit in Sweden is revoked.
A family can receive 600,000 kronor, a couple 500,000, an adult 350,000, and a child under 18 years old 25,000 kronor.
The bill is now being sent out for review and is proposed to come into force on January 1, 2026.
Source: Ministry of Justice
