Investigation into “voluntary return migration” is pointed out as completely pointless

Published 14 August 2024 at 06.37

Domestic. The Tidö parties have promised to promote “voluntary re-migration”, and now the investigation into the matter has finally been presented. But the investigator Joakim Ruist does not want to increase the return migration allowances – because it could damage “integration” – and now the investigation is branded as a fiasco.

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In October 2023, the government set up an inquiry which has been tasked with reviewing how return migration can be stimulated in the case of immigrants who themselves want to return.

Economic support for return migration has existed in Sweden since 1984. According to current regulations, people who wish to return are granted financial support of SEK 10,000, with a limitation of SEK 40,000 per family, as well as travel compensation. Almost no immigrants take advantage of this opportunity to voluntarily go home:

46 people have voluntarily returned – in ten years:
Absurd numbers – and at least eight of them have returned.

The government is now betting on higher grants. https://t.co/82YzxPHOs0

— Fria Tider (@friatider) March 1, 2023

However, the investigation only proposes minor adjustments to these rules. Among other things, that the grant for immigrants' re-migration should no longer be means-tested, and that the target group should be extended to people who have become Swedish citizens as well as to people who have immigrated as relatives.

The investigator, Joakim Ruist, states that it “could damage society's integration” if the return migration grants were too high.

High grants “send a signal to the grant's target group that it is unwanted in Sweden – even to the degree that the state is willing to pay large amounts to get rid of parts of it,” writes Ruist in the investigation and continues:

“It can hardly be avoided that such a signal has a negative effect on the target group's will – and view of their own opportunities – to become an integrated part of Swedish society. It could have consequences such as lower labor force participation and higher crime, among the groups of immigrants who the grant would be aimed at.”

“Had the government been able to Google itself”
The investigation is seen by both the Sweden Democrats and the Social Democrats.

SD's migration policy spokesperson Ludvig Aspling says that the investigation needs to be supplemented to meet their goals. In a comment to Dagens Nyheter, he states that there is no evidence that integration, as the investigator claims, would be negatively affected by increased return migration grants.

The Social Democrats' migration policy spokesperson Anders Ygeman labels the investigation a fiasco.

– The policy you want to pursue would cost hundreds of millions of kroner and lead to barely noticeable effects. It appears from the investigation that the government could have Googled some things itself instead of wasting taxpayers' money, he tells DN.