Under this scheme, any Swedish citizen, born abroad, who wants to leave the country voluntarily, will be provided money. (File Photo)
Amid strict immigration laws to counter migration in the Western world, this European nation has offered to pay its citizens to leave their country and pay travel expense as well. Find out more
Is there anyone who would want to leave their own country? But what if you are being offered money to move out and the government is also willing to pay for the travel expenditure? Don’t be surprised. This European country has come out with such an offer for its citizens born abroad.
Sweden’s Immigration Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard has presented this unique proposal. Under this scheme, any Swedish citizen, born abroad, who wants to leave the country voluntarily, will be provided money. Not only this, the travel expenditure will also be borne by the government.
In Sweden, voluntary immigration scheme is already in force, under which refugees and migrants are being given 10,000 Swedish crowns, which amounts to Rs 80,000 if they wish to leave the country. If a child wishes to leave Sweden, they are given 5,000 Swedish crowns, which amounts to about Rs 40,000. This is a one-time payment. The government also pays the travel fare if they want to leave Sweden. Now, a proposal has been formed to include its citizens under this scheme.
According to the new proposal, discussions are on to increase the grant given to those leaving the country by 10,000 Swedish Krona. However, the government has rejected this saying that it will send a message that Sweden does not like its citizens.
People from various countries over the world settle in Sweden. This is why the population of this European country has doubled in the last 20 years. It is also believed that the number of migrants in Sweden has increased to more than 20 lakh, which is one-fifth of the total population of Sweden. Though the government imposed several restrictions on immigration in 2015 to counter this, it had little effect.
Last year, the number of people leaving Sweden exceeded the number of people immigrating to the country. This phenomenon took place for the first time in the last 50 years. The Immigration Minister said that while people do come to the country, they are not able to adapt to Swedish society. Such people will now have the opportunity to leave the country. The government will also provide them financial help.
Meanwhile, economist Sanjeev Sanyal took a dig at Sweden.
“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. 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,” Sanyal wrote on ‘X’.