Sweden Pays Migrants $37,000 to Leave Before Election

Migration Minister Johan Forssell defended the citizenship tests to Reuters: "These are highly reasonable requirements. What's unreasonable is that until now you have been able to become a citizen without knowing anything about Sweden and without speaking a single word of Swedish."

Ludvig Aspling, immigration spokesman for the Sweden Democrats, wants the cash offer extended to foreign-born Swedish citizens who agree to give up citizenship. "That's where you find the large numbers," he said, pointing to citizens who struggle to support themselves and speak little Swedish.

Bram Frouws, director of the research body Mixed Migration Centre, told Reuters there is no evidence such schemes meaningfully increase voluntary emigration. "This is one of those policy proposals where this doesn't even matter, it's mainly symbolic, it's about signaling how tough they are on migration," he said.

Mahmoud Khalfi, imam at the Stockholm Mosque, Sweden's largest, said the policy and the rhetoric around it have caused anxiety among Swedish Muslims. "Even if a few thousand leave, it has made it worse for those who have to stay," he said. The opposition and civil rights groups call the policy divisive.

Mary Khan-Hohloch, a European Parliament lawmaker for Alternative for Germany, welcomed the Swedish program in an email to Reuters, writing that "interest in effective return and remigration programmes is likely to continue to grow" given the financial and social burdens on European countries.