Sweden is going to pay asylum seekers to leave

Sweden has decided to expand a program which gives unsuccessful asylum seekers money to voluntarily return to their homelands. For the past two years, citizens from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, as well as from the West Bank and Gaza who have had their asylum claims rejected have been able to apply for funds from the Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket) to help pay for the return trip home. Since November 1st, 2009 an additional 20 countries have been added to the program. Most of the countries are in Africa, but asylum seekers from parts of Russia and Kosovo can now also apply for the repatriation funds. Sweden receives the highest number of asylum requests of all the Nordic countries.