Does remigration mean that all immigrants should be thrown out? Will remigration lead to civil war in Europe? Is remigration even possible to implement at all? Martin Sellner provides answers to these questions in the book Remigration.
Several parties in Europe have remigration as part of their programme and have drawn up their own documents on the subject. Some of these parties are AfD in Germany, Restore in the United Kingdom and the Norwegian Democrats in Norway. The Norwegian Democrats also organised their second conference on remigration in Oslo in June 2026.
One of the originators of today’s idea of remigration is Martin Sellner (born 1989) from Austria. He is one of the founders of the Identitarian Movement in Europe, and is an active participant in public debate, journalist and author. He recently started a think tank and lobbying organisation, the Institute for Remigration.
For his work Sellner is also one of the most excluded and censored political voices in today’s Europe. He has been denied entry to both Germany and the United Kingdom, and has had his bank accounts closed several times.
Sellner has written a book on remigration which has recently been translated from German into English. This is a review of the English version of the book, which is entitled Remigration.
In this book Sellner presents his thoughts on what remigration is, why it must be carried out, and perhaps most importantly, how it can be carried out.
What is remigration?
But first, what is remigration? “Contrary to what many believe, remigration is not synonymous with deportation,” writes Sellner in the book’s first chapter.
He then uses a quotation from the German Federal Agency for Civic Education to show that the idea of remigration is not new, and is already used by European states: “Return migration or remigration is the return of migrants to their country of origin or to the place where the migration began.”
Both Germany and Austria, and several other European countries, including Denmark and Sweden, have programmes and schemes designed to encourage remigration and which provide financial support for this purpose.
Sellner believes that these programmes can be expanded and increased to encourage more voluntary remigration, along with other types of measures.
Who should remigrate? Group A: Asylum seekers
The next major question then becomes who it is that should remigrate. Here Sellner mentions three main groups: asylum seekers, non-citizens without residence permits, and non-assimilated citizens and their descendants.
For remigration of the first group, Sellner believes that it will largely suffice to actually follow the existing laws on asylum and residence.
“Political asylum must once again become an exceptional individual protection granted only to those who are actually persecuted and come from a neighbouring country,” writes Sellner.
Therefore all asylum applications must be reassessed and withdrawn where there is no need for protection. The current system of family reunification must be ended and all forms of reunification must take place in the migrants’ own home countries.
Those who are refused asylum must be held in deportation centres until they can be transported out, and those who refuse to leave must be deported and pay for the journey themselves.
For those who cannot be sent back to their home countries, secure centres or cities in North Africa should be established specifically for this purpose. The migrants may leave these centres and cities when they wish, but may not re-enter Europe.
This is reminiscent of the way Australia stopped illegal immigration by sending asylum seekers to special centres on islands outside the country. The European Parliament recently approved that asylum seekers may be interned in countries outside the Union.
Group B: Non-citizens without legal residence
The second group that should remigrate consists of non-citizens without legal residence. If these cannot be sent back to their countries of origin, they too must be sent to remigration centres outside Europe.
Criminal foreigners shall be deported, and serve any prison sentences in their home countries. If the home countries do not agree to this, prisons for this purpose must be established outside Europe.
Social benefits paid to non-citizens shall be stopped. The same applies to social benefits for non-ethnic citizens who are residing abroad.
Not least, the sending of money by diasporas to other countries shall be heavily taxed.
Group C: Non-assimilated citizens
According to Sellner, the third category that must remigrate consists of citizens who either cannot or will not assimilate into the country’s dominant culture. They are given the choice between assimilating or remigrating.
“This will not infringe human dignity or the principle of equality, because such measures will not be random or based on ethnic characteristics, but will always depend on economic and social factors, and will offer assimilation as an alternative,” writes Sellner.
Later in the same chapter he writes: “The country’s dominant culture and pressure for assimilation and de-Islamisation shall go hand in hand with offering attractive and low-bureaucracy opportunities to leave the country and return home. Assimilation shall be like climbing a high and challenging mountain, while remigration shall be like an easy and comfortable journey back down to the valley.”
For non-assimilated citizens with multiple citizenships, the European citizenship shall be revoked so that these fall into Group B and can be sent out. Citizenship that has been granted recently or on false grounds may also be revoked. The same applies in the case of crimes such as terrorism or serious gang crime.
In order to know who has assimilated and who constitutes an economic or cultural burden on the country, an annual and detailed assimilation report shall be produced, with an overview of country of origin, religion and other information.
Incentives for remigration
Sellner also believes that remigration will not automatically lead to social conflicts, not least because it is to be carried out with the help of clear incentives.
Among other things, everyone who chooses to remigrate shall receive a significant financial bonus, which is paid upon renunciation of citizenship and departure. This also applies to the country’s own citizens who might wish to try their luck in a more multicultural country.
Special agencies can be established where practical help can be obtained to find a new home or job or language training in the country to which one wishes to remigrate.
At the same time, the country’s dominant culture shall be strengthened through visible history, symbols, flags and requirements for assimilation. The country’s dominant culture shall also be de-Islamised. This means, among other things, that all organisations promoting political Islam will be closed and banned.
In this way Sellner envisages that as the dominant culture is strengthened and the possibility of living comfortably in the country without assimilating decreases, these processes will reinforce each other and contribute to increasing voluntary remigration.
Remigration is both ethical and necessary
Sellner constantly emphasises that “remigration shall be a policy that is in accordance with already existing laws, dignified, non-violent and that respects human rights, individual rights and property rights.”
For the country’s own resources, internal security, democracy, ethno-cultural identity and more have a clear intrinsic value.
“Migrants have their own countries where they can live and build a future. As I see it, the migrants’ wishes for individual benefits do not outweigh our collective desire to have our own culture. Our demand for remigration weighs far more heavily in moral terms than the migrants’ wishes for economic benefits.”
Nor is it the case that remigration will automatically lead to civil war. Sellner points out that migrants who are assimilated and who do not constitute an economic burden will also benefit from the reduction in crime and social unrest.
On the other hand, Sellner believes that: “Only remigration can avert the time-bomb demographic bomb and reduce the increasing potential for civil war.”
Remigration is both short and written in clear and accessible English. It presents several solutions and arguments regarding what is perhaps our time’s greatest, but also most difficult political question. That alone makes the book worth reading.