The German government is studying new incentives to encourage Syrian refugees to return voluntarily to Syria.
Government sources told the German newspaper Focus Online that the Federal Interior Ministry is currently studying granting Syrian refugees a return bonus of up to 8,000 euros.
The report indicates that returning refugees currently receive support of up to 1,000 euros to start a new life in Syria.
But the current bonus involves high administrative costs, as the amount is calculated for each refugee individually, while the proposed new grant would be offered as a lump sum for each returnee, according to the German newspaper’s report.
The newspaper added that demands to increase incentives have recently escalated, given the relatively limited number of Syrian returnees so far.
German experts and politicians are calling for stronger financial incentives to encourage Syrian refugees to return voluntarily to their country.
Daniel Thym, an asylum law expert from Konstanz, said, according to the newspaper, that return bonuses are a reasonable component, but he warned that money alone is not a magic solution.
Thym called for a mix of “incentives and pressure,” stressing that alongside financial incentives, threats are needed, such as procedures to revoke ongoing protection status and carrying out first deportation flights.
For his part, Roman Poseck, the interior minister of the German state of Hesse, said that offering greater financial support for voluntary return could be economically useful. He told Focus Online that high payments, despite their cost, often amount to a gain for the state compared with the long-term costs of social assistance.
He added that the goal is to enable refugees who are required to leave Germany to begin an organized life in Syria.
Poseck also pointed to the importance of increasing deportations, saying that voluntary return will not be effective in the long term unless those required to leave know that they will be deported consistently.
Residence Permits for More Than 500,000 Syrians
The German government’s plan to increase voluntary return bonuses for Syrian refugees has faced criticism from the opposition.
Max Lucks, a politician from the Green Party, told the German newspaper that talk of raising return bonuses for Syrians makes no sense, given the deteriorating situation in Syria, according to him.
Focus Online reported that more than 900,000 Syrians who do not hold German passports currently live in Germany, including more than 500,000 who have temporary residence permits based on subsidiary protection or refugee status.
Saarland Rejects Syrian Asylum Claims
In this context, German broadcaster SR reported that more than 700 Syrians are currently living in the state of Saarland after their asylum applications were rejected by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.
According to the broadcaster, many of them filed appeals before the state’s administrative court, while most of those affected brought lawsuits before the administrative court in the city of Saarlouis, which has rejected four out of every five lawsuits since the beginning of the current year.
The broadcaster added that the state Interior Ministry has not ruled out the possibility of deporting these people directly to Syria in the future.
3,678 Syrian Refugees Returned in 2025
The German newspaper Welt am Sonntag cited statistics issued by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees in February, which showed that 3,678 Syrian refugees returned voluntarily from Germany in 2025.
Since the fall of the former Syrian regime, the number of Syrian asylum seekers in Germany has declined noticeably, amid the German government’s assessment that the grounds for protection no longer exist for a large number of them, according to the newspaper.
The German newspaper reported that the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees can review whether protection grounds continue to exist if conditions change in the country of origin, through what are known as protection withdrawal procedures.
However, these procedures are not currently applied generally to Syrians, but are limited to specific cases, such as unauthorized travel to Syria or committing crimes.
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