Germany plans to test voice software that can automatically recognise a person's dialect to help determine whether asylum-seekers are really from the country they claim to be from.

Germany's Office for Migration and Refugees confirmed it was testing the software, follwoing a report on the pilot project in the Die Welt newspaper on Friday.

An agency spokeswoman says the software would complement existing methods used to verify a person's identity.

Andrea Brinkmann told The Associated Press that officials would still rely on a range of information, including documents presented by the asylum-seeker and an expert opinion, before reaching a final conclusion.

Germany plans to test voice software to help determine whether asylum-seekers are really from the country they claim to be from

Authorities have expressed concern that some asylum-seekers from Arab countries are claiming to be from Syria in hopes of increasing their chances of staying in Germany.

Last year officials commissioned 1,405 language analyses, up from 431 in 2015.

Germany has taken in one million refugees and migrants since 2015, under a generous policy which Merkel has defended despite fierce criticism.

In January, MailOnline exclusively revealed that the German government is unable to say where more than half of the one million asylum seekers allowed into the country have ended up.

Raids carried out at the time in Munsterland targeted two refugee centres, seizing 150 asylum seekers who were questioned in-depth.

They found that many claimed to be from Syria but were mostly from North Africa, a suspicion which had already been widely reported.

Authorities have expressed concern that some asylum-seekers from Arab countries are claiming to be from Syria

They also found that every second person had been registered at least twice on Germany's EASY system.

EASY stands for Erstverteilung von Asylbegehrenden, which translates as Initial Allocation System for Asylum Seekers.

The system, operated by the German Ministry For Migration And Refugees, aims to provide urgent first assistance to new arrivals by spreading them around the country based on a quota system.

Once the applicant's county of origin has been taken, officials assign the refugee a place where they are to be cared for, and where they can then make an application for asylum.