Since February of last year, the German Federal government has allowed failed asylum seekers to voluntarily return to their countries and receive cash incentives with 10,000 migrants taking part in the scheme.

The programme, called Jump-Start Plus was introduced last year by Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière, along with an additional supplement for housing which expires this month. A total of 10,000 migrants signed up along with 1,260 who qualified for the bonus housing benefit, Bayerische Rundfunk reports.

The scheme allows those who have failed in their asylum application to receive 800 euros per adult in two separate payments or 1,200 euros for those who chose to go back to their country before their asylum decision.

One of the stipulations to be eligible for the scheme requires migrants to renounce any claim to dispute their asylum decision. Legal cases against negative asylum decisions have put enormous strain on the German court system.

Around 100,000 court cases were decided last year out of the 273,000 that were filed. Among them, some 44 per cent of the cases were overturned and the migrants were given some form of asylum status.

Washington Post – Germany Learns How To Send Back Migrants: Pay Them https://t.co/ykwRj1NHy7 pic.twitter.com/oHwXZdnMLA — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 20, 2016

While the German government has put aside around 90 million euros toward encouraging migrants to return to their countries, the cost of forcibly deporting failed asylum seekers is much higher per capita.

In 2016, it was revealed that the German government was forced to pay the sum of 125,000 euros to deport just three criminal migrants. A deportation to Afghanistan last October was also slammed for repatriating a mere 14 migrants out of a pool of over 14,000 on an aeroplane with 180 seats.

The costs for Germany to allow all migrants to stay would be even higher according to economists. Some have claimed that the migrant crisis has cost German taxpayers as much as 30 billion euros per year.

The economic advantages of mass migration have also been questioned with a study from the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) in Nuremberg claiming mass migration will ultimately hurt long-term economic growth.