Germany to Use Dialect Recognition Software to Verify Origins of Refugees

Germany’s Federal Migration Office (BAMF) will test software that can automatically recognize a refugee’s dialect to verify their claimed country of origin, local media said Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The agency’s IT expert Julian Detzel told Die Welt newspaper the program will be put to test in the coming weeks to complement other ways of asylum seekers’ identification, but will not be routinely used before 2018.

The software is based off voice authorization systems used by banks and is tailored to identify dialects. The outlet said the BAMF had trouble identifying numerous Arabic dialects of applicants, 60 percent of whom do not have identity papers.

Germany received hundreds of thousands of asylum bids after it announced an open-door refugee policy in fall 2015. Knowing their country of origin is crucial as Syrians have a significantly higher chance of being accepted than Moroccans.

Ankara and Brussels agreed on a deal in March 2016, under which Turkey pledged to take back all undocumented migrants who arrive in the European Union through its territory in exchange for Syrian refugees accommodated in Turkey, on a one-for-one basis. In return, the bloc pledged to accelerate the Turkish EU accession bid and introduce a visa-free regime, as well as provide financial aid to Turkey to cover the costs of migrant reception.