In an astonishing state giveaway, the Government is handing failed asylum-seeking families a £40,000 bribe to go home with enough money to buy a place in the sun.

In line for the bounty include foreign students with children who have ‘played the system’ by demanding sanctuary in Britain when their study visas expired.

Migrant families who have made failed asylum claims after arriving on Channel traffickers’ boats have also been offered the gargantuan sum, equivalent to the national average wage of a UK full-time worker before tax.

The Government has refused to reveal how many families have snapped up the offer to leave voluntarily made earlier this month by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood.

A pilot scheme over seven days to test the initial take-up ended last week. The Home Office told 150 families that they were entitled to apply for the cash – £10,000 a head capped at four people – but has refused to say how many seized the chance.

If 150 families with four members each accepted the return money, it will mean a total payout of £6 million of taxpayer money for the pilot scheme alone.

Staggering Government figures show that if the pilot is extended, it could involve many more millions. 

Up to 14,200 families, as of last December, were applying for asylum, comprising 47,000 adults and children who were living in free Home Office hotels or other accommodation.

BRAZIL, £36,000: A 4-bedroom villa near the coast in Nisia-Floresta. The property has a garden, private pool and garage with three parking spaces

ROMANIA, £43,000: A spacious farmhouse in the Romanian countryside on over 4,000 square metres of land, built in 1976

TURKEY, £39,000: New-build flats for sale in Esenyurt, one of the fastest developing districts of Istanbul. Featuring modern interiors, a lift, balcony and car parking space

The Daily Mail has compiled a checklist of possible nationalities who may have been offered the bung based on migrants from countries with high asylum failure rates.

The Home Office refusals are often because their countries are deemed safe for return or because the migrant, personally, is not in danger of persecution, oppression, or war, in their birth countries.

The nationalities on our radar include Brazilians, Indians, Albanians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Nigerians, Romanians, Turks, and Syrians

We then investigated what properties or investments any returnees to these nations can buy for around £40,000 cash back home.

This revealed a glittering array of buying opportunities, including a plot of development land overlooking the sea at an Albania tourist resort, a ‘beautiful’ three bedroom bungalow in the Nigerian metropolis of Lagos, a Brazilian four-bedroom villa with pool and a traditional Romanian farmhouse.

Also available for the failed asylum seekers is a rather garishly painted two-storey house with private garage in Kabul, Afghanistan, a substantial stone house in Bangladesh, a modern loft apartment in the Turkish capital, Istanbul, and a smartly designed new flat tucked away on a suburban avenue of Chennai, India.

Perhaps the most magnificent we found on international property websites is a three-bathroom, four-bedroom architect designed house in Pakistan’s thriving third city of Rawalpindi.

Migrants on a small boat at Gravelines in France as they try to cross the Channel on March 4

For make no mistake: £40,000, or even £10,000, is a life changing fortune for citizens of many of these developing countries.

The average salary in Pakistan is £2,592 a year. In Brazil, for example, the annual wage is less than £6,000, while in India it is under £5,000. Even in Romania, an EU member, the yearly pay per person is less than £18,000, half that of Britain.

The money awarded to failed asylum seekers who bite the bullet will be put on to an electronic spending card, which starts to work once the family arrives in their home country. 

The money can be spent however they wish with no checks by the British Home Office.

The Government claims the pilot will reduce the cost of accommodating failed asylum seekers in hotels which can reach £158,000 a year per family.

But critics says that the sweeteners to return may be a lure for yet more hopeless asylum cases to come to Britain.

Some believe traffickers will see a money grabbing opportunity. 

‘They could send in migrants, tell them to claim asylum, then when they are offered a return home demand a share of the £40,000,’ an official from one of the immigration services told the Daily Mail this week.

The total number, almost all of whom claim asylum on arrival, crossing on traffickers’ vessels since Labour took power in 2024 stands at 68,000 or more.

The government has promised that it will be ‘fully transparent’ and publicly reveal the number failed asylum seekers, including families, who have taken the bait to voluntarily return during the pilot.

It has threatened forced removal of migrants who refuse to take the money.

Which properties can failed asylum seekers buy with a £40,000 grant?

Although recipients are free to spend the money however they like, the Daily Mail has compiled a list of properties that failed asylum seekers could buy with a £40,000 British Home Office grant:

Afghanistan

A two-storey home in Kabul fit with a kitchen, living room and dining room downstairs and a large room on the second floor. Also comes with a garage.

• Price: £27,600
• Location: Kabul
• Bedrooms: 1
• Bathrooms: 1
• Square metres: 100

Albania

Large plot of land for sale in Albania within walkable distance of the coast, offering potential for development projects with a sea view.

• Price: £34,600
• Location: Arapaj, Durrës
• Square metres: 475

Bangladesh

A three-bedroom property with three baths located near Bangladesh’s third largest city, Khulna.

• Price: £28,000
• Location: Buchitla Noorani Madrasa
• Bedrooms: 3
• Bathrooms: 3
• Square metres: 17.43

Brazil

A 4-bedroom villa near the coast in Nisia-Floresta. The property has a garden, private pool and garage with three parking spaces.

• Price: £36,000
• Location: Nisia-Floresta
• Bedrooms: 4
• Bathrooms: 3
• Square footage: 112 floor plan and 300 of land

India

Located in Chennai on the Bay of Bengal, this flat is in a prime residential location near schools and hospitals, fit with CCTV and a shared garden

• Location: Chennai
• Price: £40,600
• Bedrooms: 2
• Bathrooms: 1
• Square metres: 55

Nigeria

A 3-bedroom bungalow in a private estate in Lagos. The property comes with smart modern furnishings and a parking space.

• Price: £37,500
• Location: Lagos
• Bedrooms: 3
• Bathrooms: 3
• Square metres: 300

Pakistan

Two-bedroom flat available in a modern serviced apartment with community gardens, swimming pool, gym and day care centre.

• Price: £28,000
• Location: Multan
• Bedroom: 2
• Bathroom: 2
• Square metres: 71

Romania

A spacious farmhouse in the Romanian countryside on over 4,000 square metres of land, built in 1976.

• Price: £43,000
• Location: Cehal
• Bedrooms: 3
• Square metres: 90 floor space and 4,100 land

Syria

A four-bedroom house with a patioed garden, outdoor pizza oven and swimming pool fit for a large family.

• Price: £34,000
• Location: Aleppo, Nayreb 
• Bedrooms: 4
• Bathrooms: 2
• Square metres: 600

Turkey

New-build flats for sale in Esenyurt, one of the fastest developing districts of Istanbul. Featuring modern interiors, a lift, balcony and car parking space.

• Price: £39,000
• Location: Istanbul
• Bedroom: 2
• Bathroom: 1
• Square metres: 100