Inserts:

00:03 Report / Rosie Birchard
00:14 Ahmed, Syrian refugee and restaurateur
00:50 Monzer, Syrian refugee and student
01:25 Yousef Bakdash, Syrian refugee and support worker
01:59 Helena Hahn, Migration policy researcher
02:36 Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Danish Foreign Minister, July, 2025
03:22 Yousef Bakdash, Syrian refugee and support worker

Script:

This refugee-run restaurant in the Danish city of Aarhus tastes like a home many thought was lost to them forever.

But now Syrians here are faced with a choice: whether to stay or go.

00:13-00:32
+++SOT Ahmed, Syrian refugee and restaurateur AR voiced EN+++
I haven’t decided yet. After the Assad regime fell, we started to feel normal again;like I’m Syrian again. I feel emotionally and morally relieved. It’s a bit saddening that we’ve been here in Denmark for 10 years now working hard and still we don’t have proper papers.

00:33
The Danish government provides Syrians and other refugees up to 38,000 US dollars if they’re willing to return -- tens of thousands more than in nearby Germany.

While many here like the policy in principle, only around 120 Syrians have taken up the offer this year.

00:51-01:06
+++SOT Monzer, Syrian nursing studentEN+++
Because the situation in Syria is not stable or something. Every dayis changing.  When we call our family in Syria, also they said we don't think it's good for you to come home.

Refugee support Yousef volunteer fled the civil war after an attack by regime soldiers left him disabled.
He’s one of roughly 45,000 Syrians in Denmark, and says most here feel the stakes are too high to leave.

01:22-01:44
+++SOT Yousef Bakdash, Syrian  EN+++
I have kids now here. They born here. They don't know anything about Syria. When I talk to them about that -- what do you think if we go back to Syria -- my daughter --  she didn't answer me by words. She just take a look at my leg and walk away. // If someone don't feel safe, this bonus will mean nothing.

Denmark is renowned for its restrictive migration and integration policies, 

In the past, its center-left government declared a “zero refugees” goal. 

01:56
+++SOT Helena Hahn, Migration policy analyst+++
This was done under a Social Democrat led government, which is still in power until today. But many of the points that were then that would then put forward seem very much like what would be out of the playbook of a more conservative or right wing political agenda. You could consider it as sort of a front runner when it comes to the migration and asylum policy that we see across Europe nowadays.

The country sparked controversy by revoking some Syrians’ residence permits as far back as 2019,
though legal and political challenges meant no-one was ever deported.

Now Denmark says it wants to engage more with those in power in Syria. 

02:37-03:01
+++SOT Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Danish Foreign Minister+++
I think the jury is still out. What happened in Syria opened a window opportunity. That's why we have abolished some of the sanctions. It is with the ambition that we could create such a stable situation in Syria that many of the Syrians who reached Europe back in [20]15, could return. But we haven't taken any concrete decisions yet. 

While some fear Denmark’s return bonus may morph into an expulsion order,  
Criminals would likely be first in line.

And Yousef says he feels secure for now. 
He’s applied to go and visit his birth country and has been collecting donations of prosthetic limbs.

03:18-03:27
+++SOT Yousef Bakdash, Syrian refugee+++
It’s to send to Syria to people who can use it. Because there’s a need for stuff like that, a big need. 

His hope is to help others who will always bear the scars of a past without peace.