People attend a "Refugees Welcome" march in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Sept. 9, 2015. [Photo: Xinhua]

US President Barack Obama has directed his administration to prepare to take in at least 10-thousand Syrian refugees over the next year.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest says this represents a "significant scaling up."

"The president has directed his team to consider how we can further scale up our response. This year, that will end... the fiscal year that will end at the end of this month, the United States is on track to take in about 1,500 Syrian refugees. The president has directed his team to scale up that number next year. And he's informed his team that he would like them to accept - at least make preparations to accept - at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next fiscal year."

Since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, the United States has only taken in around 15-hundred Syrian refugees.

The White House says the resettlement process has been slow, as intensive security screenings for the refugees takes as long as 18-months.

By comparison, Germany allowed in 20-thousand refugees, many of them Syrian, this past weekend alone.

The White House has been under increased pressure to do more to help Syrian refugees amid a series of online campaigns, which have been launched after the picture of a dead Syrian child found washed-up on a Turkish beach earlier this month went viral.