No more cash

First asylum seekers to receive payment card from July 15

In future, asylum seekers will no longer receive cash - apart from 40 euros - but will have their benefits credited to a card.

(Bild: Peter Tomschi (Symbolbild))

Residents of asylum accommodation will no longer receive cash in future - to prevent possible abuse, according to the responsible state councillor Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (ÖVP). The not entirely uncontroversial pilot project is now taking shape in Upper Austria and is intended to form the basis for a nationwide model.

"There are technical problems. I can't imagine that the specified timetable will hold." This is what an insider had to say about the planned introduction of the payment card for asylum seekers in the Thursday print edition of the "Krone". The initiator, Integration Councillor Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer, accepted the challenge on the same day: He presented a timetable for implementing the pilot project.

Employees already trained
This week, employees in the asylum centers were trained, and in the first week of July, the implementation of the necessary software and the transfer of the cards to the center operators are planned. The cards will then be issued to the first asylum seekers from July 15. The first pilot phase will affect residents in the Bad Kreuzen Federal Care Center and in seven basic care centers in the Steyr region.

Benefits in kind card for asylum seekers

The "Social Card" replaces the issue of cash to asylum seekers - however, cash withdrawals of up to 40 euros per month will still be possible. There will be no change to the amount of the contributions, which will now be credited to a benefits in kind card: adults will receive seven euros per day, children five euros, plus 100 euros in school fees per semester. Children under the age of three will receive 20 euros pocket money per month.

Full nationwide operation planned
The system will later be extended to asylum seekers in independent, private accommodation. Based on these two phases, a tender for full nationwide operation will then be issued at the beginning of 2025, Hattmannsdorfer outlines the plan.

Hattmannsdorfer rejects criticism
Hattmannsdorfer does not understand why the technical implementation is being called into question. The project is being carried out in close coordination with the Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Agency for Care and Support Services (BBU). The "Social Card", which is already being used in 23 districts and municipalities in Germany, serves as a model. "Everything is on schedule, next week every accommodation will receive a 'cockpit' for processing," confirms Hattmannsdorfer.