It starts today

Project launch: refugees receive visas instead of money

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Publk GmbH)

It starts today, Monday: 246 refugees in Upper Austria will receive a Visa card with credit for the first time, which they can use to pay in stores. If everything goes smoothly, the system will be implemented throughout the country.

There was recently talk of technical problems, but preparations should now be successfully completed: This week, credit was added to the first 246 "Sachdienstleistungskarte", as they are called in civil servant-speak. The Red Cross, Volkshilfe and the Federal Agency for Care and Support Services are involved in the pilot project initiated by the state's social welfare department.

Parents receive seven, children five euros per day
Specifically, refugees in provincial care receive seven euros per day in food allowance, minors two euros less. "For under-3-year-olds, 20 euros per month are provided. The money for children will be charged to the parents' card", according to the office of Integration State Councillor Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (ÖVP).

Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer, who will become Secretary General of the Chamber of Commerce at the turn of the year, is responsible for the "benefits in kind card" project.

(Bild: Wenzel Markus/Markus Wenzel)

Questionnaires published in 19 languages
The card will be issued in the pilot quarters in the Steyr region today, Monday, on the regular payment date, which always takes place in the middle and at the end of the month. Hattmannsdorfer assumes that there will be no complications. "We have issued questionnaires in 19 languages, and the employees who were responsible for the payout in the past have also received special training. And, of course, information has also been provided to those affected," says the provincial councillor to the "Krone".

Holders of the benefits-in-kind card can check their credit balance via a cell phone app; cash withdrawals are only permitted up to a maximum of 40 euros per month. The option of transferring money is deactivated. An expandable blacklist is also intended to prevent misuse of the social benefit. It is therefore impossible to place bets at online terminals.