First balance in Upper Austria

Digital asylum money has already been paid out 600 times

Previously, asylum seekers always received cash, now many pay with special cards

(Bild: Pail Sepp/Sepp Pail)

An initial assessment following the introduction of the payment card for asylum seekers shows that things are going better than skeptics had feared. So well, in fact, that the project will be expanded in the fall. Upper Austria is something of a testing ground before the system is rolled out nationwide.

The initial scepticism among aid organizations should have evaporated: since the beginning of the summer, refugees have no longer been given cash as part of a pilot project in the area around Steyr, but the amount due has been booked onto a Visa card - as reported by the "Krone" newspaper. Governor Thomas Stelzer and Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (both ÖVP), who is still a member of the provincial integration council, are now taking stock. A total of three digital payments have been made to date, specifically in mid-July, at the end of July and in mid-August. "This means that digital payments have now been made more than 600 times in total," summarizes Hattmannsdorfer.

"Running smoothly"
His office and he have not yet received any reports of serious complications. The organizations (Volkshilfe and the Red Cross are involved in the project) have also reported that everything is running smoothly.

Benefits in kind before cash benefits
The project will therefore continue in the fall, when other asylum centers will also switch from cash payments to the new card system. Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer says: "The benefit-in-kind card is the right way to prevent the misuse of benefits and simplify administration at the same time."