Countries agree on standards for payment cards for asylum seekers

Asylum seekers should in future receive part of the state support via a payment card. Almost all countries have agreed on common standards – two are going their own way.

Part of the state benefits for asylum seekers in Germany will in future be provided as credit on a payment card and will no longer be paid out in cash. 14 of 16 federal states agreed on common standards for a procurement process that should be completed by the summer. As Hessian Prime Minister Boris Rhein announced in Wiesbaden, Bavaria and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are going their own way, but also want to introduce the payment card.

A nationwide map was agreed upon at the meeting between the Prime Minister and Chancellor Olaf Scholz in November. A working group set up by the Prime Minister’s Conference and chaired by Hesse then developed a model for a payment card with uniform national minimum standards.

card should Cash withdrawals substitute

Among other things, it was agreed that it should be a credit-based card with a debit function – i.e. without an account connection – that replaces paying out cash, the Hessian state government announced. Each country decides for itself the amount of the cash amount and other additional functions.

The technical possibilities of the payment card, on the other hand, should be uniform in all federal states. In principle, the card should be valid nationwide, but states can restrict it regionally and for certain industries. Use abroad, card-to-card transfers and other transfers at home and abroad are not planned.

Less administration, protection from Smuggling crime

“With the introduction of the payment card, we are reducing the administrative burden on municipalities, preventing the possibility of transferring money from state support to the countries of origin and thereby combating inhumane smuggling crime,” said Hesse’s Prime Minister Boris Rhein. The CDU politician is currently chairman of the Prime Minister’s Conference.

Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil said that good progress had been made in implementing the resolutions of the last MPK. “With a payment card, cash payments to asylum seekers are largely unnecessary,” said the SPD politician. If they then work, they would be able to freely use the money they earned themselves.

Asylum seekers receive legally defined standard benefits and additional special support, for example in the event of illness or pregnancy. In some municipalities, payment cards have already been introduced for refugees in model tests, for example in the Greiz district in Thuringia since December 2023.