Germany will introduce a single payment card for refugees. They will receive social benefits using it, rather than in cash. Liga.net writes about this with a link to tagesschau.
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The introduction of a payment card system is intended to prevent migrants from transferring social assistance money to smugglers or to relatives and friends abroad.
The updated law allows local authorities to independently decide how much cash cardholders can withdraw within a certain period of time. Exceptions are also allowed in which social assistance can still be paid in cash, for example, in the case when the card is blocked.
The change in the law does not change the amount of social assistance.
Project payment card for refugees Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the prime ministers of the federal states agreed in November last year.
The first experiment with a payment card for refugees was launched at the end of December last year in the district of Greiz (Thuringia). 200 cards were issued, while 15 refugees from Syria and Afghanistan refused this form of social assistance and left the district.
In January, 14 of the 16 federal states announced that by the end of the year they would introduce a common payment card for refugees. Bavaria and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern are planning to create their own models.
In February, Hamburg began issuing special bank cards for refugees, called SocialCard. This card does not have a credit balance, which means you can only spend the amount that is in your account. You can only withdraw a small portion of the money in cash – up to 50 euros per month and an additional 10 euros per child.