National solution – payment card system for refugees from 2025

According to the resolution adopted on Tuesday, the Minister of the Interior is asked to ensure that a proposal is made for the legal and technical development of an Austrian payment card system in primary care, taking into account experiences with existing systems and pilot projects. available to the states. A working group has been planned to prepare a tender. The introduction and implementation of a card system is the responsibility of the federal states.

Card is intended to prevent misuse
The concept of the Ministry of the Interior prescribes that every asylum seeker aged 14 and older must receive a personal card. All basic care services should be bundled here. The aim is, among other things, to prevent abuse of the system, i.e. money being transferred abroad. Asylum seekers must use the card throughout the period they receive basic services – that is, from the federal and state governments. Countries should be given the opportunity to switch from cash to in-kind benefits in the future. The design must be “flexible” and adaptable to the federal states. The planning and awarding must be carried out by the federal procurement agency, and the federal government will bear the costs of the procurement.

Libertarians argue for strictness
The social councilor of the Salzburg FPÖ, Christian Pewny, responsible for basic services, welcomed the introduction of a uniform version of a payment card across Austria. When it comes to cash withdrawals, “the smaller, the better,” he emphasized. He would prefer not to allow payouts, but you should check to what extent this is legally possible, the liberal said. In any case, it is important that money cannot be transferred abroad with the card and that payments are limited regionally – for example to the respective state. The leader of the state party and deputy governor of the Lower Austrian FPÖ, Udo Landbauer, has also spoken out in favor of abolishing benefits for asylum seekers: “Our clear goal is and remains a zero quota. This applies to both benefits and asylum applications.”

Concerns from Vienna
In the run-up to the conference, Viennese city councilor for social affairs Peter Hacker (SPÖ) had expressed his skepticism about a benefit-in-kind card. He identifies legal and technical problems and additional costs. Before you ‘spend senseless money on a super bureaucracy’, you need to explain: ‘How does it work technically, how does it work legally? How does it work within the framework of the laws that we all have to adhere to?,” he said in an interview.

Pilot project in Upper Austria
On Monday, the federal government and Upper Austria presented a joint pilot project. The model is the Social Map, which is already used in 23 German districts and municipalities. International transfers are not possible with the card; 40 euros per month can be withdrawn in cash. Gambling, crypto or pornography cannot be paid for. The card will initially be issued to 300 people in eight neighborhoods from July. According to Upper Austria regional councilor Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (ÖVP), this is intended to lay the foundation for an Austria-wide system.

“I am happy that we were able to agree among the country representatives that we wanted to work together on a solution for the whole of Austria based on our experiences. I am convinced that the in-kind card is the right choice, because it prevents abuse and makes processes simpler,” says Hattmannsdorfer. A separate payment card for asylum seekers has been tested in Lower Austria since the beginning of June; A similar system already exists in Tyrol.