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Model test in Thuringia: The Greiz district in Thuringia is already working with payment cards for asylum seekers
Photo:
Bodo Schackow/dpa
The Bavarian state government wants to introduce its own credit card for asylum seekers within a few weeks. “It is important to us that we introduce payment cards very quickly in Bavaria so that less cash is paid out to refugees,” Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) told SPIEGEL last week when asked on the sidelines of a visit to a reception facility. He is confident that he will be able to make “awarding decisions” in the next four to six weeks, followed by test operations in some districts.
Its supporters see the payment card as a suitable means of reducing access incentives and thus illegal migration to Germany. Refugee councils reject the payment card as discriminatory.
The Bavarian Ministry of the Interior is currently in discussions with companies that have submitted offers to implement the new chip card for shopping. The goal is “that we issue the payment cards to all refugees in Bavaria.” Bavaria doesn't want to wait for a nationwide solution; it wants to keep the system as technically open as possible so that it can be combined with others.
However, the political views on the topic “still differ widely,” says Herrmann – the function and limitations of payment cards are, among other things, controversial. It is important to clarify up to what amount cash can be withdrawn with the cards, whether they can be activated for online purchases or can only be used in the regional area.
Several federal states are currently working on introducing payment cards for asylum seekers in different forms, and model tests are already underway in individual districts, such as Greiz in Thuringia.
Hermann: "If some federal states plan to allow refugees to withdraw cash again using the card and, in individual cases, even use it to buy drugs or give the money to smugglers, then that is exactly what we want to prevent."
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