Switch to payment card systems in the asylum process and no longer pay out cash to migrants – this is how FP state party leader Manfred Haimbuchner wants to restrict Upper Austria’s asylum policy in the future. What exactly would this process look like? “You have to look at that in detail, as well as the technical requirements,” says Haimbuchner, who in this case is taking Thuringia as an example.
Similar to prepaid card
Since December 2023, Thuringia has been aiming to use a payment card for asylum seekers to prevent abuse in asylum policy and ensure that aid money is spent in the region. Similar to a prepaid card, purchases and payments can only be made regionally; cash withdrawals and transfers abroad are not possible.
Stopping social assistance
More than 400,000 asylum applications have been made in Austria since 2015. “More than 100,000 migrants who applied were already registered in another country. This is a case of ‘double, illegal residence’ that we have to take action once morest,” says Haimbuchner. The economic component is also a problem: “There are currently 117,000 people entitled to asylum living in Austria, all of whom are allowed to work. But more than half of them do not have regular work,” says the FP state party chairman.
While in Hungary, France, Italy or Poland, social benefits are stopped if an asylum application is rejected, the right to social benefits remains in Austria and Germany. “Social assistance should also be stopped in Austria. We can follow the example of other countries,” says Haimbuchner. The solution with payment cards is also a system to keep social benefits in the region.
Author
Karoline Ploberger
Editor Upper Austria
Karoline Ploberger
