10/15/2026
Weizenbaum-Institut, Hardenbergstraße 32, 10623 Berlin
The Payment Card – Digital Restriction of Refugees' Rights?
Since August 2026, the payment card for refugees has also been issued in Berlin. This means that it has now been introduced in all German federal states. Politically, the card is often portrayed as a modern and digital way of providing social benefits, designed to simplify administrative processes and make them more efficient.
From 13 to 15 October, the Smart Country Convention will take place in Berlin, one of the major events on the digitalisation of government and public administration. There, too, the payment card will be presented as an example of modern, digital administration. During these days, we want to offer a different perspective on the payment card and ask what this form of digitalisation means for those who are directly affected by it.
The payment card, however, is about more than a technical solution or more efficient administration. It also determines how people can use and access their money: how much cash they are allowed to withdraw, whether they can make bank transfers, and what they can use the card for and where. Digitalisation makes it possible to implement political decisions and restrictions directly through technical means.
The panel discussion brings together different perspectives on the payment card. Together with people directly affected by the card and representatives from civil society, counselling organisations, and academia, we want to discuss what the card means for refugees in their everyday lives and how it should be understood in the context of the current tightening of migration policy. What restrictions are technically implemented through the payment card? What does it mean when certain groups receive social benefits only in a restricted form? And how can digitalisation simplify public administration without at the same time becoming an instrument of control and politically intended restrictions?
The event is organised in cooperation between the Weizenbaum Institute and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.
The panel discussion will be held in German and English, with simultaneous interpretation into both languages.
Panelists
• Sarah Lincoln (Society for Civil Rights – GFF)
• Judy Mbiyu (Women in Exile)
• Emily Barnickel (Refugee Council Berlin)
• Alexandra Keiner (Weizenbaum Institute)
• Moderator: Katharina Schoenes