Germany limits cash benefit payments for asylum-seekers

Under the new regulation, migrants are issued a card to access their benefits, which can be used at local stores and for services, but it limits their cash withdrawals and bans international money transfers.

The aim is to prevent migrants from sending money to family and friends abroad, or to smugglers.

Germany remains more reliant on cash payments than many other European countries, with some businesses still not accepting card payments.

Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) has effectively exploited the hardening attitudes of Germans towards migrants.

Attitudes toward migration have hardened in Germany as large numbers of asylum-seekers have arrived, in addition to refugees from Ukraine, and local authorities have struggled to find accommodation.

The number of people applying for asylum in Germany last year rose to more than 350,000 - an increase of just over 50% compared with the year before. The largest number of asylum-seekers came from Syria, followed by Turks and Afghans.

In January, lawmakers approved legislation intended to ease deportation of unsuccessful asylum-seekers.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly said that authorities need to speed up deportations.

Germany, like several other European countries, has also started classifying some countries, such as Moldova and Georgia, as "safe countries of origin” - meaning asylum-seekers from there can be quickly rejected and deported faster than in the past.