Yes, you can receive social benefits if your income and, if applicable, assets are not sufficient to cover your living costs. If you are fit for work, you can receive citizen’s income (Bürgergeld) from the Jobcenter for yourself and your family. If you are only able to work to a limited extent or receive an old-age pension, you can receive social benefits (Sozialhilfe) from the Social Welfare Office.

One of the prerequisites for citizen's income and social benefits is that you receive a residence permit (under Section 24 of the Residence Act, German: Aufenthaltsgesetz) or a corresponding fictional certificate (Fiktionsbescheinigung) from the foreigners authority. The local Jobcenters or the local Social Welfare Office (Sozialamt) will advise you on this.

Under certain circumstances, benefits under the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act (German: Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz, AsylbLG) may also be considered.

The jobcentre (Jobcenter) can support you with citizen's income (Bürgergeld). This includes:

• Benefits to secure your livelihood (including accommodation and heating)
• Benefits for integration into work (For more information, see Support in Finding and Taking Up Work.)

As a rule, cash benefits are provided. However, vouchers are also an option, for example for food, clothing, personal hygiene and rent. In addition, as a recipient of the citizen’s income, you are covered by the statutory health insurance. One-off benefits, for example for the initial furnishing of the accommodation, are also available. For children and young adults, education and participation benefits are provided under certain conditions, for example for extracurricular tutoring or music lessons. The local Jobcenters also provide advice on this.

The Social Welfare Office (Sozialamt) can also support you with benefits to secure your livelihood, i.e. money or vouchers for rent, food and personal hygiene. In addition, it is possible to receive one-off financial support if, for example, you have found accommodation and need furniture for it. Ukrainians who receive money from the Social Welfare Office do not have statutory health insurance. Nevertheless, they receive a health insurance card from a statutory health insurance fund and can, for example, go to the doctor if they are ill. The costs incurred are then covered by the Social Welfare Office.

Benefits under the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act (Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz, AsylbLG) also include costs for accommodation, food, personal hygiene, etc. In addition, you can receive benefits for mobility or communication and basic medical care.

The citizen's income is part of the benefits to ensure subsistence and thus part of the benefits to ensure a minimum acceptable standard of living. People who are capable of working and have no or only a low income are entitled to the citizen's income. The standard allowance to ensure subsistence includes in particular needs for food, clothing, personal hygiene, household goods as well as needs for participation in social and cultural life in the community. The standard allowance is calculated as a monthly lump sum. You can find the amount of the relevant standard allowance in the table below:

In addition to the standard allowance, children and youths also receive an instant children's allowance of € 20 per month.

In addition to the standard allowances, reasonable expenses for accommodation and heating as well as, if applicable, certain additional needs (e.g. in case of pregnancy) and one-off needs (e.g. for the initial furnishing of the accommodation) are considered.

You can find more information on citizen's income on the website of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

To apply for citizen's benefit, you must fill in the relevant forms at your local job centre. Although these are only available in German, there are also so-called completion aids in English, Ukrainian and Russian.

In addition to the main application form, which asks for basic information, you will need to provide further details in additional forms, known as annexes (Anlagen), de-pending on your circumstances. In some cases, you will also need to provide evidence to support your information.

You then send the completed application to your local job centre. This can be done online, by email or by post.

You can find the forms for your application for citizen's benefit, the completion aids and all other information here.  

In the first year in which you receive the citizen's income, the actual costs for the accommodation (rent) or your own home (benefits to secure accommodation) are paid in full. This allows you to concentrate fully on finding a job or preparing for a job (e.g. through further training). If you remain in receipt of benefits for longer, your costs will only be covered to a reasonable amount.

Heating costs are only covered to a reasonable extent right from the start. It is therefore very important that you always use energy economically. The amount of the reasonable costs for heating is determined by the municipalities.

Yes, even if you have not received citizen's income so far, the Jobcenter can help you with a high heating cost back payment or with high expenses due to adequate stockpiling if these heating costs make you needy of assistance. For this, an application must be submitted to the responsible Jobcenter within three months of the month in which the bill became due. This regulation is limited until 31 December 2023.

Please note: Also, if you apply for the citizen's income for only one month, the usual application for citizen's income must be filled in; in other words, there is no separate application form for one-month citizen's income. The application can be made online at most Jobcenters. However, you can also get application forms at your Jobcenter or on your Jobcenter's website.

How such an application is processed can be illustrated by an example:

• A person who has not been receiving citizen's income so far receives a bill for heating cost back payments on 5 May 2023. This payment is due on 5 June 2023. You have until the end of the third month after the month in which the payment is due to submit a claim for citizen's income. Since the due month is June, a claim for citizen's income benefit can be submitted to the Jobcenter by 30 September 2023 at the latest.
• The Jobcenters process these cases according to the usual procedure, which means that claimants must provide information on their income and assets, among other things. The Jobcenter then assesses whether there is a claim for benefits based on the expenses for heating costs.
• If the assessment shows that there is a benefit claim for the citizen's income in the due month, this is paid out and can be used to settle the outstanding bill for the procurement of an adequate heating supply or to settle the outstanding back payment claim for heating costs.

If you need support, the first thing you should do is register at an initial reception centre (Erstaufnahmeeinrichtung). You can be registered anywhere in Germany at a foreigners authority (Ausländerbehörde) office.

You can receive money from the jobcentre or welfare office if you have applied for a residence permit under Section 24 (1) of the Residence Act (Aufenthaltsgesetz) at the foreigners authority office of your place of residence or where you are staying. If a residence permit cannot be issued immediately under Section 24 (1) of the Residence Act, you will first be issued a provisional residence document (known as a Fiktionsbescheinigung). This document already entitles you to receive social benefits. Before a residence permit under Section 24 subs. 1 of the Residence Act or a corresponding fictional certificate is issued, benefits under the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act (AsylbLG) may come into consideration.

To request support in the form of cash benefits from the Jobcenter, you can fill out a paper application or use the online procedure. Please enquire whether ‘JOBCENTER.DIGITAL II’ is available at your Jobcenter or whether the online application may be submitted via another digital procedure. 

Filing a formal asylum application with the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) also entitles you to benefits under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act. However, displaced persons from Ukraine are not required to apply for asylum in order to secure right of residence and/or to receive social benefits in Germany.

Family members who live with you can also receive benefits.

Depending on your family situation and personal circumstances, you and your relatives may be entitled to social benefits based on different benefit laws (Social Code Book II (German: Sozialgesetzbuch 2, SGB II), Social Code Book XII (German: Sozialgesetzbuch 12, SGB XII) or Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act, AsylbLG). It is important that you apply for these benefits for ensuring your livelihood and that of your dependants in good time. If the local Jobcenter or Social Welfare Office determines that one or more of your dependants qualify for another social benefit, you will be informed of this or the application will be forwarded to the competent authority.

Benefits to secure living expenses are only paid to those who cannot cover their living expenses from their own income or assets. In this context, the same rules apply as for all other people who receive social benefits in Germany.

When assessing the need for assistance, a person’s income and assets are only taken into account if they can actually be accessed. In addition, various allowances apply; this means that certain amounts can be kept. For example, income from employment is not fully counted against the benefits.

Assets which currently cannot be accessed because they are in Ukraine (e.g. real estate) are not taken into account. If you have significant assets which you can access (e.g. bank deposits, cash), then above a certain amount you must primarily use these assets to cover your living expenses.

The regulations regarding the covering of the actual costs for accommodation also apply to pensioners and persons incapable of working (Sozialhilfe – SGB XII).

However, different personal allowances apply than in the case of the citizen's income. The personal allowance in SGB XII is € 10,000 for a person entitled to benefits. The same amount also applies to e.g. spouses or life partners who do not live separately, as well as partners in a marriage-like or life partnership-like union. A married couple, for example, is therefore entitled to a personal allowance of € 20,000.

Furthermore, in addition to the above-mentioned personal allowance (€ 10,000), recipients of long-term care benefits are entitled to an additional allowance of € 25,000 for living expenses and old-age provision, provided that this amount is earned entirely or predominantly as income from the person's self-employed or non-self-employed activity during the period of benefit receipt.

All Ukrainians who already have a residence title and a corresponding certificate under Section 24 of the Residence Act can travel to Ukraine and return to Germany at any time.

The duration of your trip has a direct influence on your residence status in Germany as well as on your right to receive basic social security benefits under SGB II (Bürgergeld, Citizen's Income). Please see ‘Returning to Ukraine’ and ‘Travelling to Ukraine’ for information on what you must keep in mind when travelling for a short or long period of time or when returning to Ukraine.