Cash Assistance 2023

UNHCR-UNICEF, to respond to the community’s inquiries on the new Cash Assistance program to support refugees with vulnerabilities in Slovakia with one-time cash assistance for winter needs , created a Frequently Asked Questions document addressing them accordingly.

For more information see here.  

UNHCR and UNICEF, in cooperation with the Slovak Government, will support Ukrainian families, stateless persons and third-country nationals affected by the war in Ukraine, and other refugees and asylum seekers in Slovakia who face protection risks or who are in a situation of extreme vulnerability, with a one-time emergency cash transfer for winter expenses in 2023, such as blankets, winter clothes and shoes, meals, utilities, etc.

Cash assistance for winter needs will be provided to individuals and families in a situation of vulnerability to minimize protection risks and support their basic needs.

Every registered refugee [odidenec] who was eligible for UNHCR-UNICEF Cash for refugees with vulnerabilities in Slovakia in 2023 will receive the Winter Cash Assistance automatically and does not need to approach the registration sites. 

APPOINTMENT NEEDED: If you are a new arrival (those who got the TP or international protection documents after 01 September),  from Ukraine or another country where you faced war or persecution, and meet the vulnerability criteria as per the eligibility criteria set earlier this year, you can make an appointment through this online form or by calling the UNHCR-UNICEF Helpline. Your appointment request will be reviewed by UNHCR.

The decision on your eligibility to receive cash assistance for winter needs will be communicated to you by SMS.

Cash assistance for winter needs will be a one-time payment of 150 EUR per person, with a maximum of 400 EUR per family. The payment will be provided via your Slovak bank account or Western Union.

In case of any questions, please call the UNHCR-UNICEF Helpline:

Toll-Free Line: 0800 22 12 30 (calls from Slovak tel. number)
Regular landline: +421 2 22 11 56 50 (calls from non-Slovak tel. number)

Monday to Friday (working days), 8 AM – 8 PM

For more information see here.  

IMPORTANT: The online form to make your appointment for enrolment with UNHCR for Cash for vulnerable refugees in Slovakia will be active until the 13 October 2023. After that date the online form will be inactivated and UNHCR will not consider new requests.

APPOINTMENT NEEDED: If you are a new arrival from Ukraine or another country where you faced war or persecution, or you have not yet enrolled with UNHCR, you can make an appointment through this online form or UNHCR-UNICEF Helpline, but no later than 13 October 2023.

Your appointment request will be reviewed by UNHCR, and you will receive an SMS specifying your appointment date and location, which may take several days.

CASES ALREADY ENROLLED WITH UNHCR: If you have already enrolled with UNHCR, you should not request an appointment. If you have not visited the UNHCR Registration Site since April 2023, and you would like to update your personal data, feel free to visit the closest UNHCR Registration Site. There is no deadline for this.

Please note that UNHCR will soon be sharing details about our new cash programme for your winter-related needs. For more information, follow UNHCR Telegram.

UNICEF-UNHCR, to respond to the community’s inquiries on the Cash for Child Development and Education programme, created a Frequently Asked Questions document addressing them accordingly.

IMPORTANT: While it will no longer be possible to register for Cash for Education after 1 September, families will still be able to request support from the MoE for school enrolment after 1 September through the same online form. Kindly note that families who want to request support for school enrolment need to fill out the form regardless of whether or not they have already registered with UNHCR.

For more information on Education please visit UNHCR help site here.

IMPORTANT: While it will no longer be possible to register for Cash for Education after 1 September, families will still be able to request support from the MoE for school enrolment after 1 September through the same online form. Kindly note that families who want to request support for school enrolment need to fill out the form regardless of whether or not they have already registered with UNHCR.

For more information on Education please visit UNHCR help site here.

To provide support to cover education and childcare costs, UNICEF, in cooperation with UNHCR, will extend the support to the Government of the Slovak Republic in providing cash transfers aimed at facilitating the access to learning and childcare for all children from 0 to 17 years old who are not benefiting from the child benefit “Prídavok na dieťa”.

This cash assistance aims to help with school-related expenses, such as: basic school supplies, school meals, transportation costs, extracurricular activities and/or furbishing child spaces for learning.

You are advised to visit the following link, which includes detailed guiding information.

All refugees (including Temporary Protection beneficiaries/”Odidenec”), asylum seekers and stateless persons in Slovakia, as long as they are parents or guardians of a child.

• If you recently arrived in Slovakia, or you are not registered with UNHCR, you can request an appointment by filling out the following form: Appointment request for cash for education in Slovakia and request for support for school enrolment support in Slovakia
• If you are already registered with UNHCR but you have not updated your information in the last three months, feel free to visit the closest UNHCR Registration Site to update your information

IMPORTANT: Application for UNICEF cash assistance must be submitted before 1 September 2023! Once the application is submitted, you will receive an SMS with all the instructions for the registration process.

In this section, you will be able to find information related to school enrolment of refugees (including Temporary Protection beneficiaries/”Odidenec”) and education in Slovakia.

You will be redirected to a form that will also allow you to request support from the Slovak Ministry of Education for enrolment of your child/children (aged 3-17 years) in a Slovak kindergarten, school, language course or extra-curricular activities for the academic year 2023/2024.

UNHCR-UNICEF, to respond to the community’s inquiries on the Cash Assistance program, created a Frequently Asked Questions document addressing them accordingly.

UNHCR and UNICEF will support Ukrainian refugees, stateless persons and third country nationals affected by the war in Ukraine, and other refugees, asylum-seekers and stateless persons in Slovakia, who are particularly vulnerable, through the new 2023 cash assistance programme.

UNICEF will support the Government of the Slovak Republic, replicating the Slovak Child Allowance “Prídavok na dieťa” for Ukrainian children through a Cash for Child Development and Education programme supporting Ukrainian families with children from 0 to 17 years old with the costs related to education and childcare, which are fundamental child rights. The transfers will be provided in cooperation with UNHCR, who registers eligible households.

UNHCR & UNICEF assistance amounts are aligned with the amount of the cash programme of the social assistance scheme of the Slovak Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family (MoLSAF).

Refugees who have not yet been assisted by MoLSAF will receive 80 euros per adult and 60 euros per child. This amount will not be provided to those who are receiving MoLSAF social assistance.

In addition, UNHCR & UNICEF may provide a complementary amount based on vulnerabilities and specific needs of the household, including

• Age such as individuals over 60 years old without sufficient family support; and children – especially below 3 years old;
• Disability or serious medical condition;
• Single pregnant women;
• Serious protection needs.

Individuals and families who applied to or are considered vulnerable by the Slovak Labour Office [Úrad práce], and newly arrived vulnerable individuals and families are considered as priority for the assistance.

Supporting documents on disability or medical status will be requested during your interview.

UNHCR and UNICEF will support Ukrainian refugees, stateless persons and third country nationals affected by the war in Ukraine, and other refugees, asylum-seekers and stateless persons in Slovakia, who are particularly vulnerable, through the new 2023 cash assistance programme.

Only those who fulfil the criteria specified under this link here will be considered for the cash programme. Please note that an in-person interview with UNHCR will be required.

Starting today (24 April 2023), you can make an appointment for the interview using the link or contacting our Helpline. Your appointment request will be reviewed by UNHCR, and you will receive an SMS specifying your appointment date and location, which may take several days.

You need to have your own Slovak phone number to be able to receive the SMS. Please do not approach any registration site without prior appointment. 

In case of any questions, please call the UNHCR-UNICEF Helpline: 

Toll-Free Line: 0800 22 12 30 (calls from Slovak tel. number) 

Non-Toll-Free Landline: +421 2 22 11 56 50 (calls from non-Slovak tel. number) 

Monday to Friday (working days), 8 AM – 8 PM 

Latest information on this programme will be always published in our Telegram channel: http://t.me/unhcr_slovakia

For more information see here.

UNICEF will support the Government of the Slovak Republic in providing cash transfers aimed at supporting Ukrainian families with children from 0 to 17 years old with the costs related to education and childcare, which are fundamental child rights. The transfers will be provided in cooperation with UNHCR, who registers eligible households.

The support is needed as the monthly “Prídavok na dieťa” programme of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, available to Slovak nationals and paid for each child in the household, does not currently cover Ukrainians with Temporary Protection status.

How to register for the support:

             In case you want to change information, such as a new Slovak bank account, phone number (to which SMS notification of cash assistance is sent), or to register new-born children not previously registered, you are advised to visit the following link, which includes detailed guiding information.

              Ukrainian refugees families which did not already register their child with UNHCR:

Please refer to the information leaflet on UNICEF and UNHCR’s new Cash Program for Vulnerable Families to make an appointment with UNHCR. You can access it via this link or by scanning the QR code.

To find out about the locations of the centres where you can register or update your data with UNHCR after making an appointment, please click on – Locations of Registration Centres – UNHCR Slovakia.

The benefit will be provided as a one-time payment of 150 Euro per child. The amount per child was calculated based on what is paid through the Slovak Child Allowance – “Prídavok na dieťa”, delivered by the Government (60 Euro per child per month), to cover for a period of 2.5 months.

The assistance will be distributed within 15 days to one month since the registration, or by end of April if you are already registered with UNHCR.

All eligible beneficiaries will receive an SMS notifying them of the payment and how to collect the cash within 20 days after registration.

Additional information:

If you have any question or issue – such as if you did not receive the payment or the SMS, please reach out to UNHCR and UNICEF’s Cash Helpline (maximum of 20 working days after the registration):

Toll-Free Line: 0800 22 12 30 (calls from Slovak tel. number) 

Non-Toll-Free Landline: +421 2 22 11 56 50 (calls from non-Slovak tel. number) 

From December 2022, the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic, in cooperation with the Central Office for Labour, Social Affairs and Family, provides a subsidy to support humanitarian aid for refugees from Ukraine with severe disabilities.

If you are a refugee from Ukraine who is granted temporary stay or whose provision of temporary stay has ceased due to submitting an application for asylum or supplementary protection or due to obtaining temporary residence and you are also a person with a serious disability, visit the Office of Labor, Social Affairs and Family in your place of residence.

After submitting the application, the employees of the Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family will assess whether the degree of severe disability meets the requirements for the payment of a subsidy to support humanitarian aid for persons with severe disability under special protection .

Adults and children to whom IOM or UNICEF provided support for persons with severe disabilities and persons with specific needs up to November will not be assessed again. Based on the earlier assessment and determination of the degree of serious disability by UNICEF or IOM, the Office of Labor, Social Affairs and Family will issue a notification on the approval or disapproval of the subsidy.

Suppose the degree of severe disability is at least 40%. In that case, you will be provided with a subsidy to support humanitarian aid for refugees from Ukraine with severe disabilities by bank account or by postal order.

Adults and children who were assessed as eligible by UNICEF or IOM but did not receive one or more payments for the period of June to November will receive retroactive bulk payments (covering all previous months) in December 2022. If you fall under this category, you are nevertheless advised to register with Labour Offices to continue receiving payments for MoLSAF. MoLSAF is not responsible for payments before December 2022.

Persons who are listed to be assessed by the IOM, but were not assessed in previous period will be directly approached by UNICEF to be assessed. Those deemed eligible will receive retroactive bulk payment from UNICEF. Further instructions to register with MoLSAF will be shared in direct communication during eligibility assessments.

For more information see here

FAQ Transition of Carer’s Grant to MoLSAF_ENG

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Otázky_dotácia UA ds_ANK new ENG

(PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE PROGRAMME IS CONCLUDED!)

In order to support vulnerable Ukrainian families and individuals, stateless persons and third country nationals affected by the war in Ukraine who have not been enrolled for winterization assistance in November 2022, UNHCR & UNICEF will exceptionally extend the enrolment for the one-time emergency cash assistance for winter related expenses until 20 January 2023.

It will be a one-time payment of 150 EUR per person, with a maximum of 400 EUR per family. The payment will be provided to you via your Slovak bank account or Western Union in January 2023. 

Refugees [odidenec] who have not registered with UNHCR or who have not verified their data in UNHCR database can approach UNHCR registration sites from 29 November 2022 until 20 January 2023 as long as they fulfil the following eligibility criteria. Please read carefully the below eligibility criteria that must be fulfilled cumulatively before approaching UNHCR for enrolment:

• Ukrainian nationals, stateless or third country nationals who fled Ukraine and entered Slovakia on or after 24 February 2022 (at least one member of the family must have fled on or after this date).
AND
• who hold the Temporary Protection status [odidenec] or applied for asylum in Slovakia;
AND
• who have not yet registered with UNHCR for one-time winter cash assistance or have not verified their data in UNHCR database.

In additional to the above, an eligible applicant must fall within at least ONE of the following categories:

• Single parent or caregiver with one or more children;
OR
• Older person (60+);
OR
• Person with proven specific needs (e.g., person with a disability card, person with medical report proving serious medical condition, single woman at risk such as single pregnant woman). Specific needs will be considered on an individual basis.

Please bring with you: (i) Temporary Protection document [odídenec]; (ii) Passport; (iii) Slovak telephone number; (iv) Ukrainian identification/tax number; (v) Birth certificates of your children; (vi) Slovak bank account (IBAN) number (if you have one).

Please note that children must be present at registration. 

Note: Families who are registered with Red Cross are not eligible to register with UNHCR.

Additional official information will be posted on this Telegram channel. Please share it further.

Locations can be found here.

For more information on the UNHCR & UNICEF support to Ukrainian families with one-time assistance for winter needs, you can find more details on this poster: UNHCR_UNICEF Winterization Support January_ENG