Income Support - Benefit to released prisoners

The benefit is paid for 2 months at most, to a released prisoner who was in prison or in detention for at least 6 months and who has no income. The payment is for each month separately, from the day that the claim for income support benefit is submitted.

You may be entitled to the benefit even after 2 months, if you still haven’t begun working, or if you are working for low wages. In such cases, please contact the local Employment Service Bureau; in order to be entitled to the income support benefit, you must be willing to accept any job offered to you that is suitable to your health and physical condition. 

Conditions of entitlement to benefit
1. You were in prison or in detention for at least 6 full and consecutive months.
2. You submitted a claim for income support benefit in the month of your release or in the following month.
3. You have no income, or your income is lower than the amount of the income support benefit.

Please note,

 If you are married, your wife must also meet the conditions of entitlement under the Income Support Law.  She must pass an income test, and have a situation of entitlement, such as being a mother to a child up to the age of two, or being a low-wage earner, or being a jobseeker at the Employment Service Bureau, or not being capable of working.
  If you or your wife own or use a car, you will be entitled to the benefit only is you work at low wages and meet additional conditions that are stipulated in the law.
 If your wife received an income support benefit during the time of your imprisonment, you may receive the benefit for a couple.

How to submit request for benefit

In order to receive the income support benefit for a prisoner, you must submit a claim form for income support benefit to the local NII branch nearest to your place of residence, in the month of your release or in the following month. You will not be entitled to the benefit as a released prisoner if you submit the claim after this date. Please attach the required documents – including the authorization of your imprisonment – that are indicated on the form.

When the claim form, together with the attached documents, is received at the local NII branch, we will examine the possibility of an immediate payment of part of the benefit.

Request for disability pension

If you received a permanent disability pension before being imprisoned, you can again submit a claim for disability pension after your release from prison.

Detailed information on the conditions of entitlement to income support benefit and on the amounts of the benefit may be found in the Income Support Chapter of the site (this chapter).