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Apply for blind person's allowance


You can apply for blind allowance if you are blind or have a comparably severe visual impairment.

If you meet the eligibility requirements for receiving blind allowance, the amount of the benefit depends on whether or not you live in an inpatient facility or in a special form of housing (integration assistance).

If you live in Lower Saxony outside of an inpatient facility or special form of housing, the blind allowance is 410 euros per month. Certain benefits, in particular benefits from long-term care insurance, are partially offset against the blind allowance. In these cases, the above-mentioned blind allowance would be reduced.

If you live in an inpatient facility or special form of housing, the blind allowance is 205 euros per month.

You can decide for yourself how to use the blind allowance.

  • an application must be submitted
  • Severely disabled person's ID card or assessment notice with mark Bl
  • Documents on third-party benefits that are to be credited against the blind allowance (e.g. long-term care insurance benefits).
  • Certificate of a legal residence permit, provided that you are neither a German citizen nor a citizen of an EU country
  • You must have been identified as Bl (blind) by means of a procedure for determining your disability (severely disabled person's pass).
  • They must have their habitual residence in Lower Saxony

or

  • if you live in an inpatient facility or a special form of housing within Germany, your habitual residence must have been in Lower Saxony before you were admitted there.
  • The reason for your blindness must not be related to military and military service or vaccination
  • There must be no custodial measures against you.

There are no fees.

After your application has been submitted, the competent authority will check whether you meet the requirements for receiving blind allowance.

If documents or information are missing for the examination of the application, the competent authority will request them from you additionally.

If you meet the requirements for receiving blind allowance, you will receive a notification of the amount of blind allowance to which you are entitled. You will then receive the blind allowance on a monthly basis. Proof of use is not required.

If you do not meet the requirements for receiving blind allowance, you will receive a rejection notice.

The processing time depends in particular on the completeness of the information and the submission of the evidence required for the processing of the application.

The blind allowance is paid at the earliest from the first of the month in which the application for blind allowance is submitted.

  • Contradiction
  • Complaint

It is possible to apply for the state blind allowance at the same time as the application for the determination of severely disabled status in accordance with the Social Security Code - Ninth Book (SGB IX).

Information on the state blind allowance can be found on the website of the Lower Saxony State Office for Social Affairs, Youth and Family.

It is possible to apply for the blind allowance at the same time as the application for determination of severely disabled status in accordance with the Social Security Code - Ninth Book (SGB IX) (severely disabled person's card).

Further benefits for the blind can be granted within the framework of assistance for the blind in accordance with the Twelfth Book of the Social Code (SGB XII) or from the State Fund for the Blind.

Blind and severely visually impaired people from the former administrative district of Braunschweig can receive support from the Herzog Wilhelm Foundation for the Blind.

The text was automatically translated based on the German content.

Lower Saxony Ministry of Social Affairs, Health and Equality

The responsibility lies with the district and the independent city in which you reside.

Source: Serviceportal Niedersachsen (Portalverbund des Bundes und der Länder)