Afghanistan was again the main country of origin of asylum-seekers in Switzerland, with 8,627 applications. Of these, 3,300 were submitted by people who already held a residence permit, following a change in practice with regard to Afghan women.
The federal authorities have managed to reduce the number of pending applications by a quarter, to almost 12,000, the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) said in a press release on Monday.
Many migrants arriving in Europe still prefer to travel to Germany, France or the UK. Most of the people intercepted at the Swiss border by the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security have not applied for asylum in Switzerland, the SEM points out.
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Translated from French with DeepL/sb
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