Swiss asylum authorities able to ease the burden on cantons

A federal centre for rejected asylum seekers in canton Lucerne. © Keystone / Christian Beutler

Migration authorities say that while numbers of asylum applications remain extremely high, they have boosted capacities and are now able to slightly ease the burden on cantons.

With numbers of asylum seekers reaching levels not seen since 2016, the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) moved to react last month, including by speeding up the process of sending applicants to be accommodated by cantonal authorities.

On Wednesday however, SEM said this practice would only continue until December 16: the federal centres are now able to accommodate all applicants until the end of their hearing, it wrote.

SEM said it had almost doubled capacity at the federal level over the past month, from 5,000 to 9,000 beds, notably thanks to new places being made available by the army. Speedier processing of requests and the deployment of more staff has also had an effect, it said.

It confirmed the decision that rejected asylum seekers can no longer be guaranteed 140 days accommodation in federal centres, but said that this amounted to a relatively small number of people.

In October, SEM registered 3,208 new asylum requests, the highest monthly total since the start of 2016. November figures are set to be similar, with the annual total likely to come to around 24,500, SEM said. When Ukrainian refugees and their ‘S’ protection visa, are included, the total for the year is expected to top 100,000.