Young undocumented migrants gain easier access to vocational training
Justice Minister Beat Jans talks to migrants employed by the "Entre deux" snack bar during a visit to various asylum-related sites in Sion last week
Keystone/Cyril Zingaro
Rejected asylum-seekers and young undocumented migrants in Switzerland will have easier access to basic vocational training from June 1.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
From this date, they will only need to have attended compulsory schooling in Switzerland for two years to be able to submit a hardship application for admission.
The government is also extending the deadline for submitting such an application from one to two years. The government has amended the Federal Ordinance on Admission, Residence and Gainful Employment accordingly, it was announced on Wednesday.
In doing so, the government was complying with a mandate from parliament. In December 2022 parliament adopted a motion by the House of Representative’s Political Affairs Committee, which instructed the government to amend the law accordingly.
Today, rejected asylum-seekers and young undocumented migrants must have attended compulsory school in Switzerland for five years before they can submit a hardship application. In 2022 a majority of parliament was of the opinion that the current regulation was too restrictive and made it more difficult for undocumented migrants to gain access to post-compulsory education.
It made little sense to exclude young, motivated adults with potential, who were already in Switzerland anyway, from vocational training, they said.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Popular Stories
More
Demographics
Flat-hunting in Switzerland’s cheapest and most expensive municipalities
Train vs plane: would you take a direct train between London and Geneva?
Eurostar is planning to run direct trains from Britain to Germany and Switzerland from the early 2030s. Would you favour the train over the plane? If not, why not?
Zurich Pride draws large crowds amid financial strain
This content was published on
Following US President Donald Trump’s attacks on diversity initiatives, Zurich Pride fears more sponsors could pull out and is now facing financial difficulties.
Switzerland ‘deeply alarmed’ by Middle East escalation
This content was published on
Switzerland has voiced serious concern over rising tensions in the Middle East, and the UN chief says he is ‘alarmed’ by US strikes on Iran.
Switzerland among world’s most expensive for household electricity
This content was published on
According to a study by the comparison site Verivox, based on data from Global Petrol Prices, Switzerland came in tenth out of 143 countries.
Global uncertainty boosts Swiss-EU talks, says Cassis
This content was published on
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis says Switzerland’s talks with the European Union (EU) have been boosted by the current difficult global situation.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.