The State Secretariat for MigrationExternal link received 6,113 such requests in 2017, reported newspaper NZZ am Sonntag. In comparison, there were 4,115 in 2016 and 3,072 in 2015.
According to the Dublin agreement, a person can file only one asylum application – as a rule, in the first country where the migrant was registered.
Most of 2017’s requests for Switzerland to take back asylum seekers came from Germany (2,932) and France (1,429). Switzerland approved 2,485 of these readmission applications. The migration office rejected the others on the grounds that they did not meet the Dublin agreement’s requirements.
Also under the Dublin system – Switzerland has sent 28,000 asylum seekers back to other European countries since 2008.
Swiss money laundering office registers record number of reports
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The Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) registered a record number of reports of suspicious activity last year.
Two teens accused of planning terror attack released from custody
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The Schaffhausen judiciary has released the two teenagers from custody who allegedly planned bomb attacks in Switzerland.
OECD: Sluggish economic activity slowing growth in Switzerland
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Sluggish economic activity at the start of the year is weighing on growth in Switzerland, with GDP expected to fall to 1.1% in 2024.
Report finds mistakes which led to Swiss government data breach
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Mistakes were made by both the government and internet company Xplain in the case of a criminal cyber-attack on the Bern-based IT business.
Swiss government wants better gender balance in federal administration
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New Swiss government personnel management targets say there must be even more female managers in the federal administration.
Swiss national science foundation funded over 5,000 projects in 2023
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In 2023, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) provided a total of CHF961 million worth of funding towards research projects.
Switzerland invites 160 delegations to June Ukraine peace talks
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Russia is currently not among the delegations invited to talks aimed at helping bring about peace in the conflict between Moscow and Ukraine.
Survey: air travel most popular way to go on holidays for Swiss
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Despite the climate crisis, flying is the most popular mode of transport for private travel – particularly among young, urban and high-income travellers.
Swiss government to use phone data to identify asylum seekers
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From April 2025, authorities plan to be able to analyse data from mobile phones, computers and other data carriers to identify asylum seekers.
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Swiss justice minister sees door opening for refugee resettlement
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European Union interior ministers met on Thursday in Sofia, Bulgaria to re-visit the thorny issue of resettling thousands of refugees from conflict-torn parts of Africa and the Middle East. Since Non-EU member Switzerland was invited to participate because it is part of the so-called Dublin agreement governing asylum policy across Europe. + Here’s how another…
Swiss-led meeting calls for better protection of refugees
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European and African states as well as the EU and the UN have agreed to improve the protection of migrants, notably the situation in Libyan detention.
ICRC hopes for consensus, resettlement deal at migration conference
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Peter Maurer told the SonntagsBlick newspaper that he finds it a shame that the world’s interior ministers are “still mostly focused on controlling migration” instead of on improving the humanitarian situation in countries like Libya, where many migrants gather in dangerous circumstances before attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. “We are especially interested…
Switzerland’s defence of the Dublin accords is not a coincidence
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Although Switzerland is not one of the main destination countries for asylum seekers, between 2009 and 2014 it was the country that transferred the most migrants to another EU state. This practice is part of the Dublin accords, signed in 1990 and adopted by Switzerland in December 2008. According to this agreement, an asylum application…
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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.