Confederation tests 24-hour procedure for asylum applications with no prospect of success
Published: Wednesday, Nov 22nd 2023, 13:31
Back to Live Feed
The State Secretariat for Migration wants to process asylum applications from people from North Africa within 24 hours. The fast-track procedure is intended to act as a deterrent and reduce the number of applications that generally have no prospect of success.
The fast-track procedure is a pilot project that was launched on November 13 at the Federal Asylum Center in Zurich, as the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) confirmed a report in the Tamedia newspapers on Wednesday.
Asylum applications from Algerians, Libyans, Moroccans and Tunisians should now receive an appealable asylum decision after 24 hours. Although this means that the procedure is completed quickly, any deportation does not usually take place after one day.
How long this takes depends, among other things, on whether an appeal is lodged and how long it takes to obtain the travel documents from the country of origin.
However, the fast-track procedure is intended to reduce the number of asylum applications: "The aim of this measure is to send a signal to a group of people who are not generally dependent on Switzerland for protection," the SEM states.
Pilot project until the end of February
This is because less than two percent of asylum applications from people from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia are approved. And many from these countries would falsely state Libya as their country of origin.
If these applications, which are generally unfounded, do not materialize, the federal asylum centers will be relieved and places will be freed up for people who really need Swiss protection, the SEM continues. The impact of these 24-hour procedures will be tested as part of the pilot project until the end of February 2024.
48-hour procedures had already been introduced for some countries in 2012. These were gradually extended to other countries. Since the restructuring of the asylum sector, which came into force with the 2019 Asylum Act, the majority of asylum applications are generally processed "in fast-track procedures", with those affected being accommodated in federal centers for a maximum of 140 days.
©Keystone/SDA
English 
German 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic