Federal Council supports bill for foreign victims of violence
Published: Wednesday, Nov 29th 2023, 13:11
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Foreign victims of domestic violence in Switzerland are to be better protected. The Federal Council supports an amendment to the Foreign Nationals and Integration Act (FNIA) proposed by the National Council's Political Institutions Committee (SPK-N) in October.
Specifically, this involves an extension of the hardship regulation. Family members of persons with a residence permit B, a short-term residence permit L and temporarily admitted persons F are now entitled to a residence regulation in the event of the dissolution of the family community if they have been victims of domestic violence.
Previously, these groups of people could apply for a residence permit, but they had no legal entitlement to it. Only foreign family members of Swiss nationals and persons with a permanent residence permit (C permit) were eligible.
The Federal Council is proposing that Parliament approve the bill, as it announced on Wednesday. However, in order to avoid problems of interpretation, it proposes the deletion of a paragraph that provides for an exception to the requirements for meeting the integration criteria in cases in which the right of residence of a victim of domestic violence is extended. The AIG already contains an exemption provision for such cases. In addition, this would retain the scope to also provide necessary and reasonable integration measures for victims of domestic violence.
At the same time, the Commission's proposal aims to clarify the concept of domestic violence by listing examples and characteristics of domestic violence in the law. Among other things, the term "marital violence" is to be replaced by "domestic violence". In this way, the SPK-N wants to make it clear that the new legal entitlement applies not only to spouses, but also to their children or, for example, people in a registered partnership.
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