23 percent more asylum applications in 2023
Published: Thursday, Feb 15th 2024, 12:01
Updated At: Thursday, Feb 15th 2024, 12:01
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30,223 people applied for asylum in Switzerland in 2023. This is 23.3 percent more than in the previous year. The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) also expects around 30,000 asylum applications in 2024, as announced on Thursday.
In 2023, there were 5712 more asylum applications than in 2022. The SEM attributes the increase to three main factors. The number of Turkish asylum seekers doubled across Europe to 105,000, while the number of asylum applications from Turks in Switzerland increased by 2,000.
The SEM also recorded a significant but less pronounced increase in Moroccan and Algerian asylum seekers, who mostly leave their home country for economic reasons. They have little prospect of asylum or temporary admission.
New practice for Afghan women
The third factor is the change in asylum practice towards Afghan girls and women in July. As a result, 1800 temporarily admitted women submitted a new application for asylum. With this change in practice, Switzerland followed a recommendation by the European Asylum Agency (EUAA) that women from Afghanistan should be granted asylum.
The most important country of origin in 2023 was once again Afghanistan. Of the 7934 applications, 6245 were first-time applications. Other important countries of origin were Turkey (6822), Eritrea (2109, of which 705 were first-time applications), Algeria (1810) and Morocco (1606).
Initial applications are made by persons independently of other persons in the asylum system. Second applications are the result of applications that have already been registered, for example due to birth, family reunification or multiple applications.
The SEM dealt with 26,667 asylum applications in the first instance. 5991 people were granted asylum, which corresponds to a recognition rate of 25.7%. The protection rate was 54.4% compared to 59% in 2022. This includes provisional admission and the granting of asylum. The number of cases pending before the SEM in the first instance rose by 3,328 to 15,567.
66,000 under protected status
23,012 people applied for S protection status for refugees from Ukraine. It was granted in 18,375 cases and rejected in 932. 13,512 people had their status terminated, while 3260 were currently under review. A total of 66,083 refugees had protection status at the end of the year.
995 people came to Switzerland as part of the 2022 and 2023 resettlement contingent. Under this program, the Federal Council decided to allow 1,600 particularly vulnerable refugees from precarious situations to enter the country of first asylum. In addition, there were 220 refugees who were unable to enter Switzerland in the 2020/21 quota due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Based on a recommendation from the Special Asylum Unit, the Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) suspended resettlement entries in April 2023. 342 particularly vulnerable refugees from Lebanon, Turkey and Egypt entered the country between January and March.
Departures and deportations
16,721 people from the asylum system left Switzerland under control in 2023, over 5,000 more than in the previous year. 13,001 departures to their home country or a third country were voluntary. 10,978 people returned to Ukraine.
Switzerland forcibly deported 3720 people to their home country, a third country or a Dublin country. Overall, the number of departures increased by 45.8% compared to the previous year.
In 2021, Switzerland transferred asylum seekers to a Dublin country without registering their application (2022: 1566). In return, it accepted 694 people under the Dublin Agreement.
According to the SEM, the increase in transfers came about despite Italy's decision to no longer accept anyone under the Dublin system. This means that Switzerland achieved three times more departures than arrivals according to Dublin criteria. In the previous year, the ratio was two to one.
The SEM expects the number of asylum applications in 2024 to be roughly the same as in 2023, although deviations of 3,000 more or fewer applications are possible, as the State Secretariat already wrote in an earlier press release.
The non-governmental organization Save the Children recalled that 12,466 asylum applications in 2023 came from children. This corresponds to more than one in three applications. Many of these children had traveled on dangerous escape routes and were living in precarious accommodation in Switzerland.
©Keystone/SDA
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