On Friday, cantonal authorities met with the head of the State Secretariat of Migration (SEM), Christine Schraner Burgener, to exchange views on how to meet the demand for accommodation for refugees.
“The SEM recognises the current situation in individual cantons is tense,” an SEM spokesperson told SonntagsZeitung. According to the paper, Schraner Burgener suggested that the federal government is prepared to stop allocating refugees to certain cantons upon request.
More
More
How the Swiss asylum system works
This content was published on
Switzerland has a long humanitarian tradition but who can apply for asylum in the country and how?
Cantons Bern and Geneva have already been granted a temporary freeze on taking in more refugees. SEM indicated that two more cantons requested a freeze.
This means that refugees would stay in federal asylum centres instead of being allocated to those cantons. Almost two-thirds of the places in federal centres are occupied but SEM expects asylum applications to increase, which requires reserves. “We can’t just look for accommodation when people are at our front door,” SEM spokesperson Reto Kormann told the paper.
Last October, Swiss authorities called on cantons to house more refugees as federal centres reached a bursting point. The cantons were asked to temporarily take in up to 1,000 people per week, double the earlier limit of 500. In mid-December the federal centres were able to relieve the cantons to some extent thanks to additional places made available by the army.
As of mid-February,over 75,000 Ukrainians had been granted protection status S, which allows them to live and immediately work in the country.
Popular Stories
More
Foreign affairs
What Trump’s return or a new Harris administration would mean for Switzerland
Direct trains to run from Zurich to Florence and Livorno
This content was published on
The Swiss Federal Railways and Trenitalia will offer direct trains from Zurich to Florence and Livorno and vice versa from 2026.
Number of Swiss armed forces exceeds specified limit
This content was published on
The Swiss armed forces had an effective headcount of around 147,000 as of March 1, 2024. This exceeds the upper limit of 140,000 specified in the army organisation by 5%.
More than 400,000 cross-border commuters now work in Switzerland
This content was published on
More than half of all cross-border commuters were resident in France (around 57%). Large proportions also lived in Italy (23%) and Germany (around 16%).
Amherd and von der Leyen discuss ongoing Swiss-EU negotiations
This content was published on
Swiss President Viola Amherd and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have met and talked about the ongoing negotiations between Bern and Brussels.
This content was published on
One million francs, 34 million euros and around 830 kilos of gold: this is the fortune that two Swiss nationals are accused of having moved across borders for at least four years.
Girls in female-dominated classes earn more later on
This content was published on
At the age of 30, women from school classes with a 55% share of girls earn $350 more per year than women from classes with a 45% share of girls.
This content was published on
Geneva-based luxury goods group Richemont reported a downturn in performance for the first half of its 2024/25 financial year. Both sales and profit declined.
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.
Read more
More
Swiss refugee centres reach bursting point
This content was published on
The large influx of refugees has filled accommodation centres to bursting point, obliging the Swiss authorities to distribute more asylum seekers to cantons.
This content was published on
Ukrainian refugees are keen to work, have a good level of English and three-quarters have a tertiary education level, a Swiss survey shows.
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.