Migration authorities say that while numbers of asylum applications remain extremely high, they have boosted capacities and are now able to slightly ease the burden on cantons.
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Autoridades suíças de asilo aumentam capacidade de acolhimento
With numbers of asylum seekers reaching levels not seen since 2016, the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) moved to react last month, including by speeding up the process of sending applicants to be accommodated by cantonal authorities.
On Wednesday however, SEM said this practice would only continue until December 16: the federal centres are now able to accommodate all applicants until the end of their hearing, it wrote.
SEM said it had almost doubled capacity at the federal level over the past month, from 5,000 to 9,000 beds, notably thanks to new places being made available by the army. Speedier processing of requests and the deployment of more staff has also had an effect, it said.
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How welcoming is Switzerland for refugees?
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Besides geography, politics and the solidarity of the population play a decisive role in determining which countries people flee to.
It confirmed the decision that rejected asylum seekers can no longer be guaranteed 140 days accommodation in federal centres, but said that this amounted to a relatively small number of people.
In October, SEM registered 3,208 new asylum requests, the highest monthly total since the start of 2016. November figures are set to be similar, with the annual total likely to come to around 24,500, SEM said. When Ukrainian refugees and their ‘S’ protection visa, are included, the total for the year is expected to top 100,000.
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The Swiss Federal Railways and Trenitalia will offer direct trains from Zurich to Florence and Livorno and vice versa from 2026.
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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
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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%).
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Swiss President Viola Amherd and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have met and talked about the ongoing negotiations between Bern and Brussels.
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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.
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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.
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Swiss migration authorities struggling with ‘overlapping crises’
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The Swiss migration head says federal asylum centres are full and the situation is unprecedented since the Second World War.
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The large influx of refugees has filled accommodation centres to bursting point, obliging the Swiss authorities to distribute more asylum seekers to cantons.
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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.