Author
General (scope, time limits)
Switzerland has no land border with third countries other than Schengen and Dublin Member States. There is therefore no special procedure at land borders; persons who request asylum at the border or following their detention for illegal entry in the vicinity of the border shall normally be assigned by the competent authorities to a federal asylum centre, where they enter the same procedure as any other asylum seeker.[1]
There is a special procedure for people who ask for asylum at the airport. Persons who lodge their asylum application at the airport often do so after having been arrested by the airport police because they were found in possession of fake travel documents. In Geneva, in some cases they are prosecuted for illegal entry and brought to the police post in the city, where they spend one night before going back to the airport to start the asylum procedure. It should be further noted that, during the airport procedure, applicants are not considered as having entered the national territory.
If a person arrives at the international airport of Geneva and claims asylum, the airport police records the personal details, takes their fingerprints and photographs and immediately informs the SEM of the asylum application.[2] The asylum seeker receives a flyer with information on the airport procedure. The SEM decides whether to authorise entry into Swiss territory. If it temporarily denies entry, asylum seekers are allocated a place of stay in the transit zone of the airport where they can be held for a maximum of 60 days, which constitutes de facto detention (see Detention of Asylum Seekers).[3] Since the pandemic, the number of asylum applications submitted at Geneva airport has continued to decrease significantly, in 2023, there were 36 asylum applications (compared to 77 in 2022 and 86 in 2021).
At the Airport of Zurich, the first meeting with the immigration officer, including a discussion of the legal hearing on the refusal of entry, takes place within the first two days after arrival, so that the AS know in detail about the legal representation and the contact options by then at the latest.[4]In 2023, the number of asylum applications submitted at Zurich Airport has also decreased: 189 in 2023, compared to 227 in 2022.[5]
The SEM examines if Switzerland is responsible to carry out the procedure according to the Dublin Regulation. They shall authorise entry into the territory if Switzerland is responsible according to the Dublin III Regulation, and if the asylum seeker appears to be at risk under any of the grounds stated in the refugee definition at Article 3(1) AsylA or under threat of inhumane treatment in the country from which they directly arrived; or if the asylum seeker establishes that the country from which they have directly arrived would force them to return to a country in which they appear to be at risk, in violation of the non-refoulement principle. If it cannot immediately be verified if the mentioned conditions are fulfilled, entry into the territory is temporarily denied.[6]
The airport procedure can result in a decision granting access to the territory (in which case the applicant is channelled into the regular procedure), a negative in-merit decision or an inadmissibility decision (e.g. Dublin or safe third country).[7] The decision has to be taken within 20 days after the application was made. If the procedure takes more time, the SEM has to authorise entry, in which case the applicant is usually attributed to the extended procedure and allocated to a canton, but they can also be allocated to a federal asylum centre for an accelerated procedure.[8] If the procedure ends with a removal decision, the applicant can be held in the transit zone for a maximum of 60 days (since the application). If the removal has not been enforced after 60 days, the persons concerned can be transferred to an immigration administrative detention centre, in practice, they are led to the competent cantonal authorities who decide whether to detain them or provide them with emergency aid.[9]
If a person requests asylum at another airport in Switzerland, the person will be transferred to a Federal Asylum Centre and will enter the regular procedure.[10]
According to data provided by the SEM, in the whole year 2023, 202 out of a total of 225 requests for entry in both airports were lodged. For the year 2023, the main countries of origin of asylum seekers at Zurich Airport are Turkey, India and Iran. At Geneva airport: Turkey, Albania and Afghanistan.[11]
Personal interview
In the airport procedure in Geneva, there are two SEM employees responsible for hearings at the airport. They work mainly in the federal asylum centre in Boudry but are seconded to Geneva to conduct the hearings. If necessary, the SEM can deploy other staff from Boudry. A legal representative is present during the interview and there is always an interpreter present in the interview. At Zurich airport, there is an SEM focal point. Only one SEM officer is responsible for the airport procedure. Responsibility rotates between these designated officers. The one who is present is operationally responsible for the airport procedure and usually also conducts the hearing at the airport.[12]
At Geneva and Zurich airports, more entry is granted from the outset without a hearing, and entry is no longer refused per se in every case. In fact, triage is mainly carried out on the basis of nationality (likelihood of success in obtaining asylum, according to the SEM). Nationalities for which the recognition rate is low and for which the SEM considers that there is no chance of success remain at the airport. Otherwise, the person is granted an entry permit.[13]
In Zurich, after the lockdown in March 2020, people were directly referred to the federal centre in Zurich. However, in June 2023 there was a reopening of the airport proceedings.[14]
Appeal
The decision to deny entry in Switzerland and be placed in the transit zone can be appealed in so far that the SEM has not yet notified the negative or dismissal decision.[15]
The applicant or their legal representative can also appeal against a decision taken within the airport procedure, be it a decision on the merit or a decision to dismiss an application. Such appeal must be introduced within 5 working days.[16] The Federal Administrative Court is the competent appeal authority, similarly to the regular procedure. As in the regular procedure, appeals have automatic suspensive effect,[17] except for Dublin decisions, in which case the person has to ask for suspensive effect (for further information, see sections on Regular Procedure: Appeal and Dublin: Appeal).[18]
If the Federal Administrative Court accepts an asylum seeker’s appeal against a decision to deny entry, a negative or dismissal decision, the SEM has to authorise entry and directly allocate the person concerned either to a federal asylum centre or to a canton.[19]
Legal assistance
Similar to ordinary asylum procedures, the airport procedure foresees that applicants are assigned a legal representative since the beginning of the procedure for free, unless the asylum applicant explicitly renounces it.
Upon registration of the asylum application, the SEM informs the legal representation, which will contact the applicant within two days to conduct a first counselling interview.[20] The number of the council is given to the asylum seeker (AS). In addition, there is a poster with the contact details of the Council (telephone number, e-mail address) in front of the accommodation centres. Upon arrival, a 30-minute meeting is arranged with the legal representative to establish initial contact. From there, personal meetings are scheduled with the legal representative for the following reasons: preparation for the hearing, the hearing itself, the announcement of the draft decision, etc.[21] In practice, and due to heavy workloads, the legal representation often prepares the applicant on the day of the hearing. However, two Caritas telephone numbers are given to applicants on arrival, one to send in their evidence, and the other to ask questions or contact their legal representation.[22] The legal representative will also attend the interviews carried out in the context of the airport procedure and meet the applicants in advance to prepare them for the interview. There is no main difference regarding legal assistance in the regular procedure and the airport procedure (see section on Regular Procedure: Legal Assistance). According to a legal representative working in Geneva, the fact that the two interviews (summary and on the grounds for asylum) are conducted on the same day makes it difficult to prepare their clients. The fast pace of the airport procedure also poses some challenges to the provider of legal representation at the organisational level.
Caritas Switzerland is responsible for the legal representation at Geneva airport. The organisation providing legal assistance has their own offices situated in the detention centre. Differently from the ordinary procedure, the legal representative will also take on the task of legal counsellors. According to Caritas, asylum applicants in Geneva have access to their legal representation through the phone. The legal representatives are also able to talk to their clients on the phone when needed and the private company running the centre, ORS, facilitates the contact.
At Zurich airport, legal representation is provided by the Berner Rechtsberatungsstelle für Menschen in Not. Asylum seekers are informed of their right to legal representation in writing by the airport police when they submit their asylum application. Owing to the local conditions and the small number of cases, they are not present regularly but only when needed. However, the Asylum Seeker contact the Legal Representation Centre at any time during office hours using a mobile phone provided. In addition, the Legal Advice Centre is informed by the support team at the airport if a AS has a concern. A video transmission device has now also been installed so that conversations between the AS and the Legal Advice Centre can also be conducted via video. The interviews with the legal representation take place in a separate room in the airport accommodation, sometimes also via video transmission. If interviews with the legal representation take place directly before interviews, these are always conducted in the interview rooms of the airport police (before EB) or the SEM (before hearings) on the land side, i.e. on Swiss soil, where the AS are brought by the airport police.[23]
[1] Article 21(1) AsylA.
[2] Article 22 AsylA and Article 12 AO1.
[3] Article 22(5) AsylA.
[4] Information provided by Berner Rechtsberatungsstelle für Menschen in Not, 15 April 2024.
[5] Information provided by the SEM in the Asylum 2023 Statistics Report, p.18, available in German (and French) at: https://bit.ly/3xN4q7e.
[6] Article 22(1-bis), (1-ter) and (2) AsylA.
[7] Article 23(1) AsylA. See also SEM, Manuel Asile et Retour, chapter C2, p. 6-7.
[8] Article 23(2) AsylA.
[9] SEM, Handbook on Asylum and Return, chapter C2, available in French at https://bit.ly/3r8VZN7, 9.
[10] SEM, Manuel Asile et Retour, chapter C2, p. 4, available in French at: https://bit.ly/36mHNG1. Due to the emerging pandemic, air traffic collapsed worldwide at the beginning of 2020, including at Zurich Airport, therefore no asylum applications were registered there until June 2023.
[11] Information provided by the SEM in the Asylum 2023 Statistics Report, p. 18, available in German (and French) at: https://bit.ly/3xN4q7e.
[12] Information provided by Berner Rechtsberatungsstelle für Menschen in Not, 7 May 2024
[13] Information provided by Cartitas Switzerland, 24 April 2024.
[14] Information provided by Berner Rechtsberatungsstelle für Menschen in Not, 7 May 2024.
[15] Article 108(3) and (4) AsylA.
[16] Article 108(3) AsylA and Article 23(1) AsylA.
[17] Article 55(1) APA.
[18] Article 107a AsylA.
[19] Article 23 AsylA; SEM, Handbook on Asylum and Return, chapter C2, available in French at https://bit.ly/3r8VZN7, 8.
[20] Article 7(2) AO 1 and Article 102h AsylA.
[21] Information provided by Cartitas Switzerland, 24 April 2024.
[22] Information from Caritas, 19 January 2023.
[23] Information provided by Berner Rechtsberatungsstelle für Menschen in Not, 7 May 2024.