Author
The SRC is not aware of any report of pushbacks in 2024.
Border monitoring
There is no border monitoring system in place in Switzerland.
Legal access to the territory
Third country nationals can apply for a humanitarian visa. The procedure for humanitarian visas is not directly linked to the asylum procedure. People who apply for a humanitarian visa are therefore not automatically asylum applicants. However, they usually apply for asylum after entering the country. The practice is very restrictive: in 2024, out of 1,624 applications, only 86 were accepted. The most relevant countries in terms of applications were Afghanistan, Syria, Iran and Pakistan.[1]
The Swiss government offers around 800 places for resettlement per year. In view of improving planning, the Federal Council intends to adopt a resettlement programme every two years within the range of 1,500 to 2,000 refugees. On 16 June 2023, the Federal Council approved the admission of up to 1,600 particularly vulnerable refugees for 2024/2025.[2] As of December 2022, the Swiss government has announced a temporary halt to the resettlement program. The government claimed that there was insufficient capacity to accept more persons under this scheme.[3] Thus, the program will only be activated after consultation with the cantons and municipalities and on the condition that the situation regarding the accommodation and care of persons from the asylum sector has eased significantly, according to the SEM. In 2024, no resettlement took place.[4] At the end of April 2025, the government announced an extension of the resettlement program until the end of 2027. However, it committed to accepting only half of the originally planned 800 people per year. In the second half of 2025, entry should be granted to 45 individuals.[5]
[1] Information and data provided by the SEM, April 2025.
[2] Communication of the SEM in English available here.
[3] See Infomigrants, Switzerland freezes admission of resettlement refugees, 20 December 2022, here.
[4] SEM, asylum statistics (7-20), available here.
[5] SEM, Bundesrat beschliesst Verlängerung des Resettlement-Programms um zwei Jahre, media release of 30 April 2025, available in German, Italian and French; reaction of the SRC, Resettlement stärken und Kontingente ausschöpfen, media release of 30 April 2025, available in German and French.