The Swiss Confederation, cantons, cities, and municipalities jointly presented the Asylum Strategy 2027, concluding that the restructured asylum system works well overall but now requires targeted adjustments. Despite pressures such as the COVID-19 pandemic and high asylum numbers, accelerated asylum procedures have generally proven effective. Nonetheless, the system is reaching its limits during periods of high demand.
The strategy identifies several priority areas for improvement:
- Greater resilience to fluctuations and crises:
Switzerland must strengthen its capacity to handle rapid increases in asylum requests. This includes improving accommodation capacity, staffing resources, and the speed of asylum procedures, some of which currently take longer than intended. A possible preliminary procedure is being examined to filter out clearly unfounded applications earlier.
- Stronger measures against irregular migration and crime:
Legislative changes will be considered to enhance tools for dealing with offenders and to bolster public acceptance of the asylum system. Authorities also aim to intensify efforts to enforce returns of individuals required to leave Switzerland and to further develop the taskforce addressing repeat foreign offenders. Cooperation with key transit and origin countries will be expanded.
- Adaptation of the temporary protection status S:
The status S regime, activated for people fleeing Ukraine, needs better integration into the overall asylum system. Issues such as travel rights, access to employment, and social assistance must be clarified. The authorities also seek to define clear rules for lifting status S or converting it into a residence permit (B permit) after five years.
- Improved integration efforts:
While the overall integration outcomes for refugees are positive, further action is needed, especially for women and young adults. The three levels of government commit to targeted measures that strengthen long-term integration into the labor market. They reaffirm their support for the Swiss Integration Agenda (AIS) and intend to make it more binding to increase its effectiveness.
The adoption of the Asylum Strategy 2027 marks the end of the first phase of the process and the beginning of a second phase focused on defining and implementing concrete medium- and long-term measures.