The Swiss State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) has revealed that last May Switzerland registered a total of 1,651 asylum requests in April this year, which is 242 fewer or -12.8 per cent compared to March.
The same source emphasised that compared to April last year, the number of asylum requests saw an increase of 383 requests, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
In addition, data provided from SEM show that during April 1,209 people who had fled from Ukraine were granted the protection status S.
The top countries of origin of the persons who submitted the highest number of asylum requests in Switzerland in April are the following:
- Turkey – 412 applications (41 more than in March)
- Afghanistan (279 applications; -89)
- Eritrea (132 applications; -66)
- Syria (98 requests; -2)
- Morocco (94 requests; -72)
Based on SEM data, of the 1,651 applications submitted in April, a total of 1,300 were primary applications compared to the March figures when 1,429 primary applications were registered.
As a result, Turkey and Afghanistan ranked as the most important countries of origin for primary applications in April, with 326 (+57) and 261 (-76), respectively. These countries are followed by Morocco (92, -73), Algeria (79, -29), and Syria (55, +16).
Further SEM figures reveal that the system processed a total of 2,035 asylum applications, where 714 applications were rejected, of which 606 were based on the Dublin Agreement. At the same time, 385 people were granted asylum, and 621 were temporarily accepted as part of the settlements of the first degree.
However, compared to March, the number of unsolved cases in the first degree decreased by 192 to 11,780 in April of this year.
Last month, 1,317 people left Switzerland in a controlled manner or returned to their country of origin or to another third country. Switzerland asked another state in Dublin to take 753 people, 127 of which were transferred. At the same time, Switzerland was also asked by the other Dublin states to take in 264 people, and 26 people were transferred to Switzerland.
During the same period, 1,460 people also applied for S protection status at the federal asylum center. Of this total, 1,209 received S protection status, while 46 others were rejected.
Since its inception, S protection status has been discontinued for 11,204 individuals, and for another 2,598, this termination is currently under consideration. As of the end of April, the total number of individuals retaining their S protection status stood at 65,644.
Considering the large influx of asylum seekers in Switzerland last month, the country decided to create additional accommodation places. The same revealed that between 1,600 and 1,800 requests for asylum were registered in the Swiss system this year. Thus, the SEM said it expects around 27,000 asylum applications in total in 2023 as well.