Asylum statistics from the SEM – Rejected asylum seekers: more returns in 2023 – News

• The number of returns and departures of rejected asylum seekers from Switzerland increased by a fifth in 2023.
• Asylum seekers from Algeria are particularly affected.
• In addition to better cooperation with countries of origin, according to the State Secretariat for Migration SEM, the increase in asylum requests is also a reason for the increased number of returns.

Last year, significantly more rejected asylum seekers left Switzerland. The number of returns and departures has increased by a fifth, as figures from the State Secretariat for Migration SEM available to SRF show. According to SEM, this increase is not only due to the increased number of asylum applications.

Anyone who receives neither a positive response to their asylum application nor temporary admission at the end of the procedure must leave the country voluntarily or forcibly. This particularly affects people from countries from which many asylum seekers come, but for whom the prospect of asylum is very low, says Reto Kormann from the State Secretariat for Migration. “This includes Algeria, for example, where we were able to repatriate almost 500 people who had been deported.” But Turkey and Georgia are also at the forefront, says Kormann.

Years of continuous development work

Asylum seekers from the Maghreb are particularly affected by returns: they are mostly young men. And these people mostly flee for economic reasons. Their prospects for asylum are marginal, which is why the SEM is particularly proud of its cooperation with Algeria. The condition for such cooperation was years of efforts to reach a migration agreement.

In addition to the ongoing dialogue with these states, this also includes migration and return agreements and migration partnerships.

“You have to gain trust,” says Kormann. “This not only includes maintaining ongoing dialogue with all these states, but also through migration and return agreements as well as migration partnerships.” Return cooperation will be institutionalized and then maintained. This means years of continuous trust and building work. Thanks to this work, special deportation flights to Algeria were possible for the first time.

Increase in asylum requests

In addition to better cooperation with the countries of origin, the increased returns are also a result of significantly more asylum applications, some of which were decided very quickly. Despite more repatriations, the Pendenzenberg has not been removed: there are about the same number of people waiting to be repatriated as a year ago. This despite an increase in asylum applications of around 30 percent.

And the SEM’s return statistics show something else: Switzerland continues to benefit greatly from the European Dublin asylum system. In 2023, it transferred three times more asylum seekers to other Dublin countries than it had to accept. And this despite the fact that Italy – as an important neighboring country in migration matters – currently no longer accepts return transfers to Dublin.