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Despite Taliban terror: Switzerland accepts few Afghan refugees directly with humanitarian visas.
Anyone who is directly, seriously and concretely in danger of life and limb can apply for a humanitarian visa for Switzerland. With this special entry permit, it is possible to fly directly to Switzerland.
Since the Taliban took power in 2021, applications for such visas from people from Afghanistan have risen sharply: by the end of 2022, the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) had received almost 1,700 applications – almost 100 were approved.
Successful PEN campaign
It is striking that almost half of these Afghan nationals came to Switzerland thanks to a campaign by the authors’ association PEN. This campaign also supports persecuted writers worldwide.
The SEM approved 43 applications. “This is of course an unexpected success and I experience it as a bit of a miracle too.”, says writer Sabine Haupt, who coordinated the campaign.
Aid organization criticizes the federal government
The aid organization Afghanistanhilfe also coordinated applications for humanitarian visas from former employees or from human and women’s rights activists in Afghanistan. But none of the eight applications was approved by the SEM.
“I don’t understand why. If we compare our clients with those of the PEN center, then the risk potential is very similar, if not higher, and they are rejected,” says Michael Kunz, President of the Afghanistan Aid in Schaffhausen. He speaks of restrictive and non-transparent criteria as well as arbitrariness in the decisions of the SEM.
SEM rejects allegations
The SEM rejects these allegations. All applications would be judged according to legal criteria. There can be no question of arbitrariness. SEM spokesman Daniel Bach explains why so many Afghan women received a humanitarian visa through the writers’ campaign by saying that many of them are “very exposed people”, i.e. “writers who have spoken out publicly, including against the regime”. They were in an extreme threat situation.
The “Rundschau” was able to speak to an Afghan who is now in Pakistan and says he is a former prosecutor and has put various Taliban behind bars. They would now be looking for him and his family, as a Taliban arrest warrant shows. They are currently illegal in Pakistan, where they face imprisonment or deportation.
However, the Swiss authorities did not believe him and rejected the application for a humanitarian visa. He is no longer directly endangered in Pakistan. The main requirement for a humanitarian visa is therefore not met.
Case before the Federal Administrative Court
If you want to apply for a humanitarian visa for Switzerland, you have to travel to Pakistan or Iran, because Switzerland has embassies there. The Afghan who is now stuck in Pakistan with his family did the same.
The SEM does not go into the specific case that is pending before the Federal Administrative Court. In general, SEM spokesman Bach says: “It is not decisive in which state the person is at this moment. You just have to go to another country because there are Swiss embassies there. They then assess whether they are threatened in this third country and whether they have a connection to Switzerland.”
If people from Afghanistan make it to Switzerland by other means and apply for asylum here, the majority of them are temporarily admitted: the protection rate is 72 percent.