Protection status S – Social assistance rules for Ukraine refugees are being tightened – News


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As with temporarily admitted persons from other countries, the existing assets are now included.

So far, around 60,000 people have fled from Ukraine to Switzerland, where they are given protection status S. He assumes that he will return home as soon as the war is over.

For this reason, the SODK conference of cantonal social directors decided on special rules for receiving social assistance for the first six months after the outbreak of war.

Assets of persons in need of protection will be taken into account in the future

In the case of people from Ukraine, assets such as jewelry, cars, but also bank assets or real estate in their home country are not taken into account when calculating whether they are entitled to social assistance.

This is in contrast to those temporarily admitted from other countries. So far, wealthy Ukrainians have also been able to receive social assistance.

However, this has led to increasing resentment, explains SODK Secretary General Gaby Szöllösy: “We noticed that there was a certain amount of public criticism of the different treatment of those temporarily admitted and those in need of protection. That’s why our Board of Directors discussed various options for how we should take into account the income and assets of people in need of protection in the future.”

This now applies to people in need of protection from Ukraine


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The guidelines of the Swiss Conference for Social Welfare SKOS: Income from persons with status S must be taken into account when assessing (asylum) social assistance, regardless of whether it is obtained in Switzerland or in another country. This preserves the principle of legal equality in relation to other recipients of social assistance.

If persons with status S withdraw funds from bank accounts (e.g. via bank and credit cards or other channels) or from other assets in Ukraine, these are included in income. Likewise, assets (including cash that can be exchanged) that are located in Switzerland should be sold – taking into account the following criteria:

• It is not permitted to dispose of non-seizable assets such as clothing, personal effects, household appliances and other movable items that are indispensable.

• Due to an instruction from the Federal Office of Customs and Border Security, Ukrainian vehicles can be used for private purposes in Switzerland until further notice. In the case of these duty-unpaid vehicles, there is no need to recycle them until the end of 2022 in view of an early return journey. The ongoing maintenance costs for vehicles are to be paid from the basic need, unless the vehicle is necessary from the point of view of social welfare, for example for professional or health reasons. It must be checked whether the maintenance costs lead to debt or whether the livelihood of supported family members is adversely affected.

Assets in Ukraine should not be taken into account if it can be assumed that related persons in Ukraine will use them to earn their living and/or the return and reintegration into Ukraine would be made more difficult as a result.

As a first step, the SODK board has now decided to tighten the guidelines for receiving social assistance, as far as money withdrawals from Ukraine are concerned.

The new rule is: “If people with status S withdraw funds from bank accounts or other assets in Ukraine, these are to be counted against income”.

The only exception: the car

Larger assets located in Switzerland must also be counted again. This significantly increases the hurdle for receiving social assistance.

One exception, however, should remain for the time being: the car. «The car serves Ukrainians on their way home when they want to return. It is not opportune if we now force them to sell this car, so to speak, »says Szöllösy.

However, this is only valid until the end of the year. New recommendations on how to deal with vehicles and other assets such as jewelry are expected to be available in late autumn.

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