Until further notice

Only half full, Switzerland closes asylum centers

Asylum seekers at the Swiss federal asylum center in Thun(Bild: APA/KEYSTONE/LUKAS LEHMANN, Krone KREATIV)

The number of asylum applications in Switzerland has fallen sharply. The authorities in our neighboring country are now closing some of the asylum centers.

The Swiss currently have a total of 36 temporary federal asylum centers, nine of which are to be closed by March. This will reduce reception capacity by almost 20 percent, as the State Secretariat for Migration announced on Tuesday.

Only every second place occupied
The number of places had been increased to 10,500 since 2022. However, only around half are currently occupied, it said.

In September, 40 percent fewer applications were submitted than in the same month last year. "The situation on the migration routes to Western Europe does not indicate a sharp increase in the coming months," the State Secretariat stated. If necessary, the number of places will be increased again.

In total, just under 21,000 asylum applications were submitted in Switzerland this year up to the end of September.

Asylum applications also declining in Austria
The situation is similar in Austria, where there are also signs of a sharp decline in the number of asylum applications for 2024 as a whole. Up to and including September, 18,816 applications were submitted. This is a good 25,000 fewer than in the first nine months of 2023, which corresponds to a decline of 57%. This is significantly greater than in Europe as a whole, where the numbers only fell by eight percent.