FAQ

If you want to ask for asylum in Switzerland and you are currently outside of Switzerland, please note that asylum request may only be made on Swiss territory. In situations of crisis, there are typically very few possibilities for safe and legal pathways. For Switzerland, the law foresees the possibility of humanitarian visas which allow travelling to Switzerland to ask for asylum upon arrival. However, the conditions are very strict: An immediate threat must be shown, as well as close ties to Switzerland. For further information, you may contact the HEKS Help Center.

Unfortunately, under Swiss law you may submit one appeal only, so this decision is final and cannot be challenged anymore.

In very rare circumstances there is a possibility for a request for reconsideration – for this, convincing new evicence is required, which was not available before. If you have such new evidence (e.g. new medical reports), you should discuss your situation with a lawyer specialized in the field of asylum law (see list of legal aid centers).

If you received a negative asylum decision, you should immediately talk to your lawyer. Under Swiss law, you have a lawyer assigned to you for this who ist obliged to explain to you the decision and to submit an appeal for you if there are realistic chances of success.

If your assigned lawyer does no longer support you and you want to submit an appeal nevertheless, please reach out to a lawyer or legal aid agencies as soon as possible. Please note that appeal deadlines are very short, so you must act quickly. Once the deadline passed without submission of an appeal, the decision becomes final.

In Switzerland and in most other countries asylum applications need to be submitted written or orally while being in the respective country in person. For an asylum application in Switzerland, you have to go to a Federal Asylum Center. You can find the relevant addresses here.

Accordingly, a major challenge for most people who have to flee is to reach a place of safety with formal permission. Generally, countries offer hardly any legal pathways to safety, which is why many refugees decide to take on dangerous routes, crossing and entering countries without having formal permission to do so. Since the Geneva Refugee Convention disallows member states to criminalize seeking safety, such movements are not illegal though and must not be punished.

If you are still in your home country or in an insecure situation in a third country, you may not directly apply for asylum in Switzerland. We highly recommend to seek legal pathways to safety such as resettlement or relocation programs, humanitarian corridors, humanitarian or other visas – noting that there are only very few such possibilities.

Asyl kann bei der Grenzwache direkt an der Schweizer Grenze, am Flughafen oder in einem Bundesasylzentrum beantragt werden.