Switzerland starts closing refugee centers: reasons.

Switzerland closes migrant centers due to fewer requests for asylum

The Swiss State Secretariat for Migration has decided to close nine temporary centers for asylum seekers, designed for 1,735 people, due to fewer migrants than expected. This is reported by Swissinfo.

«The government expects to save tens of millions of francs by closing the infrastructure», – the publication writes.

The Swiss government has announced that nine migrant centers will begin to close at the end of January 2025. After this, the country will have resources to accommodate about 7,000 migrants, currently they are 51% full.

This step by the State Secretariat for Migration is justified by a lower than expected number of asylum requests. According to their data, in August 23% fewer applications were submitted than last year, and in September – 40% fewer.

In case of a sudden sharp increase in the number of asylum requests, the number of available places for accommodating migrants in Switzerland can be increased again depending on needs, the agency added.

It is also expected that closing the nine centers will save about 40 million Swiss francs (46 million dollars) per year.

Recall, the Federal Council of Switzerland decided to significantly increase the employment level among Ukrainian refugees. In connection with this, the Swiss government instructed the Federal Department of Justice and Police (EJPD), which is responsible for migration issues, to prepare legislative changes by February 2025 to facilitate the labor integration of Ukrainians.