Steps for counselling and organising the return in Switzerland
| AVRR Counsellor | Client | IOM | Migration office / state department | Other actors | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actors in return field in Switzerland | Caritas • IOM • Swiss Red Cross • Church contact point for refugee issues (local NGO) • State Secretary for Migration (SEM) • Cantonal migration Offices • ORS group • International social service (SSI) | Returnee | IOM Switzerland | State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) | Swissport (Airport assistance) • SSI (Service Social international) |
| First time counselling / perspective counselling | x (In the framework of a pilot project, SEM is providing return counselling in the Federal Asylum Center Bern since 2022) | x | x | ||
| Assisting with organizing travel documents | x | x | x | x | |
| Preparing the return of vulnerable clients | x | x | x | ||
| Registering clients for professional training in EU country | NA | ||||
| Offering professional training in EU country | NA | ||||
| Applying for return budget | x | x | x | ||
| Granting return budget | x | x | |||
| Applying for plane ticket | x | x | |||
| Booking the plane / bus ticket | x | x (mostly Ukrainians) | x | x | |
| Applying for reintegration budget | x | x | x | ||
| Preparing a business plan ( in case of business start-up) | x | x | x | x | |
| Granting reintegration budget | x | x (SSI) | |||
| Final counselling | x | x | x | ||
| Organizing medical escort | x | x | x | ||
| Disbursing return budget in EU country / giving cash assistance just before the departure | x | x | x | x | |
| Escort to airport | x | x | |||
| Connecting returnee with reintegration partner | x | ||||
| Staying in touch with returnee | x | x |
Return budget
- A basic cash allowance of maximum CHF 1000 per adult /1500 CHF for couples / 2000 CHF for families. The amount varies depending on the time of registration and whether the person applies in a federal asylum center or in the canton.
- An individual supplementary in-kind State Secretariat for Migration SEM assistance of up to CHF 3000 for a social or professional reintegration project.
- In the Federal Asylum Centers both cash assistance and reintegration assistance depend on (1) the country of return and (2) the time of inscription for return assistance services (degressive model along three phases).
- When leaving from the cantons, assistance of up to CHF 5,000 for special reintegration needs (e.g. professional and housing needs, cases of hardship or large families)
- Individual return assistance for medical reasons: purchase of medicines and/or coverage of treatment following return for maximum 6 months, medical escorts, granted in addition to the in-kind and cash assistance.
- A payment of CHF 100 per adult is also provided to cover expenditure relating to the journey. By way of exception, this amount can be increased to CHF 500 for a single person and CHF 1000 for a family.
Return numbers in Switzerland
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assisted voluntary return | 1076 | 667 | 614 | 3884 | 7383 |
Top 5 countries of return in Switzerland
| 2023 |
|---|
| 1. Ukraine (5021) |
| 2. Algeria (319) |
| 3. Turkey (271) |
| 4. Iraq (36) |
| 5. Nigeria (32) |
Return counselling providers and amount of counsellors
In Switzerland various institutions provide return counselling services: In the federal asylum centers, IOM (since 2007), return counseling office in Zurich and the SEM (since 2022 in the framework of a pilot project in Bern) run dedicated offices. On cantonal level, cantonal migration offices, NGOs (Swiss Red Cross, Caritas, KKH, SSI) and the private sector (ORS) are active. In total, there are around 80 counsellors throughout Switzerland.
Contact in Switzerland
| IOM Switzerland Thunstrasse 11 3006 Bern Switzerland Tel. +41 31 350 82 11 | State Secretariat for Migration SEM Quellenweg 6 Wabern Tel. +41 58 465 11 11 |
Useful links and statistics
www.sem.admin.ch/sem/en/home/international-rueckkehr/rueckkehrhilfe.html
Last update: May 2024