A total of 22,965 Ukrainians fleeing their country were granted protection status S by the Swiss government in April, with 22,890 applying for protection status in April and 114 of the applications submitted by Ukrainians were rejected for not meeting the required criteria, authorities said .

According to the media release of the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM), a total of 1268 asylum applications were submitted to the authorities – 3.4 percent fewer than in the previous month and 418 more applications than at the corresponding time in 2021. SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

The main countries of origin are Afghanistan with 260 applications, Turkey (247), Eritrea (156), Syria (83) and Algeria (62). The application rate for most of these countries fell compared to the previous month, as 54 fewer applications were filed by nationals of Afghanistan; 14 from Eritrea, three from Syria and 18 from Algeria. On the other hand, the number of applications from Turkish nationals increased – 56 more than in the previous month.

Of the total number of applications filed in April, 68.5 percent, or 869 of them, were primary applications, indicating that the applicants were applying for asylum in Switzerland for the first time, down 20 applications from March’s figures. The most important countries of origin of such applications were:

• Afghanistan with a total of 225 applications, 62 fewer than in March
• Algeria with 61 applications, 19 fewer than the previous month
• Georgia with 43 applications, at the same level for two constructive months
• Turkey with 146 applications, 51 more than in the previous month
• Syria at 38, seven more than in March

According to administrative statistics, the SEM processed a total of 954 applications in April and identified 246 non-admission orders, 186 of which were based on the Dublin Agreement. The latter obliges refugees to register as asylum seekers in their country of first arrival. In addition, 327 people were granted asylum and 190 were admitted as part of the first-instance procedure. The number of cases pending in the first instance rose by 347 to 4,786 in April.

“In April, 350 people left Switzerland in a controlled manner or were returned to their country of origin or a third country. Switzerland asked another Dublin state to take over 369 persons and 128 persons were transferred to the responsible Dublin state in the same period. At the same time, Switzerland was asked by other Dublin states to take in 283 people and 58 people were handed over to Switzerland.” SEM report explained.

In addition, 26 people entered Switzerland as part of the resettlement program, which is expected to take in a total of 1,600 particularly vulnerable refugees in 2022 and 2023 who are not considered safe in the countries of first reception. In addition, a total of 220 refugees in this category could not benefit from the 2020/2021 resettlement program due to delays caused by the pandemic.