Switzerland

Population: 9 151 295 (data issued by national authorities)

Relevant statistics (data from 31.05.2025 issued by national authorities)

• Estimated number of migrants in Switzerland: 2,6 million
• Estimated number of refugees and beneficiaries of international protection in Switzerland: 
  200 000
• Estimated number of asylum seekers in Switzerland: 16 000
• Estimated number of Swiss living abroad: 830 000 

Partner country of the Rabat Process: Since 2006

National Focal Point: State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) (Federal Department of Justice and Public Security (FDJP))

Switzerland’s legal and policy framework on migration

Non-exhaustive list of key legislative and policy instruments:

• 1960: Convention establishing the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) of January 4, 1960.
• 1998: Asylum Act (AsylA) of June 26, 1998, and subsequent amendments.
• 1999: Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, on the one hand, and the Swiss Confederation, on the other hand, on the free movement of persons (ALCP) of June 21, 1999.
• 2004: Agreement between the Swiss Confederation, the European Union, and the European Community on the Swiss Confederation's association with the implementation, application, and development of the Schengen acquis (Schengen/Dublin Association Agreement) of October 26, 2004.
• 2005: Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (FNIA) of December 16, 2005, and subsequent amendments.
• 2014: Federal Act on Swiss Citizenship (SCA) of June 20, 2014, and subsequent amendments.

Ratified international treaties

• 1955/1968: ratification of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.
• 1972: ratification of the 1954 Convention on Statelessness.
• 2006: ratification of the 2000 Protocols on Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
• Switzerland is also a party to several international human rights instruments (e.g. the European Convention on Human Rights [ECHR], the Convention on the Rights of the Child [CRC], and the UN Covenants on Civil and Political Rights [ICCPR] and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights [ICESCR]), which supplement the above-mentioned framework and remain applicable to migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons.

Main Federal Departments in charge of migration affairs in Switzerland

• Federal Department of Justice and Police: The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM), located within the Federal Department of Justice and Police, is the main office responsible for migration issues, including entry, residence and work in Switzerland, integration and naturalization, asylum, international cooperation, and return.
• Federal Department of Foreign Affairs: responsible for foreign policy aspects related to migration issues, including certain cooperation and development activities; consular protection; processing visa applications abroad.

Sources:

• Switzerland's involvement in the Rabat Process: https://www.sem.admin.ch/sem/fr/home/international-rueckkehr/kollab-multilateral/regio-migrationsdialoge/rabat-prozess.html
• Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
• State Secretariat for Migration
• Switzerland and the Asylum and Migration Pact

Last update: August 2025