Ukrainian refugees have been receiving Swiss “S” protection, a special status that has never been granted before March 2022.
Some 10 million people have been uprooted from their homes by the war in Ukraine. Over 3 million Ukrainian refugees have fled their country due to the war and found asylum as a rule in neighbouring countries.
Swiss federal government has sayed it is ready to take in some 60,000 asylum seekers. But cantonal authorities tasked with dealing with the new arrivals expect as many as 300,000 refugees to reach Switzerland during 2022.
On March 11, the Swiss cabinet confirmed it is granting Ukrainians refugees collective protection under a special status called “S”, following the lead of the European Union, which activated its Temporary Protection External Directive on March 4.
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=LEGISSUM%3Al33124
Swiss federal government developed S protection status in the mid-1990s (the time of the Balkan wars). This status enables the rapid admission of a group of refugees freed from long and burdensome asylum procedures with the purpose to manage with a massive influx of people without overloading Swiss asylum system.
Switzerland approved a revised asylum law including the S permit in June 1999 (it came into force in October 1999). This S status has never actually been put into effect before the war in Ukraine.
This special status grants to Ukrainian nationals and their families. The Swiss cabinet has followed the EU’s decision Switzerland decided to go one step further: third-country nationals driven out by the war are also entitled to this status, but they must had been received a valid Ukrainian residence permit before the war was started and have no possibility for returning safely to their country of origin. It`s highlight, S status does not grant to those who have already been given protection status in an EU State.
Ukrainians may already travel and stay freely for 90 days within the Schengen area of free movement of persons. Switzerland is part of the area. Ukrainian refugees with Swiss S protection status receive a one-year temporary residence permit, renewable for as long as the war continues. Ukrainian refugees are entitled to accommodation, social benefits, medical care, work, education for children, work, travel within the Schengen area, bring their families to Switzerland.
Switzerland has set aside 5,000 places (beds) for refugees from Ukraine in federal asylum centers (FACs). In addition, more than 45,000 places are currently being offered by private persons according to the Swiss Refugee Council.
This is really the first time Swiss cabinet has decided to apply S protection status for Ukrainian refugees, although it has existed for over 20 years. The status was designed to deal with conflicts occurring on Europe’s doorstep, even though this is not written into the law, and to deal with a massive influx of refugees. This is why Switzerland refused to use it for people fleeing the Arab Spring or the wars in Afghanistan and Syria.
In the case of the Syrian conflict, security considerations also played a role. Swiss government was afraid of letting terrorists into the country and preferred to rely on case-by-case procedures to determine who was being persecuted individually, and so should be granted refugee status, who should be admitted on a provisional basis, and potential terrorists.
The victims of the war in Ukraine are indeed being treated completely differently from other refugees who have arrived in Switzerland up to now. Ukrainians are white, closer to European culture than other peoples, and all suddenly to become possible.
Maybe the Swiss will see that this way of absorbing refugees works, and its use will become easier. However, S status is designed to deal with a massive influx of refugees, which does not happen all the time.