Public service Suspicious asylum seekers to be housed separately
Suspicious asylum seekers are to be housed in a separate area in federal asylum centers. The State Secretariat for Migration will be testing a new accommodation concept at the Pasture sites in Balerna-Novazzano TI and Flumenthal SO from summer 2026.
17.12.2025, 10:34
17.12.2025, 12:33
SDA
The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) wants to relieve the burden on operations in the Federal Asylum Centers (BAZ), as it announced on Wednesday. If the concept proves successful, the SEM will extend it to all BAZs. This would require structural adjustments. According to a rough estimate, the costs for the pilot project amount to around CHF 200,000 to 300,000 per federal asylum center, the SEM said in response to an inquiry from Keystone-SDA.
In the six-month pilot project, asylum seekers who display conspicuous behavior will in future be housed in a separate area within the BAZ. The security arrangements will be adapted, but with the same opportunities for employment and going out. The SEM hopes that this will have a positive impact on the other areas of the BAZ. This should allow the SEM to make operations in the general areas of the centers more open.
The aim is also to test whether adjustments to the infrastructure and support services are possible. The aim is to offer the vast majority of asylum seekers who behave correctly a more open BAZ environment with fewer security precautions.
Pilot project for six months
As part of the pilot project, only male asylum seekers of legal age are to be accommodated in the separate areas at the locations in Ticino and the canton of Solothurn. However, it could also be asylum seekers who behave inappropriately outside the center to which they have been assigned, writes the SEM.
The SEM currently operates over 30 BAZs with around 8,000 accommodation places throughout Switzerland. Around 6000 asylum seekers are currently housed in these structures.
The pilot will show whether a "roll-out" could be implemented in all BAZs or only in the 16 regular BAZs, the SEM added in response to an inquiry. The feasibility, including financial viability, must also be examined. According to the SEM, the costs will vary greatly depending on the location.
