Switzerland has decided to keep blocking return assistance payments for Moroccan and other North African asylum seekers who had already filed asylum claims in another European country under the Dublin system, after officials concluded the money was being used as an incentive to lodge claims with little chance of success.
The payment, worth about 1,000 Swiss francs, was meant to encourage voluntary return and help people reintegrate in their home countries.
But Reto Kormann, spokesperson for the State Secretariat for Migration, told Blick that in some cases it had become an “undesirable pull factor”.
Swiss authorities say applicants from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia have very limited chances of being granted asylum. Under the current rules, only those who have not previously applied in another Dublin state remain eligible for the payment if they agree to return voluntarily.
Official data show around 3,600 people from the Maghreb applied for asylum in Switzerland last year, while about 900 were transferred elsewhere.
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