Report criticises delays in Swiss family reunification

Lengthy procedures are keeping refugee families in Switzerland separated for years, with children particularly affected, according to a new report by the Swiss Observatory for Asylum and Aliens Law. SRF reported that the organisation identified delays in obtaining documents, high costs and transfers of responsibility between the State Secretariat for Migration and cantonal migration offices as key causes.

The observatory documented family reunification cases that took up to seven years to complete. Including earlier asylum procedures and statutory deadlines, some families faced separation of up to 10 years, potentially covering a significant part of a child’s childhood spent in precarious conditions abroad.

In one case involving a man from Afghanistan, authorities requested an officially certified marriage certificate. The man travelled to Afghanistan to obtain it despite the security situation there.

In another case, authorities demanded passports from the family of an Eritrean refugee. Obtaining them would have required the family to contact the state from which they had fled. The observatory said families in such cases remained separated for between nine and 10 years.

The requirements and procedures for family reunification vary according to the applicant’s residence status. Different authorities, including the State Secretariat for Migration and cantonal migration offices, may be responsible. Recognised refugees with asylum can generally bring family members from abroad under easier conditions if the family was separated by flight and no special circumstances prevent reunification. Other requirements can include financial independence from welfare assistance and suitable housing.

The State Secretariat for Migration told SRF that it was aware that obtaining documents could be difficult depending on a person’s country of origin. A new instruction introduced at the beginning of 2026 takes this into account where possible, the authority said. For example, applicants may request an exemption from the requirement to appear in person.

The authority said it could not provide an average processing time because the duration depended on the individual case, the availability and verifiability of documents, necessary investigations in Switzerland and abroad, and the involvement of authorities at federal, cantonal and diplomatic levels. It described family reunification as a complex issue involving different laws depending on the people’s status and, in some cases, two or even three authorities.

The State Secretariat for Migration also said the cases in the report concerned individual procedures with particular circumstances. The observatory is calling, among other measures, for a maximum processing time of one year for family reunification applications.