New rules of S status: will Ukrainians lose protection in Switzerland?
25 June 21:43
Switzerland is changing the rules for Ukrainian refugees. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen.
The media outlet writes that in June 2025, the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) announced a revision of the approach to temporary protection of Ukrainian citizens. The new rules provide for a focus on the Norwegian model, which provides for the granting of S protection status only to citizens from territories covered by active hostilities or occupied.
This decision has both domestic political and geopolitical significance: on the one hand, the government is responding to the decrease in the number of new applications and the need to optimize resources; on the other hand, it demonstrates a shift to a more selective model of humanitarian response.
Context of change: why Switzerland needs a “Norwegian scenario”
In 2024, Norway was the first Western European country to divide the territory of Ukraine into “safe” and “dangerous” regions. This differentiation allowed to reduce the number of new applications for temporary protection and focus on helping those who really need it. In 2025, Switzerland decided to implement a similar approach, adapting it to its own migration system.
According to SEM representatives, the goal is to make the system more flexible, efficient, and focused on real threats. S status will no longer be granted automatically to all Ukrainian citizens, as it was before. Instead, the authorities will check whether a person lives in a region where there is an immediate risk to life due to military operations.
Ukrainian refugees in Switzerland: statistics
In the first five months of 2025, Switzerland received 3,353 applications for S status, 54% less than in the same period of the previous year. For comparison, Norway received 3,570 applications in the same period, a 48% decrease.
The figures indicate a gradual decline in migration pressure, which allows governments to revise their policies. However, the Swiss decision also causes controversy among human rights organizations.
Read also: Guarantees for refugees from Ukraine: all the changes, conditions and new deadlines from Brussels
The problem of “safe regions”
One of the hottest topics in the discussion is the definition of the so-called “safe regions”. ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project) recorded dozens of strikes in 2024-2025, even in cities such as Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Kyiv. For example, 98 airstrikes took place in Kyiv region over the year, killing at least 15 civilians. Nevertheless, some of these regions are considered conditionally safe according to the Norwegian system.
In response to the criticism, the Swiss authorities plan to expand the list of “dangerous” zones to include almost the entire Kyiv region, unlike the model used by Oslo.
Legal risks and social consequences
The main threat is legal ambiguity and possible discrimination. As noted by the Swiss Refugee Service (Schweizerische Flüchtlingshilfe), this approach ignores the dynamics of war risks. Security in a military state is a fluid thing, and a region that is recognized as safe today may be attacked tomorrow.
In addition, the changes affect only new applicants. For the more than 65,000 Ukrainians who already have S status in Switzerland, the conditions do not change. This allows for stability for those who have already integrated into local communities, but creates a legal inequality between new and previous refugees.
The final decision on the implementation of the new model is expected to be made in the second half of 2025. The government is consulting with the cantons and preparing updates to regulations and procedures. Changes to information materials for newcomers are also being prepared, taking into account the new procedure for determining protection rights.
In the future, these changes may become a precedent for other European countries that also face the need to update their humanitarian policies during Russia’s protracted war with Ukraine.
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