Launch of the new asylum procedure: HEKS/EPER on the frontline of implementation

The entry into force of the revised Asylum Act last Friday 1 March means that asylum applications will now be handled through an accelerated procedure. During their stay at a Federal Asylum Centre (FAC), asylum seekers are given advice about the asylum procedure in general and are informed about their rights and duties under the asylum procedure. Besides, each asylum seeker is assigned a legal representative from the very start of the preparatory phase. The legal representative also acts as spokesperson for unaccompanied minor asylum seekers present in federal asylum centres. In October 2018, the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) assigned HEKS/EPER the tasks of legal protection in the asylum regions of Western Switzerland and North-eastern Switzerland through a public tendering procedure.

HEKS-Rechtsberatung
HEKS

In the past week the SEM also published the list of legal advice centres to which asylum seekers in the cantons have been able to turn since 1 March, at no cost. These legal advice centres are already providing asylum seekers with advice and legal representation. The Federal Government now provides a lump-sum payment for actions effected under the expanded asylum procedure that are relevant to the asylum decision. The HEKS/EPER legal advice offices approved by the SEM in the cantons are:

AG: HEKS/EPER Legal Advice Office for Asylum Seekers, Aarau

AI/AR: Legal Advice Office for Asylum Seekers St. Gallen/Appenzell, St. Gallen

BS: BAS Legal Advice Office for Asylum Seekers in the Basel region, Basel

GL: Zurich Legal Advice Office for Asylum Seekers, Zurich

SG: Legal Advice Office for Asylum Seekers St. Gallen/Appenzell, St. Gallen

SO: HEKS/EPER Legal Advice Office for Asylum Seekers, Solothurn

TG: HEKS/EPER Legal Advice Offices Eastern Switzerland, Kreuzlingen

VD: Service d’aide juridique aux Exilé-e-s (SAJE), Lausanne

ZH: Zurich Legal Advice Office for Asylum Seekers, Zurich

Samuel Berner
Head of Media and Information Department
Samuel Berner

Phone: +41 44 360 88 25
Mobile: +41 76 461 88 70
E-mail: samuel.berner@heks.ch

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