Swiss government to use phone data to identify asylum seekers 

From April 2025, the Swiss government should be able to analyse data from mobile phones, computers and other data carriers to identify asylum seekers. Work is still required to develop an IT solution for such a step, to adapt processes at the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) and to recruit and train staff, the government said on Wednesday. The changes to the Asylum Act as well as associated regulations are expected to come into force on April 1, 2025. According to information previously provided by the government, the new tasks such as scanning data carriers, temporarily storing data and evaluating it will be done by employees in the six federal asylum centres. It is assumed that this will require additional staff – six additional full-time positions and a further six part-time. + Read more: Switzerland pilots 24-hour asylum process Five analyses per day On average, almost three-quarters of asylum seekers in recent years have not provided any identification documents. For ...