{"id":167,"date":"2020-03-28T10:22:20","date_gmt":"2020-03-28T10:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/switzerland\/?page_id=167"},"modified":"2025-12-03T09:28:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T09:28:20","slug":"voluntary-return","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/switzerland\/voluntary-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Voluntary Return"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Refugees might wish to exercise their right to <strong>voluntary return <\/strong>permanently to their home country. This is an intensely personal, and often complicated and difficult decision to make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>All refugees have the fundamental right to return to their country of origin<\/strong> at a time of their choosing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Such returns must be <strong>voluntary, dignified, and safe and based on an informed and independent decision<\/strong>, rather than being induced by pressure or fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you wish to <strong>voluntarily return<\/strong> to your home country permanently, you can do so at any time. However, if you reside in Switzerland and:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u27a1\ufe0f You hold an <strong>N<\/strong> <strong>permit<\/strong>, your asylum procedure will be terminated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u27a1\ufe0f You hold a <strong>B permit<\/strong> or an <strong>F permit<\/strong>, your status and residence permit will be withdrawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM), together with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and other partners, supports persons who wish to <strong>voluntarily return<\/strong> to their home country. They will help you with the organisation of your trip, your arrival and reintegration in your home country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are considering <strong>returning<\/strong> <strong>voluntarily <\/strong>to your country of origin, we recommend contacting the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sem.admin.ch\/dam\/sem\/en\/data\/rueckkehr\/rueckkehrfoerderung\/rueko\/faltblatt-e.pdf.download.pdf\/faltblatt-e.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">return counselling service<\/a> in your canton of residence. If you are currently living in a Federal Asylum Centre, IOM provides on-site return counselling in most of them. In case of doubt reach out to your legal representative or a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.osar.ch\/fileadmin\/user_upload\/Hilfe_fuer_Asylsuchende\/Rechtsberatungsstellen\/RBSadr_extern.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cantonal legal counselling service<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are currently in detention, visit the website <a href=\"https:\/\/info-retour.ch\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Retour \u2013 Returning home<\/a> for more specific information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Read more information about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sem.admin.ch\/sem\/en\/home\/rueckkehr\/rueckkehrhilfe.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">return assistance<\/a> and consult the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sem.admin.ch\/dam\/data\/sem\/rueckkehr\/rueckkehrfoerderung\/factsheet-rkh-e.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">factsheet<\/a> provided by the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Check out the information (available in <a href=\"https:\/\/switzerland.iom.int\/de\/freiwillige-rueckkehr-und-reintegration\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">German<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/switzerland.iom.int\/fr\/aide-au-retour-volontaire-et-la-reintegration\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">French<\/a>) on voluntary return and reintegration assistance provided by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) \u2013 Switzerland.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Refugees might wish to exercise their right to voluntary return permanently to their home country. This is an intensely personal, and often complicated and difficult decision to make. All refugees have the fundamental right to return to their country of origin at a time of their choosing. Such returns must be voluntary, dignified, and safe [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-167","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/switzerland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/switzerland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/switzerland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/switzerland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/switzerland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/switzerland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2111,"href":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/switzerland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/167\/revisions\/2111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/switzerland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}