Swiss lower house backs tougher asylum measures in extraordinary session
Swiss National Council votes September 17, 2026 to tighten asylum law, sending a package of measures to the Council of States.
On Thursday, September 17, 2026, the Swiss House of Representatives (National Council) voted in favour of tighter asylum measures including instructing the government to revoke the citizenship of and deport dual nationals convicted of the most serious crimes, while also moving to change Afghan women’s asylum handling to provisional admission only, reject an EU rule change on compensation for unemployed cross-border workers, and introduce sanctions against uncooperative countries of origin. The Federal Council had previously rejected all nine motions, and the Senate (Council of States) must next rule.
The National Council adopted several asylum-policy tightening motions in an extraordinary session, with vote tallies published by 20 Minuten laying out the specific margins. The SVP motion to refuse an EU rule change on compensation for unemployed cross-border workers passed 109-72 with 5 abstentions, and the proposal to change Afghan women’s asylum practice back to provisional admission only carried 101-84 with 8 abstentions. A separate measure building sanctions and legal bases against states refusing to take back nationals, plus safe third-country arrangements, drew the widest support at 126-64 with 2 abstentions.
On the question of dual nationals, the council backed citizenship revocation and deportation for those convicted of the most serious crimes, though the terrorist-danger category was struck from the text during debate. Not every tightening proposal succeeded: mandatory expulsion for sentences of one year or more failed 106-75, and a municipal veto on asylum-center construction was rejected 99-90. All matters now proceed to the Council of States.
The right of asylum Right of asylum sits at the center of the package, as the lower house moved to narrow provisional admission for Afghan women and expand the state’s ability to revoke the citizenship of and deport dual nationals convicted of the most serious crimes. The shift reframes which applicants receive full protection versus a more precarious temporary status, a distinction that now hinges on both gender and criminal conviction.
The Federal Council’s earlier sweep of rejections gave the lower house a clear slate to advance its own agenda. Having voted through the asylum and EU-compensation positions in a single extraordinary session, the National Council has set up a direct confrontation with the upper chamber, which has yet to signal its stance on any of the nine motions.
What happens next is procedurally simple but politically uncertain: the Council of States will take up each measure, and any that survive there will move toward implementation. The votes of September 17 show a lower house willing to override the government’s recommendations across a broad front, from cross-border worker compensation to deportation of dual nationals — a posture that the Senate may temper or amplify in the months ahead.