Text: Svitlana Prokopchuk
In her new column for Journal B, Svitlana Prokopchuk looks at what will change in March 2027 for Ukrainians with protection status S, when the first of them will have lived in Switzerland for five years.
In the city of Bern alone, 2,305 people hold status S, and 9,443 in the Canton of Bern as a whole. Svitlana put the questions they are asking more and more often directly to Samuel Wyss, spokesperson for the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM). Will everyone receive a B permit? Do they need to apply for it? And what happens when status S is lifted?
The answers are concrete. After five years, the B permit is issued automatically, in the same way in every canton, with no application and no additional documents. However, it is temporary and remains tied to status S. An independent path to staying in Switzerland is the hardship application (Härtefallgesuch). It requires a permanent employment contract, no dependence on social assistance, no criminal record and language skills of at least A1. The cantons advise against rushing the application, and the Canton of Bern is widely considered stricter than others.
As a Ukrainian, Svitlana also asked about what worries the women she talks to most: what if Russia declares “peace” but the bombing continues? The SEM’s answer: a return can only be discussed once fighting has genuinely stopped for several months. Switzerland will make this decision together with its European partners.
The full interview in German and Ukrainian: https://journal-b.ch/artikel/schutzstatus-s-was-sich-im-maerz-2027-aendert/
Illustration: David Fürst
Photo: Oleksii Moskalenko
