Social assistance or a car: will Ukrainian refugees in Switzerland be forced to sell their autos?
The Swiss government will force refugees from Ukraine who want to count on financial support from the state to sell their cars. Find out more about who is affected by the rule and what will happen if you do not sell your car
Ukrainian refugees living in Switzerland must sell their cars to receive social assistance from the state. The rule takes effect one year after arrival in the country. We will tell you more about it below.
The fact is that Switzerland is introducing a rule according to which anyone who lives in this country on social assistance must report on their property within a year. This rule also applies to refugees from Ukraine who have S status.
According to the Swiss Conference on Social Security, cars must be sold if their value exceeds the amount of benefits (the asset standard for the respective household size).
The implementation of the new rules in the country's regions is just beginning. For example, in the canton of Lucerne, residents are given a month to fulfill the conditions.
Officials explain that if the price of a car exceeds 4,000 francs per person or 10,000 francs per family, the car will have to be sold. In this case, social assistance will be suspended for a certain period, depending on how much the car was sold for.
According to 20 Minuten, in Lucerne, out of 141 Ukrainians who own a car, 132 people receive social assistance. At the same time, officials assume that most registered vehicles exceed the asset limit.
Are there any exceptions and what happens if you don't sell your car?
Exceptions may be applied if a person depends on the car for professional or health reasons.
However, if refugees do not fall into this category of citizens and do not fulfill the request to sell the car, the value of the car is assessed and included in the calculation of social assistance.
It is currently unknown how many cars Ukrainians will have to sell. No sales transactions have been recorded yet.
The cost of a car can be determined using the free websites autoscout24.ch, comparis.ch or ricardo.ch. A comprehensive assessment can be performed using the paid platform eurotax.ch.
It is worth noting that about 80 thousand Ukrainians have been granted refugee status in Switzerland. Several thousand of them own cars.
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