Graubünden proposes keeping reduced benefits for Ukrainian refugees

Graubünden’s government wants reduced social assistance to continue beyond five years in Switzerland for Ukrainian refugees. It has approved a proposal to change cantonal law, extending the reduced-benefit arrangement past the point when refugees could otherwise qualify for assistance on the same basis as local residents.

The proposal puts a specific threshold at the centre of the canton’s approach: five years. Its approval by the cantonal government marks a policy decision to seek a change in the law. The proposal concerns the level of social assistance available to Ukrainian refugees after that threshold.

The proposal would keep Ukrainian refugees on reduced assistance after the five-year mark. Under the arrangement described by the cantonal government, they would continue receiving lower social assistance even when they could otherwise become eligible for benefits on the same basis as local residents.

That distinction is the substance of the planned legal change. The proposal links continued reduced support to refugee status and the time spent in Switzerland, setting a different basis for assistance than the one that could otherwise apply after five years. The government has approved the proposal to change cantonal law.

Five years in Switzerland is the point at which Ukrainian refugees could otherwise qualify for assistance on the same basis as local residents. Graubünden’s proposal would preserve reduced benefits beyond that threshold, changing how the canton treats eligibility after a prolonged stay.

The government has approved a policy proposal, not a description of an enacted change. Its stated next step is a proposed amendment to cantonal law. The debate therefore turns on whether the current rules should be changed so reduced assistance continues after the five-year point.

A change to cantonal law is the route Graubünden’s government has chosen to extend reduced benefits. Its approved proposal would keep Ukrainian refugees on that assistance after five years, when they could otherwise qualify on the same basis as local residents.

For refugees affected by the policy, the proposed rule would maintain a different level of social assistance beyond that period. The measure remains a proposal to change cantonal law; the government’s approval establishes its position on how support should continue in Graubünden.