Your Volunteer Journey

AsyLex was founded on May 7, 2017 as a Swiss association seated in Zurich. The work of AsyLex is provided by volunteers. We are convinced the intrinsic motivation of our collaborators we are able to provide high quality services.

Each volunteer becomes a member of the association by signing the Volunteer Agreement/Code of Conduct (MANDATORY!). Once membership is established, the volunteer’s work is covered by the association’s liability insurance. Additionally, there is no liability which goes beyond personal liability for wrongful conduct according to mandatory Swiss law.

There is a members’ meeting of the association once a year where all volunteers are invited. No membership fee is due for active volunteers. Donors are not considered as members of the association. Therefore, they do not have voting rights, etc.

There also are a few people that are officially employed by AsyLex such as the management team, several interns and an administration assistant. They all work at our office at Gotthardstrasse 52 in Zurich.

Vision and Purpose

AsyLex aims to ensure 24/7 free access to legal aid for people who had to flee. We are convinced that any person who had to flee his or her country deserves legal advice regarding the asylum procedure. We do not discriminate among clients, be it regarding gender, age, origin, language, religion, financial or family situation or chances of winning a case. In contrast to other organizations who only help those people with good chances of success, we support any client. However, if an appeal is without any chance of success, we reserve the right to refuse taking a case.

We are active all over Switzerland and provide our services mainly online. The reasoning behind this is that basically every person who had to flee possesses a smartphone. Therefore, it is, in our view, the most appropriate way to approach our potential clients. In certain situations, such as territorial restrictions («Eingrenzungen»), people with a negative decision do not even have the possibility to go to a physical legal aid center. Especially in these situations, we see a major advantage of the online provision of services.

Basic principles of our work

We do not discriminate our clients. We ensure strict confidentiality of our work. We all give our best to ensure high quality of our advice. We adhere to deadlines and generally follow the “asap” principle (work is done as soon as possible). At least a notice of reception (without any further guidance) has to be sent to the client the same day. If you see that a deadline cannot be met, please ask on Slack for support by another volunteer and inform your team leader as early as possible. Our correspondence with authorities is friendly but determined. We are independent of any large donors, and therefore, we can act without any conflicts of interest. Within the association, we establish a culture of trust, communication, and enthusiasm for what we are doing. We are aware of the fact that a mistake may significantly affect the life of our client, which is why we try our best to ensure the highest quality – however, at the same time, we support a culture where mistakes are being accepted and discussed openly.

Whenever there is any issue, be it with a client or among volunteers, please report immediately to the President on a confidential basis. This holds in particular for any situations such as misconduct of any party, sexual harassment, suspicion of criminal activities or the like.

Please find all our regulations regarding our Association here. 

Any volunteer must sign the AsyLex Volunteer Agreement (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ekez3N-RGOrCVITwFU1HdL3jiNo8nVZb/edit, it can be signed here: https://asylex.bryter.io/s/IdDNGQt1Re6CGZx2GJ1Rog/coc-volunteers) before starting to work for AsyLex. The HR Manager will send each accepted applicant the link as well as the articles of association, since signing the Volunteer Agreement goes along with becoming a member of the association, and therefore, agreement with the articles of association is required. The Operations team files all signed Volunteer Agreements on our HR documents database on Drive. Before signing the Volunteer Agreement, no client work may be allocated to this volunteer and no access to any data base if granted.

Most importantly, please note that we always abide with the client-attorney privilege. Therefore, no information about any client must be shared outside the circle of AsyLex volunteers and also within that circle only on a need-to-know basis. This principle holds for any volunteers, and thus, going beyond legal advisors – for example, it applies to translators, administration personnel or IT experts.

You are highly encouraged to get started as quickly as possible! Just pick a task which is posted on Slack and give it a try. The person sharing the task and/or your team leaders will be able to evaluate whether you can do this alone or whether some support by a more experienced volunteer would be needed. No one will tell you which tasks you have to take on - it's up to you to sign up for tasks and to lead your cases independently. Once you signed up for a task, you are in charge - check the deadlines, update the client regularly and ask your team leaders or the office team for support if you have any questions!

All our clients sign a general power of attorney (PoA), mostly directly online. The PoA is then sent to the office team and the office team forwards it to the person marked as responsible of Zenobis. So whenever you ask a client to sign a PoA, make sure you are recorded as the responsible person on Zenobis, otherwise you will not be informed once the PoA was received.

Please note that you need a substitutional PoA in order to submit your briefs directly.  Only senior volunteers get a substitutional PoA once they have passed the Appeals Quiz; until then please discuss with your team leader who of the seniors in your team will send out a submission. In order to be eligible for a substitutional power of attorney, you have to study the Submissions section of this Wiki in detail, watch the video on appeals and pass the Appeals Quiz. Once you  took the test and passed, the Operations team will send you your substitutional PoA.

AsyLex strives to ensure high quality advice. Our clients deserve to receive the best advice possible at all times. This Wiki provides you with the minimal knowledge needed to give advice to clients. Additional studying and research are needed in order to provide appropriate advice in a specific case in any event. It is particularly recommended to read through the extensive SEM handbook, available in French, German and Italian.

Team meetings

Each team meets about once per month to talk about ongoing cases, new case law, and for a personal exchange. Reach out to your team leaders to learn more about the upcoming team meetings and find the overview on all team meetings for 2026 here!

Training Modules 

These modules offer a flexible and convenient way for you to delve into specific areas of our work at your leisure. Tailored to our legal teams, each module typically includes a 30-minute presentation with voice-over explanations, followed by a quiz to reinforce understanding. Find out more here. 

AsyLex Academy

AsyLex prioritizes internal education, fostering knowledge sharing among volunteers through research and regular events. The AsyLex Academy, held three times annually, covers essential skills and current topics. Attendance is mandatory for all volunteers, promoting both learning and camaraderie. These events occur at various locations in Switzerland, with volunteers responsible for their own train tickets (except those with N, F, B or S permits). Dates are announced in advance on Slack, and any attendance conflicts should be communicated to your team leaders as soon as possible.

Webinars

In addition, we frequently organize webinars which consist of short presentations by volunteers and external experts to a specific topic surrounding migration held via Zoom. The events are open to all volunteers and are announced via Slack in advance (channel #events). Exchange of knowledge is key to ensure high level quality work of all of us. Therefore, volunteers are encouraged to present their case work during the AsyLex Academy or Webinars.

External events

Additionally, we intend to have one representative at any seminar, workshop, panel discussions, networking events or other event which is linked to Swiss asylum law or any other questions related to refugees in Switzerland or Europe. As a Member of AsyLex you can attend these events in the name of the organization. They will also be posted on Slack. These events are crucial to maintain contact with other organizations, to show presence and to make the NGO known. Please feel free to show your interest for any event, even if you are a new volunteer. Our Event Manager keeps an overview of who attended which event and ensures that every volunteer may attend events proportionate to his or her contribution to AsyLex. AsyLex pays for the attendance fees, second class train ticket/economy flight ticket, accommodation if needed and other expenses, always as far as appropriate. In return, every participant is obliged to write a short internal report about the key take-aways and post it in Slack and upload it to our general knowledge database Drive. In specific cases, another way of feedback/review may be necessary. More information about past events and who attended them can be found in the 'external events list' on Drive.

Whenever you see an event that you would like to attend or any other opportunity that might further your knowledge in Swiss asylum law or connect you with people in this area, please feel free to contact operations@.asylex.ch.

Regional groups

Besides that Asylex also has regional groups in order to offer our volunteers more opportunities to meet and mingle in person. Basel, Bern, Zurich, Geneva, Romandie and Ticino are the five areas we have grouped together with one or two volunteers responsible for organizing informal get-togethers that are open to all. 

AsyLex is also active on several Social Media Channels. Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. On these Channels we inform about current news on asylum law, politics and everything connected to this. We also share stories about cases we won or other political impacts we achieved and inform about current job offerings.

Particularly Facebook is also very important for our clients to contact us.

You can help to grow our reach by reacting to every post (liking, commenting, mentioning people in comments) and sharing important posts to your news feed. Also make sure to invite your friends and family to like our pages so they can stay updated about the work you do with AsyLex as well.

If you have anything that should be spread via these channels, please contact the social media team (socialmedia@asylex.ch).

In general, we are happy to share our knowledge, e.g. by participating in events or by holding presentations. In particular, we are glad to hold presentations or workshops on the asylum procedure to spread the knowledge on how to prepare for the asylum interview. Any such events are coordinated via Slack (#events). It is highly appreciated if volunteers participate at such events, come up with their own ideas about such events and engage in networking with other NGOs.

On a cross-border basis, we work with various NGOs abroad (e.g. Greece, Italy, Turkey, Lebanon). If you need their support, please coordinate with the Head International Cooperation. We are in contact with various other organizations, such as the Schweizerische Flüchtlingshilfe, Solinetz, Augenauf, PowerCoders, Action for Switzerland, Sportegration, Wegeleben, Autonome Schule and many others (see Drive Cooperations). Above that, we are working with the University of Bern with a view to their Human Rights Law Clinic and with the University of St. Gallen in connection with some master’s theses.

If you are in contact with any other organization which would like to cooperate, please feel free to discuss with a team leader / Head International Cooperation whether and how to approach the other organisation.

The main source of funding for AsyLex are free working hours, i.e. volunteer work. Despite the great engagement of many volunteers, some costs occur, such as costs for the website, train tickets, correspondence, trainings, seminars, salaries etc. These costs are covered by compensation for court proceedings, private donations and foundations. For details, please refer to AsyLex's annual reports.

Please encourage your friends and family to become a member, a growing membership is crucial for us to ensure sustainability of our services. Information is available here. 

We are glad if each volunteer reaches out to people who might be potential donors. We are happy about any donation, also very small ones. If you have any questions in this regard, please contact our fundraising team at fundraising@asylex.ch. 

Volunteering with AsyLex will confront you with difficult situations, and you will hear stories from your clients which include the worst violations of human rights we might think of. Be aware that self-care is very important. Draw your boundaries – such boundaries are different from one person to another. You can only help others if you yourself are stable and comfortable with what you are doing.

We recommend talking about your cases with other volunteers on a regular basis to help you process the difficulties. We further offer a weekly "Sprechstunde" on Wednesdays at 5pm (Zoom link here) where you can address issues regarding your volunteering at AsyLex.

AsyLex is working with several psychologists who are experienced with supporting volunteers and handling secondary trauma. If you would like to get in touch with them, please reach out to HR (recruitment@asylex.ch) who will connect you with them. We provide access to free one-on-one counselling via our cooperation with the Webster Counselling Center. 

You can find all information regarding our Mental Health services here. 

The application of new volunteers goes through our application tool: https://www.asylex.ch/asylex-application 

In general, anyone who is willing to invest 3h or more per week is welcome as a volunteer, subject to abidance with the Volunteer Agreement/Code of Conduct. At first, the HR manager will talk to the applicant by phone and explain the most important aspects of volunteering with AsyLex. If the applicant is still interested, the HR manager will assess with the team leaders whether the applicants fits in a team or whether s/he will put on the waiting list. To start with, new volunteers are requested to go through our AsyLex Wiki, to read through the information on our website, to review the documents on Drive and to join Slack. The team leaders will assign them a buddy, which is an experienced volunteer who will help the new volunteer to integrate in the team. The buddy is not responsible to review/check on the new volunteer’s work, but only to support with technical questions, questions regarding our processes and how to quickly become a valuable member of the team. Furthermore, the team leaders will discuss with the new volunteers which topics of expertise they could take on and they will introduce the new-joiner to the team. New volunteers are encouraged to respond to requests for support in Slack as early as possible to get involved.

An evaluation of new and existing volunteers takes place on a regular basis. The HR manager and the president/team leaders will discuss the volunteer’s role and participation and discuss it directly with you by phone. At that time, it will be decided whether both sides want to continue the cooperation.

For any HR related matters, please contact the HR manager at recruitment@asylex.ch.