Bundesasylzentrum Altstätten
Luchsstrasse 7, 9450 Altstätten · Canton of St. Gallen
390 places, politically agreed capacity (a ceiling, not a headcount)
Federal asylum centre with processing function at Luchsstrasse 7, Altstätten (canton of St. Gallen), run by the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM). SEM lists it among its definitive sites with a politically agreed capacity of 390 places (list dated 1 September 2026). That figure is a ceiling agreed with the canton and the commune, not the number of people living here. The position shown is SEM's own, taken from the federal Sachplan Asyl geodata, and lies 96 m from the published address. This is a new building: SEM announced on 15 August 2026 that it would open in early September 2026, replacing the centre on Bleichemühlistrasse. SEM's address list, last changed in April 2026, still shows Schöntalstrasse 2, which the same release describes as workplaces rather than accommodation.
Sources
- EJPD, Medienmitteilung «SEM eröffnet neues Bundesasylzentrum in Altstätten» (15.08.2026)
- SEM, Asylregionen und Bundesasylzentren (Karte und Standortlisten, Stand 1. September 2026)
- SEM, Weiterführende Adressen: Liste aller Bundesasylzentren (letzte Änderung 17.04.2026)
- SEM, Sachplan Asyl, Geodaten ch.sem.sachplan-asyl_kraft (Opendata BY)
official source
Swiss asylum accommodation has two tiers: the Confederation runs the federal asylum centres, and the 26 cantons house people afterwards under 26 different arrangements, with no national register. This is the federal tier. The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) publishes its current list only as images, giving a town and a politically agreed capacity; its addresses come from a separate contact list, and the two do not always agree. SEM does not publish which centres are in operation, so the status here is established from dated SEM releases and press reports, each cited above. Sites SEM publishes with a town and no building address are left off the map rather than pinned at a town centre. Coordinates taken from SEM's Sachplan Asyl geodata are used under the licence Opendata BY, source: SEM.