As most European countries, Switzerland has witnessed an increase in migration related to the seeking of asylum since the 1980s, although there have been pronounced fluctuations. While this phenomenon is of relatively limited proportion compared to immigration flows as a whole, the topic of asylum seeking has dominated public debates on migration issues.

The SFM's main research into asylum covers:

• Integration of refugees and asylum seekers into the labour market, and their role in the Swiss economy
• Management of flows in different European countries
• Impact of national reception policies on migration movements
• Individual migration strategies

This research generally combines macro-analytic approaches, statistical analysis, and qualitative methods. Qualitative methods generally involve interviews with migrants and/or experts from different fields affected by migration.