Division V is responsible for matters pertaining to asylum.
Like Division IV, Division V handles complaints filed against decisions of the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) (e.g. decisions to discontinue examination of an asylum application, to reject an asylum application as well as to issue and enforce removal orders). Division V is also responsible for handling appeals against preliminary decisions to deny entry or require individuals to remain in a designated area within the airport, assign asylum seekers to specific cantons, deny family reunification, revoke asylum status, revoke temporary admission within the framework of asylum proceedings or order detention pending deportation.
A characteristic of the Asylum Act (SR 142.31) is that it authorises substantive judgments to be rendered by a single judge in certain circumstances. Divisions IV and V rule in the last instance; their judgments cannot be appealed before the Federal Supreme Court (FSC).
