Facts
Serbian national [A.] was born in 1993 in Serbia and came to Switzerland with his parents in 2001. In August 2016, he married a Serbian national who moved to Zurich in March 2017. [A.] was sentenced by the District Court of Zurich to 21 months' imprisonment on 18 April 2018 for drug offenses. On 8 March 2019, the High Court of the Canton of Zurich additionally ordered his expulsion from Switzerland for 7 years.
[A.] appealed against the expulsion order. He argued that the lower court had arbitrarily established the facts and violated various procedural rights. Furthermore, the expulsion was disproportionate despite his long-term residence in Switzerland.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. It stated that the lower court had correctly established the facts and had properly applied the relevant criteria for assessing a case of hardship under Art. 66a para. 2 of the Swiss Criminal Code.
While it is true that [A.] has been in Switzerland since the age of 7, which must be taken into account in the hardship assessment, he has not been sustainably integrated professionally, has repeatedly committed criminal offenses, and has attempted to generate income…