Immigration to Switzerland

The largest immigrant groups in Switzerland are those from Germany, Italy, France, the former Yugoslavia, Albania, Portugal and Turkey, including Turks and Kurds. Between them, these six groups account for about 1.5 million people, 60% of the Swiss population with immigrant background, or close to 20% of total Swiss population.^{[citation needed]}

The current federal law of 16 December 2005, on foreigners (the Foreign Nationals and Integration Act) came into force on January 1, 2008, replacing the Federal Act on the Residence and Establishment of Foreigners of 1934.^[1]

Switzerland and Australia, with about a quarter of their population born outside the country, are the two countries with the highest proportion of immigrants in the western world, although who counts as an immigrant varies from country to country, and even between agencies within countries. Some countries naturalise immigrants easily, while others make it much more difficult, which means that such comparisons ought to be treated with caution.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Switzerland also has the highest Potential Net Migration Index of any European country by a large margin, at +150% (followed by Sweden at +78%) according to a 2010 Gallup study; this means that out of an estimated 700 million potential migrants worldwide, about 12 million (150% of Swiss resident population) would name Switzerland as their most desired country of residence.^[5] Residents with migration background are twice as likely to be unemployed.^[6]

^ "Message relatif à l'initiative populaire "Contre l'immigration de masse"" (PDF) (in French). Berne, Switzerland: Chancellerie fédérale. pp. 289–290. Retrieved 2013-08-11.
^ Neirynck, Jacques (9 September 2011). "Pour son bien-être, la Suisse doit rester une terre d'immigration". Le Temps (in French). Geneva, Switzerland. Archived from the original on 19 November 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-18.
^ "Switzerland has highest number of immigrants", Swissinfo, 1 December 2014 (page visited on 13 June 2017).
^ Blinder, Scott (2013-06-17). "Imagined Immigration: The Impact of Different Meanings of 'Immigrants' in Public Opinion and Policy Debates in Britain". Political Studies. 63 (1): 80–100. doi:10.1111/1467-9248.12053. ISSN 0032-3217. S2CID 142307449.
^ Neli Esipova, Julie Ray, and Rajesh Srinivasan, The World's Potential Migrants, Gallup, 2010."Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-09-10. Retrieved 2014-09-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Based on a poll of close to 350,000 adults in 148 countries answering the question Ideally, if you had the opportunity, would you like to move permanently to another country, or would you prefer to continue living in this country?, if answered in the affirmative followed by To which country would you like to move? [Open-ended, one response allowed.]
^ "Residents with migration background twice as likely to be unemployed". 30 November 2021.

[msgrel-1] "Message relatif à l'initiative populaire "Contre l'immigration de masse"" (PDF) (in French). Berne, Switzerland: Chancellerie fédérale. pp. 289–290. Retrieved 2013-08-11.

[2] Neirynck, Jacques (9 September 2011). "Pour son bien-être, la Suisse doit rester une terre d'immigration". Le Temps (in French). Geneva, Switzerland. Archived from the original on 19 November 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-18.

[3] "Switzerland has highest number of immigrants", Swissinfo, 1 December 2014 (page visited on 13 June 2017).

[4] Blinder, Scott (2013-06-17). "Imagined Immigration: The Impact of Different Meanings of 'Immigrants' in Public Opinion and Policy Debates in Britain". Political Studies. 63 (1): 80–100. doi:10.1111/1467-9248.12053. ISSN 0032-3217. S2CID 142307449.

[5] Neli Esipova, Julie Ray, and Rajesh Srinivasan, The World's Potential Migrants, Gallup, 2010."Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-09-10. Retrieved 2014-09-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Based on a poll of close to 350,000 adults in 148 countries answering the question Ideally, if you had the opportunity, would you like to move permanently to another country, or would you prefer to continue living in this country?, if answered in the affirmative followed by To which country would you like to move? [Open-ended, one response allowed.]

[6] "Residents with migration background twice as likely to be unemployed". 30 November 2021.

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