In 2017, the canton of Geneva launched a programme called Operation Papyrus to issue residence permits to undocumented foreigners living in the canton. Not all undocumented foreigners qualified for the scheme. Only those able to prove ten years of residence, if they had no children, or five years of residence if they had children, were […]
Geneva would like to offer Assange refuge
The canton of Geneva could ask Bern to issue a humanitarian visa to Julian Assange, the 48 year old WikiLeaks founder, according to the newspaper Tribune de Genève. Jean Rossiaud, a member of the canton’s parliament and the Green party, is behind the project. Last week he confirmed on Swiss television that he had met […]
Strasbourg calls on Switzerland to repatriate children of jihadists
Last week a majority of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) formally called on the leaders of member nations, including Switzerland, to repatriate the children of their jihadists nationals held in camps in Syria and Iraq. PACE, a 47-nation organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, called on member States to actively repatriate, rehabilitate and (re)integrate these […]
Dual nationality in Switzerland – nearly 1 in 5
In 2018, 18.1% of Swiss citizens 15 years old or older living in Switzerland held another nationality, according to figures recently published by the Federal Statistical Office. Over 8 years this percentage has risen by 4.3 percentage points. In 2010, the same percentage was 13.8%. The percentage in 2017 was the same as in 2018. […]
Saudis to cut funding of Switzerland’s largest mosque
Constructed in 1978, the mosque located in Petit-Saconnex in Geneva is Switzerland’s largest. In a recent interview in Paris, Muhammad bin Abdul Karim Issa, Secretary General of the Saudi-based Muslim World League, the organisation that funded the mosque’s construction, told the newspaper Tribune de Genève that the organisation would stop managing and funding the mosque. In […]
Swiss government moves to reduce welfare payments to foreigners
In 2017, Switzerland spent CHF 8.3 billion on welfare. This comes out at between CHF 397 (Nidwalden) and CHF 2,029 (Basel-City) per person depending on the canton of residence. The figures were CHF 1,705 in Geneva, CHF 1,454 in Zurich and CHF 1,308 in Vaud – click here for figures for other cantons. The high […]
Question of the week: what happens to failed asylum seekers in Switzerland?
A recent report by Switzerland’s federal migration commission looks at this question. Between 2008 and 2017, around 180,000 asylum seekers left Switzerland, mostly because their applications failed. Around 92,000 left in a “controlled” manner, most (80%) voluntarily with no support. The remaining 20% were given money to help them leave and resettle in their home […]
Swiss naturalisation boosts earnings, says research
Academics from ETH Zurich, London School of Economics and Stanford have produced research that suggests naturalisation boosts long term earnings. At first glance this might appear to be an impossible task. Surely those who gain Swiss citizenship are likely to earn more because they possess a range income-boosting attributes that also help them gain citizenship. […]
Swiss foreign work permit quotas maintained for 2020
Every year, Switzerland sets quotas for the number of work visas it issues to citizens outside the EU and EFTA. This week the government announced it would maintain the quota of 8,500 permits that was in place in 2018. In addition, it confirmed an earlier deal it struck with the UK to issue up to […]
331 suspected terrorists banned entry to Switzerland
Switzerland’s Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) recently released figues on entry bans between 2016 and 2018, according to Le Matin. The information was released in response to a request by Barbara Steinemann, a national councillor and member of the Swiss People’s Party (UDC/SVP), who requested more detailed information on the two Swiss nationals involved in […]
