20 Minutes. On Wednesday Simonetta Sommaraga, federal councillor and head of the federal department of justice and police, publicly denounced the referendum launched by the Swiss People’s Party (UDC/SVP) to put Swiss law ahead of international law. The plan dubbed the initiative for self-determination passed the 100,000 signature threshold last year. It was officially submitted […]
Swiss towns with the most jihadists
Tribune de Genève. The results of an investigation by the newspaper Tages-Anzeiger show where those identified as jihadists are based. Statistics published in May 2017 by Switzerland’s Federal Intelligence Service (FIS), show an estimated 88 individuals motivated by jihad had travelled from Switzerland since 2001. 74 are thought to have gone to Syria and Iraq, 13 to Somalia and 1 […]
New figures reveal British racing to apply for Swiss citizenship
According to Swiss broadcaster RTS, the number of British citizens applying to become Swiss has risen sharply. The steepest rise was in the canton of Vaud, where the number rose 71% in 2016. 473 applied in 2016, compared to 276 in 2015. In Geneva the number rose 60% from 90 to 145. In 2015, there […]
New initiative to keep foreign workers out of Switzerland
Le Matin. On 15 June 2017, one day after kicking off the job of collecting the signatures required to call a referendum, the text for a new plan to limit access to Switzerland’s job market was presented to the Swiss government. Before a Swiss popular vote or referendum can be launched 100,000 valid signatures must be collected […]
Swiss government wants better access to criminal records of EU citizens in Switzerland
20 Minutes. On 12 June 2017, Switzerland’s parliament agreed to look at improving criminal record checks of EU nationals moving to Switzerland, but it wants a solution that avoids complicating relations with Brussels. One possibility would be for Switzerland to join the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS) programme which allows EU states to exchange information on […]
Swiss government to look at toughening rules on expelling radicalised asylum seekers
Recently Switzerland’s States Council, or upper house, supported a proposal to review the current practice around expelling failed asylum seekers, in particular those who are radicalised or have broken the law. The proposal, put forward by Damian Müller (PLR/FDP) must now be discussed by the Federal Council, Switzerland’s executive body. After the attacks in Manchester […]
Swiss government to look at reducing foreigners’ rights to social welfare
On 8 June 2017, Switzerland’s Federal Council said it would look at possibilities for reducing access of non-EU citizens to social welfare payments. At the same time it dismissed a federal level proposal to make non-european residents wait 3 to 5 years after their arrival before gaining entitlement to social welfare on the grounds that […]
More than half of children under 6 in Switzerland have a foreign parent
In 1950, 6% of Switzerland’s nearly 5 million residents were foreign. By 2015, 24.6% of the nation’s 8.3 million inhabitants, more than 2 million, were. The vast majority of foreigners in Switzerland in 2015 were from Europe (84.6%). Relatively smaller percentages were from Asia (6.7%), Africa (4.6%), Latin America (2.6%), North America (1.3%) and Australasia (0.2%). […]
Some Swiss cantons overwhelmed with confessions of tax evasion
Ahead of the automatic exchange of bank account information, which comes into effect at the beginning of next year, Swiss residents with undeclared foreign bank accounts are rushing to come clean to the tax authorities, according to Swiss broadcaster RTS. According to RTS, 380 have come forward in Fribourg, 173 in Valais, 254 in Jura, around […]
France continues hunt for residents pretending to live in Switzerland
Tribune de Genève. The neighbouring French commune of Saint-Julien-en-Genevois has expanded its hunt for those who live in France but pretend to live in Switzerland. Some of those living in France and working in Switzerland, declare their French home as a secondary residence and claim to reside primarily in Switzerland. This makes them Swiss taxpayers, depriving the […]
