Switzerland enjoys a reputation as a wealthy and tradition-minded country in the heart of Europe. Less widely known is that the Alpine country has become a very diverse society and nation of immigrants. Approximately 31.7 percent of the permanent population age 15 and older, or about 2.3 million inhabitants, was foreign born as of 2022, with 40 percent of the permanent population (around 3 million people) having a migration background as either immigrants or the Swiss-born children of immigrants. By these relative metrics, Switzerland’s immigrant population is significantly larger than that of most other European countries or the United States, and comparable to countries such as Australia or Canada.
This immigration reality is not surprising, as Switzerland is one of the most globalized economies in the world and closely integrated with its European neighbors. It is also far from a recent phenomenon; since the end of the 19th century, the country has experienced significant net immigration due to its early industrialization, and successive periods of immigration have contributed to the diversity of its population today.
Yet despite immigration’s role shaping modern Switzerland, this fact is largely absent from the country’s self-image. The question of how to deal with immigration has become a dominant and polarizing theme in Swiss politics for the past several decades. While immigration is widely seen as necessary for economic development, its societal implications are often feared, and high bars for obtaining Swiss citizenship mean that only a relatively small number of immigrants are able to naturalize. This paradox was perhaps best expressed by Swiss writer Max Frisch in 1965: “We asked for workers; we got people instead.” This contrast between the immigration reality and migration-skeptic sentiments tends to dominate public debates and policymaking.
This country profile looks at the evolution of migration since Switzerland’s unification in the mid-19th century. It provides a quantitative overview of migration before discussing the different elements of Swiss migration policies and politics, and concludes by elaborating on current challenges and debates.
Historical Migration Trends
Worldwide, migration is closely interlinked with political and economic developments, including humanitarian crises. This is no different in Switzerland. There are three broad periods in the country’s modern migration history: an early liberal period before World War I, a period of reliance on guestworkers in the mid-20th century, and the current era of globalization and integration with the European Union (of which Switzerland is not a member but has significant ties).
Figure 1. Foreign Nationals’ Share of the Population of Switzerland, 1860-2023
Source: Swiss Federal Statistical Office, “Population by Migration Status,” accessed September 17, 2024, available online.
Openness in the First Wave of Globalization—with an Abrupt End (1848-1940s)
In the early years after the Swiss federal state was established in 1848, widespread poverty pushed many Swiss to emigrate. Later, rapid economic development and modernization through early industrialization at the end of the 19th century turned Switzerland into a net-immigration country. This period was characterized by a remarkable economic openness that included the free movement of laborers, with sizable numbers arriving from elsewhere in Europe. The number of immigrants increased sharply with domestic labor demands. Fewer than 5 percent of residents were noncitizens in 1860, increasing to a relative peak of 14.7 percent shortly before World War I broke out in 1914.
Immigrants at this time originated mostly from neighboring countries and were concentrated in urban and industrial centers such as Zurich, as well as in border regions. The outbreak of the war and the wave of nationalism taking over the continent ended this period of great openness and gave way to a more restrictive approach of preventing “over-foreignization” (Überfremdung), which became a main policy objective. Most immigrants left the country, and much of the public came to see foreigners as a potential threat requiring surveillance and restrictive regulation to control and deter their arrival. As a result, immigration control moved from the responsibility of the cantons to that of the federal government in 1925. An immigration law, the Federal Act on the Residence and Settlement of Foreigners, was subsequently enacted in 1931. This political shift was accompanied by a significant drop of foreign nationals’ share of the population, to 5.2 percent in 1941.
The Guestworkers Who Stayed (1948-91)
The next turn in Switzerland’s immigration history came after World War II, and again as result of pressing labor needs. As Switzerland maintained armed neutrality and was not invaded during the war, its industrial base remained largely intact and emerged with a huge appetite for low-skilled workers who could often not be found domestically. Given the dominant opposition to large-scale immigration, Switzerland opted for a guestworker system to recruit seasonal laborers through agreements with countries that had labor surpluses, such as Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Yugoslavia. The Saisonnier-statute system allowed laborers to stay for up to nine months before returning to their country of origin until the next season. Migrants arriving through this process were mostly single males, as workers were not allowed to bring families.
The sharp increase in Switzerland’s immigrant population nevertheless caused a political backlash, with a series of far-right initiatives aiming to cut down on immigrant numbers. A 1970 ballot proposal to cap the foreign-born share of the Swiss population at 10 percent strongly mobilized the Swiss public and received popular support of 46 percent of voters (more details are discussed below). During the mid-1970s oil crisis and resulting economic downturn, foreign nationals’ share decreased again, from 17.2 percent in 1970 to 14.8 percent a decade later.
At the same time, it became clear that the country was structurally dependent on immigrant labor. For this reason, sending countries could exert successful pressure for their emigrants to be eligible for better legal statuses and more rights. These dynamics resulted in policy shifts that allowed guestworkers to settle permanently in Switzerland, in contrast to the original policy objective.
Internationalization and Reorientation (1992-Present)
The next major shift happened in the 1990s, with the end of the Cold War and the East-West confrontation. Switzerland reconsidered its status in the world and opted to move closer to the European Union—while notably declining to join the bloc. Record numbers of refugees arrived in the country, and economic demand shifted towards highly skilled workers. The Saisonnier-statute system, which arguably failed to prevent permanent settlement, had become untenable amid external pressures from sending countries and the international community’s promotion of migrants’ social and economic rights. It was finally abolished in 2002.
In order to gain privileged access to the European single market as a non-Member State, Switzerland had to accept the European Union’s request for participation in the intra-European system of free movement of persons (one of the single market’s four freedoms, along with the free movement of goods, services, and capital). With these changes, Switzerland recognized the need for integration policies facilitating immigrants’ long-term insertion into the economy and society, with the first such policies formulated in the 1990s.
The country’s immigrant share has steadily increased since then, causing unease in parts of the Swiss population. Despite the fact that most immigrants come from other European countries and arrive in response to domestic labor demand, immigration has become one of the most controversial and disruptive political issues in the country. Far from embracing the reality of an immigration nation, contemporary political debates revolve around how to keep immigration in check and how to preserve Swiss national identity.
Contemporary Migration Patterns
Immigration has accelerated since the 1980s to reach a point where foreign nationals accounted for 27 percent of all permanent residents in 2023 (or 2.4 million people), and that share is even higher in the large cities of Geneva (47.8 percent), Basel (37.9 percent), and Zurich (33.6 percent). In all, 31.7 percent of the permanent-resident population age 15 and over was foreign born in 2022, and an additional 8.3 percent were second-generation immigrants.
Immigrants are primarily from high-income countries. Approximately 63 percent of all resident foreign nationals (1.5 million people) in 2023 were from the European Union or European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries of Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway; a further 19.5 percent were from other European countries. The largest origins were neighboring countries including Italy (14 percent, or 338,100 residents) and Germany (13.4 percent, or 323,600 residents; see Figure 2). Modern Italian immigration to Switzerland goes back to the 19th century, with the construction of the Gotthard Tunnel through the Alps and other important Swiss infrastructure projects that relied on Italian laborers. Italians were also the dominant immigrant group during the guestworker period, with declining numbers in more recent decades. In their place, immigration of Germans to Switzerland has increased. Those two origin groups are followed by those from countries in Southern and Southeastern Europe that have a long history of labor recruitment into Switzerland. The sizable immigrant communities from the former Yugoslavia grew further as refugees fled the Balkan Wars in the 1990s and early 2000s. In terms of demographics, the immigrant population is largely of working age (15 to 64 years old) and in general younger than the native population. Immigrants also tend to be over-represented in both the highest- and lowest-educated groups.
Figure 2. Permanent Foreign-National Population of Switzerland, by Nationality, 2023
Source: Swiss Federal Statistical Office, “Permanent Foreign Resident Population, on 31.12.2023 by Citizenship,” updated August 22, 2024, available online.
Emigration and Other Patterns
At the same time, a significant and growing number of Swiss citizens live abroad: more than 813,000 resided outside the country in 2023, accounting for 11.1 percent of all Swiss nationals. Of these emigrants, 64 percent resided elsewhere in Europe, and the largest numbers were in the neighboring countries of France, Germany, and Italy.
Looking at migration flows—the inward and outward movements of people—263,800 people immigrated to the country in 2023 even as 121,600 left, resulting in net immigration of 142,300—a high number that in part results from effects of the war in Ukraine. In addition, approximately 400,000 cross-border commuters work in Switzerland, particularly in the Italian-speaking part of southern Switzerland and the border regions of Geneva and Basel, which abut France and Germany. Migration flows vary primarily according to domestic business cycles and labor needs, as well as humanitarian crises in the European neighborhood, most recently the war in Ukraine.
These figures reveal that while immigration concerns have captured Swiss public attention, the reality is one of more complex international mobility, with many people moving both into and out of the country. Only a minority of immigrants to Switzerland settle in the country on a permanent basis, underlying the often temporary and repeated nature of migration.
What drives people to immigrate to or emigrate from Switzerland? According to the 2022 Swiss Labor Force Survey, 41.3 percent of immigrants cited family reasons and 37.4 percent listed work. Only small shares immigrate to Switzerland to seek asylum (6.2 percent) or to pursue an education (4.5 percent). Among emigrants, the most frequently mentioned motivations were retirement (23.3 percent), family reasons (20.5 percent), and their job (18 percent).
Migration Politics and Policies
In the early days of the federal state, immigration was the competence of the cantons; the 1931 Federal Act on the Residence and Settlement of Foreigners established a national legal framework for immigration policy. The law stated that authorities granting admission should take into account the intellectual and economic interests of the country as well as the desire to limit the extent of foreign influence on Swiss society. This law remained unmodified for more than seven decades and reflected a policy balancing act between labor needs and concerns about national identity. These twin aims birthed the guestworker policy after World War II, to fill domestic labor needs. Recruitment agreements were signed with Italy (in 1948 and 1964) and Spain (1961), and additional guestworkers arrived from countries such as Portugal, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. These workers—mostly young, single men—received a Saisonnier-statute that allowed for residence of nine months without the right to bring their families along.
During this period, immigration policy was primarily driven by executive action. The use of administrative ordinances and directives allowed for the development of a dense web of corporatist ties between employers in labor-intensive, less competitive industries (such as agriculture, construction, and hospitality) and cantonal authorities responsible for allocating immigrant quotas. To prevent politicization, there was an elite consensus for how to regulate immigration, involving employer associations and executive authorities, without the involvement of the Parliament and political parties.
Over time, the guestworker system was adjusted in response to sending countries’ pressing for better rights for their workers as well as domestic demands for immigration restrictions. The major change came however in 2002, with the introduction of free movement of persons with the countries of the European Union and the European Free Trade Area, and the subsequent reform of the immigration law in 2005. This change modernized the legal framework by ending the law’s immigration-skeptic framing and limiting the corporatist system of immigrant admission. Alongside the introduction of European free movement came the mutual opening of labor market access on the basis of nondiscrimination and a new system for third-country immigration based on quotas—allocated to the cantons—for highly skilled professionals. This admission pathway is highly selective and geared to the needs of the modern knowledge economy and global supply chains.
Asylum and Refugee Protection
Switzerland has traditionally emphasized its identity as a country of asylum, linked to its humanitarian tradition as neutral and independent. Historically, one large group granted protection was the Huguenots fleeing persecution in Catholic France in the 17th century. Admission of forcibly displaced people during the World War II remains a controversial chapter in the country’s history, since tens of thousands of Jews and other persecuted people were provided protection from the Nazi regime, but many others were refused entry. After the war, asylum was granted more liberally and Switzerland signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, which was forged in Geneva. During the Cold War, Switzerland granted generous admission to thousands of Hungarian (1956), Tibetan (1963), Czechoslovakian (1968), and other refugees fleeing communism.
The asylum law enacted in 1981 provided a generous definition of refugees and allowed for asylum applications to be submitted at Swiss embassies around the world. Sympathies for refugees started however to decline, particularly in the 1990s with a surge in arrivals from the Balkans and the Global South. As a result, asylum law has become one of the most frequently revised laws in the country, going through nine restrictive reforms since its inception. Amid far-right mobilization against asylum seekers, the focus shifted to policies of deterrence and reducing refugee intakes. Notable changes include the speeding-up of asylum procedures, efforts to combat abuse of the system, more consistent enforcement of legal expulsion orders for those whose claims are denied, and the expansion of subsidiary forms of humanitarian protection that are temporary and less comprehensive than asylum. In 2004, Switzerland joined the European Dublin system, which mandates that the Member State responsible for resolving an asylum seeker’s claim is the first one in which they enter. In 2013, the Swiss government reinstated its refugee resettlement policy in collaboration with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). More recently, it followed the European Union in providing generously defined temporary protection to people fleeing the Ukraine war, during a new wave of humanitarian solidarity.
Integration and Naturalization
The objective of preventing the “over-foreignization” of Switzerland has motivated a particularly restrictive integration and naturalization policy. In the post-war period, guestworkers were considered a temporary necessity, and they were deliberately prevented from planting roots in the country in order to facilitate their return. Only in the 1990s, when it became clear that many foreign-born laborers were not returning to their origins but instead had found a new home in Switzerland, did a turn towards creating an active integration policy occur.
In Switzerland’s federalistic political system, many responsibilities for immigrant integration rest with the 26 cantons, leading to significant variation of integration regimes throughout the country. Still, the inclusion of immigrants into Swiss society can inspire conflict and political controversy. In particular, after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, Switzerland (like many other countries) experienced a rise in Islamophobia and in far-right mobilization against Muslims, who make up a tiny minority of the population. Via referendums known as popular initiatives, Swiss voters in 2009 approved constitutional amendments banning the building of minarets and, in 2021, wearing of veils and other face-coverings in public, restricting Muslims’ freedom to practice their religion.
Finally, Swiss citizenship consists of a bundle of federal, cantonal, and municipal citizenship that also reflects the federal nature of the state. One becomes a Swiss citizen either through birth to Swiss parents or through naturalization. The conditions for the latter are among the most restrictive in the Western world. The 1952 Federal Act on the Acquisition and Loss of Swiss Citizenship required naturalizing citizens to be a resident for 12 years and undergo a thorough investigation into whether they had successfully assimilated into Swiss society. Since 1992, Switzerland has allowed for double nationality. The latest modifications over the past ten years include lowering the residence requirement to ten years, tightening integration requirements to make it more difficult for low-skilled immigrants to gain citizenship, and facilitating the naturalization of Swiss-born grandchildren of immigrants. Attempts for a broader liberalization of the citizenship law or the expansion of political rights to resident noncitizens have repeatedly been rejected by Swiss voters.
Direct Democracy and the Role of Far-Right Parties
Despite attempts to keep immigration out of party politics, the issue has become strongly politicized. This has primarily been enabled as a result of Switzerland’s use of direct democracy allowing voters to consider a popular initiative on policy if a threshold number of signatures from voting-age citizens is obtained.
A landmark anti-immigration initiative was launched by the far-right politician James Schwarzenbach in the 1960s and 1970s, seeking to cap the total number of foreign workers in response to the arrival of Italian laborers. Despite the failure by Schwarzenbach and his supporters to convince a majority of Swiss voters, they strongly mobilized anti-immigration sentiments and pressured the government into announcing restrictive measures such as a national quota system for guestworkers.
The level of contestation dropped somewhat with lower immigration in following years, before returning to the agenda in the 1990s with the rise of the right-wing populist Swiss People’s Party, which became the country’s largest political party by the 2000s. In 2014, voters narrowly supported the “initiative against mass immigration,” demanding the introduction of an annual immigration quota and a preference for Swiss workers in the labor market. These demands violated the free-movement agreement with the European Union, so the government and Parliament opted for a symbolic domestic implementation of the restriction, leaving free-movement rights untouched in order to preserve the country’s privileged access to the European single market.
Some immigrant groups have been particularly targeted by the far right, including asylum seekers and Muslims (including those who are Swiss natives), and the European free movement of persons also remains a highly contested policy issue. Polling suggests Swiss people do not hold stronger anti-immigration sentiments than those of other European countries, but the successful politicization of the issue by the far right and the mobilization and agenda-setting through the instruments of direct democracy have led to the particular prominence of voices calling for restrictions.
The Europeanization of Swiss Migration Policy and Turn to Migration Diplomacy
Despite not being an EU Member State, almost every aspect of Switzerland’s migration policy has become increasingly influenced by the bloc. The process of immigrant admission was reshaped by Switzerland’s joining of the European free-movement area, as outlined above. Another important area of Europeanization can be found in migration control, wherein Switzerland participates in the European governance system vis-à-vis third countries, and humanitarian protection, since Switzerland contributes in various ways to the Common European Asylum System.
EU Member States abolished internal border controls with the Schengen agreement, introduced a common visa policy, and are increasingly cooperating on internal security and the protection of the bloc’s external borders. Being surrounded by Schengen Member States, Switzerland joined the agreement in 2004. Furthermore, the country contributes funding, experts, and border guards to the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, and participates in several EU programs and dialogues with third countries to strengthen migration control cooperation.
In the area of asylum policy, Switzerland became associated with the Dublin Regulation in combination with joining the Schengen Area. In many ways, this instrument significantly benefitted Switzerland; due to its geographic position in the landlocked heart of Europe, it has been able to redirect asylum seekers to other (mostly Southern) Member States such as neighboring Italy. Furthermore, an agreement with the European Asylum Support Office allows for intra-European cooperation on asylum issues.
Role in International Migration Governance
Switzerland is also a notable actor in international migration governance and has engaged in cooperation with countries of origin and transit to regulate international migration movements. To prevent irregular migration and facilitate the return of migrants with irregular statuses, Switzerland has signed a large number of bilateral agreements and so-called migration partnerships. The country’s rate of return for unauthorized migrants (57 percent in 2022) is among the highest of European destination countries. More recently, the country leveraged its development cooperation to tackle the causes of forced migration and redirected development aid towards countries producing large numbers of refugees and migrants.
Moreover, Switzerland is strongly committed to multilateral cooperation on migration issues. Many of the most important international organizations in that area—such as the International Labor Organization (ILO), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and UNHCR—are headquartered in Geneva, and Switzerland is committed to strengthening these institutions of international governance. Examples of this include the International Agenda for Migration Management, the Global Forum for Migration and Development, and the Platform on Disaster Displacement, all of which the Swiss government has helped to set up and steer. Beginning in 2016, Switzerland co-facilitated the consultation and negotiation process leading to the 2018 Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration, which sets principles, guidelines, and targets for dealing with migration based on international obligations. The proposal faced domestic political opposition in various countries—including Switzerland, which ultimately suspended its endorsement of the compact despite being one of its main sponsors. This episode reflects the tension between Switzerland’s foreign policy ambitions and its domestic politics, especially regarding migration.
Current Policy Debates and Challenges
Migration concerns are a stumbling block for European integration. As a small, export-oriented economy, Switzerland is dependent on access to international markets. By far its most important trading partner is the European Union and the bloc’s internal market. Gaining privileged access to that market means having to sign up to all four EU freedoms principles, including movement of people. To avoid cherry-picking, the market-access arrangement is designed as a package deal. Any effort to end the free movement of persons would therefore come at the high price of also ending the free movement of goods, services, and capital. At the same time, current negotiations to deepen and institutionalize bilateral relations with the bloc have struggled, due to fears that doing so could enmesh Switzerland further in the EU immigration system (including the citizenship directive and labor market controls). It is thus the issue of migration where the model of Switzerland’s liberal international integration reaches its limits.
Skills shortages and the shrinking size of Switzerland’s working-age population are increasing the need for foreign labor. The knowledge economy that Switzerland has become is highly reliant on skilled workers who often need to be recruited outside the country’s borders. Its economic model requires openness to immigration to remain competitive. This challenge is not unique to Switzerland but affects all advanced Western economies, posing new questions about how to find and attract sufficient immigrant workers to uphold Switzerland’s current economic and social model.
The issue of immigration has been strongly politicized, leaving limited room to maneuver. The public has expressed it is generally critical of increasing immigration; it has also been successfully mobilized by the far right, in particular through the instrument of direct democracy. At the same time, immigrant admission is not a discretionary political decision, as governments face severe economic and legal constraints. The admission of EU nationals, family migrants, and refugees is guaranteed by domestic and international law. The continued immigration of (mostly high-skilled) labor migrants and students from third countries are potential targets for policymakers seeking new restrictions, but these are also the immigrant groups with the highest economic contribution, so new limits could have direct negative repercussions. So far, Swiss leaders have addressed the dilemma by muddling through and focusing on domestic measures related to the integration of foreigners. This situation unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.
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