BERN, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland’s closely-watched numbers of asylum-seekers rose by 7.9 percent in April, compared to March, showing a continuing significant increase. The countries of origin were markedly different compared to the previous month, however.
The country’s relatively high number of foreigners, 22.3 percent of the population and the highest percentage in Europe except for tiny Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, does not include the figures for asylum seekers.
Both are on the rise, adding fuel to the debate over Swiss immigration policies.
The far-right UDC People’s Party in March 2012 handed in enough signatures for a popular referendum, “Against mass immigration”, and although the vote is not yet scheduled, both sides are building their arguments
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Europe’s busiest airport, Heathrow, was ordered by Britain’s Border Agency not to distribute leaflets to arriving passengers warning them of “very long delays”, after some of the worst queues the airport has seen last week.
BAA, the owner of Heathrow airport, on Saturday 28 April distributed pamphlets apologizing to passengers about long waits at immigration checks and advising them to direct complaints to the British Home Office, responsible for the UK Border Agency.
Marc Owen, director of the UK Border Agency at Heathrow airport, requested that BAA withdraw from distributing the “inflammatory” brochures which will “increase tensions” amongst passengers.
The Telegraph reported that Terminal 5 at the airport had queues of up to two hours, several times last week. A number of frustrated passengers resorted to “storming past officials without showing their documents”.
The Border Force said that it will rehire former members of staff to begin work in July, when the Olympics get started in London.
Links to other sources: Daily Mail, The Telegraph, UK Press Association
Switzerland's option to keep quotas until 2014 in case of excessive immigration was written into 2004 agreement
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Reactions were swift and negative from a number of European Union leaders to Switzerland’s decision to revive quotas for the EU-8 States, announced 18 April.
Their objection doesn’t question Switzerland’s right to extend its transition period for handling immigration beyond 2011, but focuses rather on Switzerland’s treatment of the group separately from the rest of the European Union, with at least one European parliamentarian saying that the move runs counter to the spirit of EU-Swiss agreement on the free movement of people. The agreement in fact built in this option for the Swiss.
That decision revives old negotiated deals dating back several years, covering how Swiss-EU bilateral agreements would handle an enlarged group of European States, a spokesperson for the ministry for the economy has told GenevaLunch.
The two sides had failed, by early2004, to reach an agreement after nine negotiating sessions that began in 2003. The European Union wanted the 10 new members to be added to negotiations already underway and Switzerland said no.
The compromise solution reached at their sixth session allowed for options based on different economic scenarios, notably giving Switzerland the right, in case of a clearly defined case of “excessive immigration” to revive quotas for eight of the 10 new countries, with Romania and Bulgaria handled separately. Switzerland, under the terms of the agreement, also has the right to ask for salary information and ensure that labour laws are respected.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The number of asylum seekers in Switzerland grew strongly, 19.8 percent, in November, with 2,142 requests, following a similar increase in October, according to the Federal Migration Office.
The largest numbers were from Tunisians (+163 percent), Eritreans (+16.1 percent) and Serbs. The latter group was mainly from the Roma population and most of the requests were turned down, says Bern.
The number of asylum seekers whose cases are handled in a year reached its peak in 1999, with over 100,000 cases, then fell steadily until 2010 when it was down to some 37,000 persons before rising to 40,000 this year.
Part of the ballooning number in 1999 was due to a massive backlog, which was gradually reduced following heated political debates over the need to act more quickly but also to get the numbers down. The number of cases accepted for consideration and the number of new cases today shows a very different situation from that 12 years ago: in 1999 there were 47,513 new requests; in 2011 there have been just over 20,000.
In 1999, more than 17,000 were provisionally accepted, less than one-fifth of all cases, and more than 35,000, or about one-third, were in the process of being sent back. Today fully half of all cases treated are new requests in 2011: just over 20,000 people. And the number of those returned has fallen dramatically, to 377, with 23,335 people temporarily accepted (the number includes some cases from previous years).
In the end, the total number given asylum in 1999 was 627 and this year it is 1,855 (to end November).
Large numbers of people from Nigeria, Afghanistan and Syria also applied for asylum this year.
Immigrants becoming Swiss: waiting in line for the ceremony to begin (photo: Ellen Wallace)
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The 23 October 2011 elections in Switzerland are now likely to include a right-wing popular initiative (citizen-launched vote) to limit immigration and re-negotiate the Schengen accord with the European Union.
Swiss citizens vote on several popular initiatives a year. This latest one is being launched by the UDC Swiss People’s Party, which voted 396-0 Saturday 28 May at a meeting in Einsiedeln, not far from Zurich, to protect the Swiss economy from what it sees as too great a burden imposed by foreigners immigrating into or working in Switzerland.
The UDC is known in German as the SVP.
Job quotas for frontaliers would be introduced
Frontalier, or cross-border workers are targeted as well: the initiative seeks to re-introduce quotas by country and to limit the numbers of jobs that can be held by workers who live across the border in France, Germany, Austria and Italy. Figures published 26 May show the number of cross-border workers, especially in the Geneva area, growing significantly in the first three months of 2011, after a lull.
The UDC’s declaration Saturday deplores the negative impact on the economy of immigrant workers, while nodding in passing at their contribution to the economy.
“This problematic situation is the result of the free movement of persons with the European Union, a lax approach to family regroupings, the presence of many clandestine people and the increase in the number of asylum seekers,” says the UDC declaration Saturday. “According to forecasts by the Federal Office of Statistics, the population will continue to grow massively until 2035, thanks to immigration. As many as 10 million people could soon be living in Switzerland, if the different scenarios that have been laid out are to be believed.”
Swiss natural population growth, and international immigration: the federal gov’t forecasts
Ed. note: these are part of a series of federal maps, not including one showing inter-cantonal migration. This explains the difference between total growth in cantons such as Vaud, and the sum of natural growth and international migration. Note that the figures are per thousand, so in percentages, natural growth in Vaud, for example, is 1.8 percent, compared to international immigration, which is 8.6 percent. Read more…
(GenevaLunch) – Denmark is stepping up its border controls, in response to pressure from an anti-immigration right-wing party, and Friday 13 May the European Union reacted by rebuking the country for not respecting EU Schengen rules that allow for the free movement of people. The news was widely covered by France and Italy, who have recently been calling for a review of EU immigration rules in the wake of North Africa’s political unrest. Danish officials have said the new random border checks respect the rules, even though they are carried out at customs posts, because they are random rather than systematic.
Links to other sites: Daily Mail, UK, DW-World, Germany, Europa, France 24, Irish Times
Switzerland: IMF checks economic winds in 2011
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The IMF (International Monetary Fund) in its annual country report on Switzerland says the economy is broad-based in the aftermath of the global economic crisis. It is forecasting 2.1 percent growth for 2011 and 1.8 percent in 2012, when it expects exports to fall.
“Domestic demand is benefiting from low interest rates, increased employment and continuing immigration. In spite of the strength of the Swiss franc, exports have grown due to increased global demand.” Geopolitical tensions could have a negative impact and are the biggest risk factor, agreed the IMF team, who visited Switzerland from 18 to 28 March. Tensions in the euro zone could also spark difficulties.
The SNB (Swiss National Bank) could consider tightening monetary policy, the IMF group says, with rebuilding its capital a priority. The central bank’s capital was drained during the crisis, as were those of many governments. Future dividends to the cantons and the Confederation should be made subject to the ability of the SNB to replenish its capital.
The heaviest criticism was reserved for the banking regulatory system, which needs further work, according to the IMF. The Federal Department of Finance will create a working group to follow up one issue: the mandates of the SNB and Finma, the financial supervisory body, should be clarified, according to the IMF.
Additional capital requirements provided for in the Federal Council’s “too big to fail” consultation draft will be instrumental in limiting the risks posed by systemically important banks. Consequently, the IMF experts warn against allowing overly generous “rebate” possibilities. Switzerland’s new capital requirements are among the most stringent in the world, going well beyond bank capital requirements that are part of the new, global BIS (Bank for International Settlements) Basel agreement.
In the mortgage market, the IMF sees a certain degree of easing in financial institutions’ lending standards, says Bern. “The interest-rate sensitivity of banks’ balance sheets has increased due to the tendency towards fixed-rate mortgages with long maturities” and the IMF is in favour of “implementing more conservative affordability standards”, which could be bad news for new home owner wannabes.
The IMF has given its support to several ongoing improvements:
- “The neutral fiscal position to be expected over the next few years is considered appropriate” says Bern’s statement on the IMF visit
- the measures to restructure disability insurance must continue
- the IMF welcomes the ongoing efforts to strengthen financial planning and statistics.
Up to 50 people may have drowned when their flimsy fishing boat smashed up on rocks in heavy seas on the coast of Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean. Acting Prime Minister Wayne Swan confirmed 15 December that “a number of people” had died. The boat is thought to have carried some 70 asylum seekers, who often leave Indonesia in fishing boats hoping to reach Australia. The weather in the area has been very bad with 3-metre swells and little visibility, according to local news reports.
Australian news reports say that people on the island watched helplessly as the vessel broke up on the rocks and tossed its passengers into the sea. Australia’s navy and customs boats patrol the seas to try to stem the flow of illegal immigrants. Christmas Island is a major “detention” centre for the boat people whose claims to migrate are evaluated there, rather than on the mainland. Illegal immigration has been a contentious political issue in Australia, and many opponents of current immigration policy have said that the Australian presence in the seas could have averted the disaster, according to ABC News.
Links to other sites: ABC News, The Australian, LA Times
Canada and the USA are set to announce a major initiative to streamline cross-border travel and commerce, the National Post reports 8 December, by meshing the two countries’ security bureaucracies more closely. The initiative aims at reducing bottlenecks for trade that Canada sees is increasingly hampered by US security concerns. “We intend to work together to enhance the security of our integrated transportation and communication networks,” says a draft version of the joint declaration obtained by the Toronto Sun. Officials in both countries declined to comment on the reports.
US security concerns are an important factor in the flow of trade and people across the border since 9/11. A similar agreement, known as the Security and Prosperity Partnership agreement of 2005 between Canada, Mexico and the USA, foundered on criticism that said the aim was to create a North American trade area, similar to the European Union.
US concerns were highlighted last month when a young Chinese man boarded a flight to Canada disguised as an elderly Caucasian man. He has applied for refugee status in Canada, reports the Toronto Sun.
Unemployment hits foreigners harder than Swiss
Streets of Zurich: 22.2% of residents in Switzerland are foreigners
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The rate of growth of resident foreigners as part of the Swiss population is picking up, with a 2.2 percent increase in 2009, new federal statistics show. Germany and Italy lead with the way, with European Union citizens accounting for two-thirds of the increase. Switzerland at 31 Dcember 2009 had 1,802,300 resident foreigners, not including diplomatic and international organization employees.
Switzerland has the highest percentage of foreigners in Europe, after tiny Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, 22.9 percent of the population and one in four workers.
Long-term residents
Nearly 21 percent of resident foreigners were born in Switzerland and nearly 40 percent of those born abroad have lived in the country for at least 15 years and 15 percent have been in Switzerland for at least 30 years.
Asylum-seekers a small percentage
Only 2.2 percent of the resident foreign population, some 40,000 people were in the process of consideration for asylum, with another 1.1 percent having recently demanded asylum.
Higher unemployment, lower wages for foreigners
The definitive figures for 2009, published by the Swiss statistics office Thursday 23 September show several changes in the foreign population, as well as some marked differences between resident foreigners and the Swiss.
People arriving to Switzerland fuels population growth
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss population will continue to grow during the next decades and will surpass the nine-million mark, says the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, OFS.
The growth will be mainly fueled by immigration and will likely go from 7.8 million people, registered in 2009, to 9 million in 2060. By then, the OFS says, 28 percent of the population will be 65-years of age, or older.
A growing population is also a more economically active population the study says. In 2009 there were 4.5 million economically-active persons but, according to the OFS, by 2021 that number will grow to 4.7 million.
Recently a study published by the Swiss federal immigration office showed that one of every five residents in Switzerland is foreigner, and most of them come from EU-member States.
Changes to immigration
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland made several changes in its approach to immigration in 2009, putting an emphasis on better integration of foreigners, including language requirements for citizenship. Now a new report published by the federal government highlights the role foreigners and immigrants play in Swiss society. It includes figures for the end of 2009.
In an unrelated study, a professor at the University of Lausanne and her team of researchers developed a programme that teaches multiple lifestyle changes to predominantly migrant preschoolers and their parents in Switzerland, part of broader efforts to improve integration.
The programme, funded in part by Health Promotion Switzerland and the Swiss National Science Foundation, is called “Ballabeina”, which means seesaw in Rhaeto-Romanic, a Latin language spoken in parts of Ticino and Graubuenden. Professor Jardena Pudery says, “The name stands for a life in motion but also in balance.” The programme helps the children reduce body fat and improve fitness.
Two million people out of a Swiss population of just over seven million have immigrated to Switzerland or are direct descendents of immigrants since the second world war. One in four people in the country’s working population holds a foreign passport.
Foreign nationals account for 21 percent of the total population, one of the highest rates in Europe. And immigrants contribute more to demographic growth in Switzerland than in countries traditionally known as immigrant nations, such as the US, Canada and Australia.
One in 10 Swiss citizens resides abroad.
Figures for the end of 2009 show:
Swiss births up, new mothers older, divorces down
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Foreigners made up 21.98 percent of the Swiss resident population in 2009, figures released by the Federal Statistics Office show, a relatively stable percentage. Overall, the resident population of Switzerland continued to grow at a steady pace, to 7,783,000, with a foreign population of 1,711,000. The increase in the total population was due mainly to a positive migratory figure (immigration minus emigration), with immigration accounting for 81 percent of the total growth.
The birth rate rose by 2 percent, with both the Swiss and foreigners showing increases.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A Swiss mother of a two-year-old child who returned to Zurich on vacation in January 2008, then refused to retun to the US, has been told by the Swiss high court that she must respect the decision of a US court and return the child to the United States.
A three-part special on housing and the international population in the Lake Geneva region: part 1
(Also see part 2: Myth and reality: how housing in the Lake Geneva region adds up)
Geneva, Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland’s population grew by 1.6 percent in 2007, the highest rate since 1963, thanks to immigration fueled by a healthy economy and the country progressively opening up to the Schengen Area free movement of labour, starting in 2002. One result was to put more pressure on the demand for housing, especially in the Lake Geneva region where demand has long been greater than supply.
A new peak in housing demand in 2008 in canton Geneva coincided with new construction falling off, leaving Geneva with an apartment vacancy rate of 0.25 percent on 1 June 2008, the date when national figures are compiled.
