It is worth recalling that today, under the ordinary procedure, foreigners who have lived legally in the country for at least 12 years can expect to obtain a Swiss passport. With the entry into force of the new law, this period will be reduced to 10 years, but the requirements for candidates will also be tightened. Thus, as NashaGazeta.ch notes, the Confederation's migration legislation remains very strict towards newcomers.
Some believe that obtaining citizenship of the host country contributes to faster and more successful integration of immigrants, while others are convinced that a Swiss passport is nothing more than the crown, a kind of reward for contributing to the social and economic life of the new homeland. It can only be earned through years of hard work.
Who is right? A group of scientists from the Universities of Zurich, Stanford, and Mannheim tried to answer this question as part of work supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). Its authors used data from 46 German-speaking municipalities on the results of anonymous voting on granting Swiss citizenship from 1970 to 2003 (it should be noted that today such a practice is prohibited).
Out of 2,225 candidates, 768 people were selected whose naturalization decisions were approved or rejected during this procedure. No correlation was found between gender, age, language proficiency, length of residence in Switzerland, or country of origin of the candidates – that is, factors that could influence the outcome of the vote. 'For migrants whose candidacies are separated by only a few votes, and who, for example, received 49% 'for' instead of the required 51%, obtaining Swiss citizenship turned out, in the end, to be purely a matter of luck,' emphasizes Professor Jens Hainmueller, a researcher at Stanford University.
By tracing the subsequent fate of immigrants who applied for citizenship, whose results in the final vote were close (but the outcome was not always favorable for the candidates), the scientists reached the following conclusions. Those who managed to obtain a Swiss passport more than 15 years ago turned out to be better integrated into society. This is evidenced by such details as interest in publications in the Swiss press, participation in various associations and political movements, as well as the intention to live in retirement in their new homeland.
At the same time, the positive effect is most noticeable among representatives of marginalized groups – people from Turkey and the former Yugoslavia, who had to overcome the strongest prejudices of society during naturalization. In principle, Swiss citizenship has benefited everyone born outside the Confederation, adds Giuseppe Pietrantuono, representing the University of Zurich.
As for integration into the country's political system, newcomers after obtaining a passport reach approximately the same level as native Swiss. Foreigners whose citizenship request was rejected turned out (quite logically) to be less active in this area.
'Our study shows that naturalization promotes long-term social and political integration. Moreover, the positive effect is all the more noticeable the earlier citizenship is granted,' sums up Dominik Hangartner from the University of Zurich.
Switzerland, whose citizenship is more difficult to obtain than naturalization in many neighboring countries, could benefit from the observations made, the study's authors hope.