A year ago, Switzerland allowed third-generation migrants to obtain citizenship
A year ago, they got the opportunity to apply for a passport in a simplified format, and it would seem that migration authorities should be overwhelmed with such candidates for the red booklet. It would seem, because reality looks different. What is the reason? As the portal Swissinfo.ch notes, there are several reasons.
Over the past year, just over a thousand people have taken advantage of the new opportunity, while only 309 applicants actually received a passport. These are the data from the Swiss Federal Migration Commission (Eidgenössische Migrationskommission – EKM). And this despite the fact that at least 25,000 people in the country are considered third-generation migrants, and at least 3,000 have shown practical interest in naturalization.
“In fact, we would very much like as many young third-generation migrants as possible to take advantage of this opportunity (to obtain a passport in a simplified manner),” says Walter Leimgruber, chairman of the EKM. According to him, “these people demonstrate an absolute degree of social integration, and they lack only the formal completion – the passport itself.”
“Public interests dictate clear priorities: young people born here and living in this country should be considered members of this country’s society. Citizenship rights play a significant role in this, providing opportunities to express oneself, including in the political arena,” Walter Leimgruber points out.
As EKM data show, many potential passport candidates simply could not, for example, provide documentary proof that one of their parents had attended a Swiss public school for the mandatory minimum of five years. For many, as Leimgruber says, “this circumstance became the main stumbling block on the path to citizenship.”
Many parents, as well as grandparents of such candidates, once worked in Switzerland as seasonal workers. At the same time, they long did not have the right to bring their families to Switzerland, only obtaining it after they managed to “convert” their seasonal residence permit in Switzerland into a permanent residence permit (category “B”).
Many parents of third-generation migrants therefore simply did not manage to accumulate the required five years of schooling. Later, they all underwent vocational education and training, but in the eyes of the authorities, this time “did not count.”
One of the conclusions reached by the EKM is that “the requirements and conditions for obtaining citizenship in a simplified manner were not optimally ‘tailored’ to the biographical characteristics of persons recognized as third-generation migrants.” The commission recommends also counting vocational training, considering it, along with the period of schooling, as time during which the basic foundations of social integration were laid. However, this would require amendments to the relevant legislation.
As the Swiss Federal Migration Commission indicates, its priority “is to organize the process of simplified naturalization for third-generation migrants under 25 as transparently, simply, and unbureaucratically as possible. In addition, the commission will make additional efforts to motivate all potential candidates to use the new rights and opportunities in the area of naturalization. Cantons and municipalities will have to take on part of the tasks of disseminating all necessary reference information.”
Recall that the decision to grant third-generation migrants the right to obtain citizenship in a simplified manner was made by the Swiss people in a referendum in February 2017. The corresponding legislative provisions came into force a year later, in February 2018.
Persons from the third generation of migrants under 25 who have attended a Swiss secondary school for at least five years and hold a residence permit of category “C” are eligible to obtain a passport through simplified naturalization.
In addition, one of their grandparents must also hold a residence permit in Switzerland, and one of their parents must have lived in the country for at least 10 years, with at least 5 years of secondary school. It is this circumstance that has turned out to be a serious problem.