After two years of getting lower, the number of people who immigrated to Switzerland increased in 2011, with most coming from European Union countries.
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The Federal Migration Office confirmed on Sunday that last year 75,000 foreigners settled in Switzerland – 15 per cent up on 2010.
Since May 2011 – when Swiss quotas were eliminated to the eight new members of the EU – around 4,700 people have entered Switzerland from Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
Nevertheless, the majority of immigrants still come from “old” EU states.
The free movement of people accord – a bilateral treaty signed by Switzerland the EU – also applies to Bulgaria and Romania, which joined the EU in 2007, but quotas will remain in force till 2016.
According to the migration office’s latest “Immigration Monitor”, 1,772,279 foreigners live in Switzerland, three per cent more than in 2010. The total Swiss population is 7.8 million.
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