Today in Switzerland
Dear Swiss Abroad,
Today I have three stories concerning Swiss Abroad. First, a story with a happy ending: a woman who was born Swiss and adopted by an Australian couple thought for a long time that her Swiss citizenship had been forfeited. Now, after countless hurdles and thanks to a lawyer, she has been able to prove that she is entitled to a Swiss passport.
Second, protests in Georgia have meant a Swiss pizzeria there has had to close, but the pizzas are still flying out of the oven – and fuelling protesters. Third, a Swiss family wanting to emigrate to Canada turned to a website that promised to help with the formalities, but apart from being frustrated and out of pocket the family have nothing to show for it.
And finally: a new protection concept for the mountain village of Brienz in the Bernese Oberland: will a diversion of the Milibach stream save the village from further disaster?
Best wishes from Bern.
How an adopted woman from Australia obtained her Swiss passport after a legal odyssey.
Cate Riley appeared to be facing a mountain bigger than the Matterhorn, but she never gave up. Cate was born Margrith in Australia in 1970 to Swiss parents. But their relationship did not last long. As a single parent, her mother felt compelled to give her daughter up for adoption.
Her foster family renamed her Catherine Nicole. After seeing her adoption files for the first time in 1991, she began searching for her birth parents. Six years later, she found them both. Since then, she has had only one wish: to become Swiss.
But she was up against Swiss bureaucracy. She experienced repeated setbacks, as she told my colleague Melanie Eichenberger. But now, with the help of a lawyer in Switzerland, she was able to prove that she had never actually lost her citizenship and was therefore entitled to a Swiss passport. A happy ending? “I’ll probably only realise it when I hold the passport in my hand,” she said.
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The dream of a Geneva family who wanted to emigrate to Canada has been dashed. Instead of receiving help with the immigration process as promised on a website, they were cheated out of thousands of francs by shady “experts”.
The “Living in Canada” website promised help with the paperwork involved in immigrating to another country. The service cost around CHF7,000 ($7,900). “Within two weeks, we had come a long way with our application,” the woman told the Tribune de Genève. They had submitted all their identification documents: copies of passports, identity cards, bank statements, employment references, driving licences and marriage contracts.
But after these initial steps, there was only silence. Emails and phone calls went unanswered. It was a similar story for other victims, who reported payments, a lack of service and constantly changing contact people. The family now fears that their personal data could be misused.
The website advertises misleading guarantees of success and denies any responsibility. The Canadian authorities warn against such offers and emphasise that no payments may be demanded for guaranteed visas or for entry. Investigations are underway against individuals. However, the family and other victims are left to foot the bill.
- The Tribune de Genève articleExternal link (French, paywall)
Another Swiss Abroad is making a name for himself in Georgia, where people are taking to the streets to protest. A Swiss man is supplying them with his pizzas throughout the cold nights.
In Georgia, demonstrators are engaged in fierce battles with the police. They are protesting against the country’s decision to abandon its pro-European course. In the middle of it all: a Swiss man and his pizzas.
As 20 Minuten reports, Rainer Kyburz (pictured) from Aargau is delivering the Italian speciality all night long, as his restaurant is currently closed due to the protests.
“These are long, cold nights and it’s difficult to get food around the protests,” Kyburz said. His pizzaiolos bake on a piecework basis, he says. For him, this is a good form of non-violent protest.
- Find out more in the 20 Minuten articleExternal link (German)
Following the major flooding in the summer, which caused millions in damage, a project team is now proposing a new protection concept for the Bernese village of Brienz.
In the summer of 2024, something happened that nobody thought possible: after a huge thunderstorm over Brienz, the Milibach stream turned into an all-consuming flow of debris within a very short space of time. People in the neighbourhood only had a few minutes to get to safety. Two people were injured. Fortunately, there were no fatalities.
The reason for the accident was the 12 metre-high debris collector which was soon full. Some 50,000 cubic metres of stones, trees and mud washed through parts of the village.
The project team responsible has now presented a protection concept to the population: the Milibach stream is to be diverted and in future will no longer flow into the lake between the church and the cemetery, but a little further to the west. However, this also means that some of those affected will have to cede land.
- The SRF News articleExternal link (German)
Switzerland in a picture
An excerpt from the video “Did You Know You Have a Broken Glass in the Window?” (2020) by Italian artist Anna Franceschini in the exhibition “Fresh Window, The Art of Display & Display of Art” at the Museum Tinguely in Basel.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
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