Government calls for easing of citizenship laws

New government proposals aim to make it easier for third generation foreigners to hold a Swiss passport Keystone Archive

Following a wide-ranging consultation procedure, the Swiss justice ministry is to put forward set of proposals aimed at easing naturalisation which will be put into a draft and presented to parliament.

The main points include giving automatic citizenship to so-called third generation foreigners, defined as children born in Switzerland to foreign parents, and easing the citizenship procedure for young foreigners who went to school in Switzerland.

Other considerations include granting a right to appeal to immigrants who have had their citizenship requests rejected, lowering the fee an applicant has to pay and reducing the statutory residency period to become eligible for citizenship from 12 to eight years.

The justice minister, Ruth Metzler, described the measures as an important step towards integration. She added that sound and considered policies, rather than rushed ones, would win over the support from the Swiss public in this matter.

But if and when the issue goes to the ballot box, voters could very well reject the amendments as they have with similar proposals to ease naturalisation in the past two decades.

Although the justice ministry is now writing a draft of the proposals, the governmental agreement on changing citizenship laws was far from unanimous. Four cantons rejected the proposals adding weight to the right-wing Swiss People’s Party’s strong opposition to the government’s plans.

Switzerland’s foreign population is among the highest in Europe, at nearly 20 per cent. This has caused tensions in society and the education system in particular.

However, voters last year turned down a proposal to set a cap of 18 per cent on the proportion of foreigners.

swissinfo with agencies