Switzerland: Study on practices in the area of regularisation of illegally staying third-country nationals in the Member States of the EU, Ref. JLS/B4/2007/05, Appendix A, Country Studies, Vienna: International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD)

The transformation of Switzerland into an immigration country took place at the same time as the industrial take-off during the second part of the nineteenth century. The proportion of foreigners in the total population increased from 3 per cent in 1850 to 14.7 per cent in 1910 (Mahnig & Wimmer, 2003). It was not until the 1888 that Switzerland’s net migration became positive. In 1931, the Federal Law of Residence and Settlement of Foreigners (Bundesgesetz über Aufenthalt und Niederlassung der Ausländer - ANAG) was enacted. It can be regarded as a ‘police law’ aimed at border control and the defence of the national territory, profoundly inspired by the international political context of the time, the economic crisis and a widespread xenophobia directed against a so-called ‘overforeignisation’ (‘Űberfremdung’) of the Swiss society (Mahnig & Wimmer, 2003). Since the Second World War, Swiss migration policy has been dictated by the need for unskilled labour. This led to the introduction of the system of ‘quotas’ (Kontigentierung) that depend on the demands of the labour market. Rotation of the labour force (‘guest worker system’) insured that immigration was temporary and prevented immigrant groups from durable settlement in the country. In 1970, the federal government set up the Central Register of Foreigners (RCE) for monitoring and recording the influx of foreign workers. Until recently Switzerland has been reluctant to acknowledge the stabilization of foreigners which already started in the 1970s (Wanner, Fibbi & Efionayi, 2005). (...)