Migratory flow: why so many foreigners leave Switzerland every year – RTS.CH

Switzerland is undoubtedly a land of immigration. Over the decade 2013-2022, net foreign immigration (the difference between immigrants and emigration) was an average of 66,000 people per year and contributed to the increase in the population up to 85%.

In 2023, the accounting in these statistics of more than 50,000 Ukrainian and Ukrainian refugees in Switzerland (previously not counted in the permanent resident population) even participated in raising the migration surplus at historical levels: +148,000 people of foreign nationality. This balance came down to almost 95,000 in 2024, according to provisional figures.

Supported immigration is reflected in the diversity of the Confederation population, made up of more than 30% of first generation immigrants – Switzerland is among the countries where this proportion is the highest. In total, more than 40% of people in Switzerland come from migration.

This is not without asking many social questions. If the first political force of the country, the UDC, is particularly looming with its fight against “uncontrolled immigration”, the migratory theme is, as in other countries, a subject of tension beyond the ranks of the sovereignist right-wing party.

Tens of thousands of emigrations each year

This reality, however, occults another: tens of thousands of foreigners leave Swiss territory each year, deliberately or more or less suffered. “We have a little tend to forget that immigrant people do not necessarily settle down,” notes the sociologist Liliana Azevedo, associate researcher at the Swiss research center on the NCCR migration – on the Move and the Portuguese Emigration Observatory in Lisbon.

Between 2013 and 2022, Switzerland saw an average of 155,000 foreign people per year arrive. At the same time, emigrations were around 90,000. Since the early 2000s, their number has increased more moderate, but more constant, than that of immigrants. In 2024, more than 95,000 people left, a slightly increased number compared to the previous year.

Most of the emigration within five years of arrival

The Federal Statistics Office (OFS) provides longitudinal data that allows you to learn more about the journeys of people who immigrate to Switzerland. These statistics follow a cohort of individuals who arrived in the country the same year and allow to observe their migratory trajectories as well as their status changes.

As is observed in other countries, the data show that departures are more frequent in the first years after the arrival. Of the 200,000 foreigners and foreigners who arrived in Switzerland in 2011 (all statutes combined), half had left the country five years later and almost 60% after eleven years. Most of the departures intervened in the first two years.

The OFS also provided Swissinfo statistics on all foreigners and foreign who immigrated to Switzerland between 2014 and 2023. This represents 1.85 million people accumulated during the decade, including those who had just arrived – including Ukraine refugees. At the end of 2023, 800,000 left, more than 40% of the whole.

When we question the immigrants born abroad on the time they plan to spend in Switzerland, the majority want to remain permanently. In 2021, almost two thirds declared that they wanted to stay there all their lives and 9% at least five years. The people who planned to leave earlier were very minority, and a quarter were indecisive.

Lasting residence permits are in the minority

So what can this discrepancy hold? Each decision to migrate is unique and depends on many factors, but explanation tracks can be put forward. First, the type of residence permit is a determining factor during the length of stay.

The majority of people who immigrate to Switzerland obtain a B or L license. The latter, planned for a maximum stay, is the most precarious. It concerned nearly a third of people who immigrated in 2011. More than 70% of them actually left. The most common, the most common residence permission B, concerned more than one in two immigrant people. Almost half of them have also left the territory.

On all people who arrived with a residence permit in 2011, only a minority had sustainably consolidated their right to remain in the country eleven years later: 30% had obtained a C -establishment permit – an indefinite authorization generally issued automatically after ten or five years of uninterrupted stay; 4% had been naturalized.

“work is what links people to Switzerland”

Obtaining and type of residence permit are often conditioned on employment. “Work is what links people to Switzerland,” notes Liliana Azevedo. With family reasons, work is cited as a major migration reason, whether it is to come to Switzerland or to leave. More and more people also say they plan to leave the country retired, a choice that can be motivated by economic reasons.

The success or failure of professional integration therefore play an important role in the migratory trajectory, and constitute a challenge all the greater for populations not controlling one of the main national languages, or whose qualifications are not recognized. “Unemployment, precarious or disqualified jobs are all obstacles to stay more than a few years,” said Liliana Azevedo.

Many people also come to Switzerland for a punctual professional or academic experience, but little attach to the country and leave it easily to continue their careers elsewhere. The free movement of people in Europe, which entered into force in 2002, has not only doped immigration to Switzerland, it has also favored a more international approach to labor. Today, “the courses are increasingly punctuated by multiple mobility”, concludes Liliana Azevedo.

Pauline canvas, swissinfo.ch

Adaptation for Rtsinfo: Didier Kottelat