Swiss immigration continues to slow
Date
4/20/2016 9:20:34 AM
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) The number of foreigners moving to Switzerland fell during the first quarter of 2016 as emigration rose continuing a recent slowdown in net immigration.
Government figures released on Tuesday showed that net immigration for the January to March period fell by 15027 people or -34.5% down on the same period last year.
The total number of people arriving fell by 9.7% in the first quarter while those leaving rose by 11.5% compared with 2015 according to the State Secretariat for Migration SEM.
There were both fewer people moving to Switzerland from the European Union or European Free Trade Association (EFTA) states (-38.4%) as well as from other parts of the world (-25.4%). A total of 32667 people from EU/EFTA states moved to Switzerland to work (-14.7% compared to 2015).
A total of 10880 people also moved to Switzerland to be reunited with their family members (-8% compared to 2015).
In March 2016 2004263 foreigners lived in Switzerland 68% of whom were EU/EFTA citizens according to the State Secretariat for Migration. Switzerland has a population of 8.2 million.
The slowdown during the first quarter of 2016 continues a phenomenon witnessed over the past two years.
Government data released at the end of 2015 showed net immigration dropped last year to 71500 people down 9.4% on 2014. A total of 150459 people came to Switzerland while 73444 people left.
Asylum
Requests for asylum in 2015 however swelled 66% to 39523. Around 1.4 million people – most fleeing crisis zones in the Middle East and Africa – sought refuge in Europe last year twice as many as in 2014.Almost 10000 (9966) Eritreans applied for asylum in Switzerland followed by 7831 Afghans and 4745 Syrians.
In the first quarter of 2016 asylum requests in Switzerland drastically declined with 45% fewer registered than at the end of 2015. Migration authorities attribute the slide to fewer people attempting to reach Europe over the so-called Balkan route.
SEM head Mario Gattiker expects the same overall number of asylum requests in 2016 as last year. The authorities and army are currently involved in contingency planning in the event of large influxes in particular via Italy this summer.
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