Swiss Citizenship

• Author: Tanusha Selimi - Darjel Sina
• Position: Researcher, PhD candidate, European University of Tirana - Associate Professor
• Pages: 106-133

106

Vol. 5 No.1

May, 2019

Balkan Journal of Interdisciplinary Research

IIPCCL Publishing, Graz-Austria

ISSN 2410-759X

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

Swiss Citizenship

Tanusha Selimi

Researcher, PhD candidate, European University of Tirana

Darjel Sina

Associate Professor

Abstract

The desire for naturalization and the aspiration to be member with all the e ects of one society

and to participate on the life of the community is a constitutional right of the foreigners who

have lived many years inone society1. At the moment that a person is going to present an

application for the acquisition of the citizenship of the country where he has been leaving

for many years, he declares his goal to be integrated as a member of the society with all the

rights and duties that will follow the acquisition of the citizenship of the country. Its means

also that the person with the naturalisation has achieved the highest level of integration in

the country. At the end of April 2014 there were 1. 906.753 million foreigners in Switzerland,

which make 3,3% more than the previos year. The number of citizens outside EU/EFTA was

611.039 (2013 601.388) which is 1.6 % more than the previous year. At the middle of May 2013

until April 2014 there were 151.852 people that have immigrated to Switzerland. The fi rst

on line were the people from Kosovo (14.414), a er them portugals +12.599, germans + 7503,

italians +6937 and french+6285. With about 27% of its working-age population being foreign-

born, Switzerland has together with Australia and Luxemburg one of the largest immigrant

populations in relative terms in the OECD2.

Keywords: immigration, quotas, ius sanguinis, ius solis.

*Public Commissioner at Ve ing Institution. Prof. Asoc. Dr. Darjel Sina Gratuated at the

National Kapodistrian University of Athens in Law. Post Doc University of Zurich with the

Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship

I. Introduction

The writing of this article will be focused on the process of acquisition of the Swiss

citizenship and the cases of losing it. The article is structured as follows. The fi rst

section outlines the defi nition of the concept of citizenship and will be given a picture

of the naturalisation process during the years in Switzerland and OECD countries.

This section provides the integration process of immigrants into the Swiss society and

the positive impact that naturalisation has itself. On this section it wil be mentioned

the dual citizenship in Switzerland and the OECD countries. The second section

outlines the international criteria of obtaining citizenship. Switzerland applies the

Ius Sanguinis principle on a three institutional level (Federal, cantonal, municipal).

It wil be mentioned the ordinary and facilitated acquisition of the Swiss citizenship.

1 Wanner, P. and Steiner, I. (2012). Naturalisation en Suisse-Evolution 1992-2010, p. 19.

2 Liebig, T. et al. (2012), “The labour market integration of immigrants and their children in Switzerland”,

OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers No. 128, Directorate for Employment, Labour and

Social Affairs, OECD Publishing, pg. 2-4.

107

Vol. 5 No.1

May, 2019

Balkan Journal of Interdisciplinary Research

IIPCCL Publishing, Graz-Austria

ISSN 2410-759X

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

The fi nal section outlines the recommendations about the acquisition system of

citizenship in Switzerland.

A. Defi nition of Citizenship

The interesson the citizenship is rooted in the reinvigoration of this concept

in wider political-philosophical debates on civil society, social cohesion, and

communitarianism3.Citizenship in a broad sense, although it remains something

of a contested concept4, refers to membership and participation in a community5;

additionally, it denotes both entitlements and responsibilities which a ach to the

citizens who belong to the said community6.Citizenship is a status, is the legal link

between a person and the state. It is o en understood as including political rights7.

Citizenship then, it is the culmination of incorporation into a society8. Bellamy has

identifi ed rights, participation and solidarity as the key componentsof contemporary

citizenship9.The notion of European Union citizenship10, whichhas its own distinctive

features, complements (rather than replaces) national citizenship and is now formally

articulated in Articles 17–22 EC as inserted by the Treaty of Maastricht in 1992.Many

scholars in the migration and ethnic relations fi eld have done in distinguishing

di erent citizenship models or regimes11. These authors have come up with three

types of citizenship regimes, each defi ning a specifi c institutional and discursive

se ing for political contention over migration and ethnic relations. The fi rst regime,

labeled “ethnic” or “exclusive,” denies migrants and their descendants access to

the political community or at least makes such access very di cult by way of high

(institutional and cultural) barriers to naturalization. Germany is usually the typical

example for this model; other examples that are mentioned in the literature include

Austria, Switzerland, and Israel. The second type of regime, labeled “assimilationist”

or “republican,” and exemplifi ed by France or the old “melting pot” approach in the

United States, provides for easy access to citizenship, among other things through jus

soli acquisition at birth, but requires from migrants a high degree of assimilation in

3 Walzer, Michael. (1983). Spheres of Justice. New York: Basic Books, p. 98. Schlesinger, Arthur D. 1998.

The Disuniting of America: Refl ections on a Multicultural Society. Rev. ed. New York: Norton, p. 56.

Steenbergen, Bart van, ed. (1994). The Condition of Citizenship. London: Sage, p.67.

4 Faist, T. (2001). ‘Social Citizenship in the European Union’, Journal of Common Market Studies 39:1, pg.

37–58.

5 Marshall, T.H. (1950), Citizenship and Social Class, p. 78.

6 Kofman, E. (1995), ‘Citizenship for Some but not for Others: Spaces of Citizenship in Contemporary

Europe’, Political Geography 14:2, pg. 121–137.

7 Fleiner, Th. Misic, A, Töpperwien, N. (2012), Constitutional Law in Switzerland, p. 189.

8 Curries, S. (2008). Migration, Work and Citizenship in the Enlarged European Union, p. 45.

9 Bellamy, R. (2004), ‘Introduction: The Making of Modern Citizenship, p. 6.

10 Shaw, J. (1997). ‘The Many Pasts and Futures of Citizenship in the European Union’, European Law

Review 22:6, pg. 554–572. Shaw, J. (1998), ‘The Interpretation of European Union Citizenship’, Modern Law

Review 61:3, pg. 293–317.

11 Castles, Stephen, and Mark Miller. (1993),The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in

the Modern World. London: Macmillan. Kleger, Heinz, and Gianni DAmato. (1995), "Staatsbiirgerschaft und

Einbiirgerung—oder: Wer ist ein Burger? Ein Vergleich zwischen Deutschland, Frankreich, undder Schweiz."

Journal fur Sozialforschung 35, no. 3/4: 259—98 Smith, David M., and Maurice Blanc. (1996),"Citizenship,

Nationality, and EthnicMinorities in Three European Nations." International Journal of Urban and

Regional Research 20, no. 1: 66-82.Safran, William. (1997), "Citizenship and Nationality in Democratic

Systems:Approaches to Defi ning and Acquiring Membership in the Political Community." International

Political Science Review 18, no. 3: 313-35.