A fifth of he country’s residents are foreigners who obtained Swiss citizenship while still maintaining the nationality of their place of origin.
In 2024 – for which new data has just been published – 21 percent of Swiss citizens had at least one foreign nationality as well, a study published by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) reveals.
Regionally, the vast majority (nearly 50 percent) of the bi-nationals live in canton Geneva.
Next (33.9 percent) is Vaud, followed by Ticino (30.9), Basel-City (29.2), Neuchâtel (28.4), and Zurich (25.6).
In terms of nationality, most people who obtained Swiss citizenship via naturalisation while still maintaining their original one are from Kosovo (91.7 percent), followed by Serbia and North Macedonia (88.6 and 86.6, respectively), Portugal (82.3), Germany (72.9), Spain (60.2), the UK (58 ), Italy (55.5), and France (45.1).
What else do we know about these people?
While their home country still claims them as their own, on Swiss soil, they are regarded as citizens of Switzerland with all the rights and obligations this status commands.
So for all intents and purposes, from the legal perspective, these people are as ‘Swiss’ as their native counterparts – at least on paper.
As The Local reported in 2023, Swiss nationals with a migration background sometimes face more obstacles when looking for employment.
A team of researchers from the Swiss Forum for the Study of Migration at the University of Neuchâtel tested identical resumes, changing only the names.
Where the CV included a foreign-sounding name, applicants were required to send 30 percent more resumes in order to get a job interview, when compared with applicants with ‘traditional’ Swiss-sounding names.
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The same trend also emerged among people seeking to rent apartments in Switzerland.
Another study, by the National Center of Competence in Research, found that immigrants have less chances of getting an apartment, even though they have been naturalised and hold Swiss passports.
Researchers sent 11,000 fictitious applications in response to real estate advertisements.
They found that candidates with Kosovar or Turkish names (but many with Swiss passports) were not given as many opportunities to view apartments as non-foreign applicants.
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Do bi-nationals have to do the military service in Switzerland?
It depends.
All able-bodied Swiss men from the age of 18 until 30 are required to serve in the armed forces or in its alternative, the civilian service. Military service for women is voluntary.
This obligation extends to all male citizens, regardless of whether they are Swiss by birth or naturalisation.
Once they become Swiss citizens and are between the ages of 18 and 30, they can expect to be conscripted.
Some men, however, are exempted from this rule.
Let’s say a person who becomes naturalised in his 20s has already served in the armed forces of his country of origin. In this case, he will not be conscripted in Switzerland, but only if his service abroad was equivalent – in both intensity and duration – to that of the Swiss army.
READ MORE: Will dual citizens have to do military service in Switzerland?