Believing that more financial resources should be used for the integration of foreigners in Switzerland, the Swiss Federal Council requested 334.5 million francs for this purpose for the 2028–2032 period.
This amount is quite a bit higher than the 248.8 million francs distributed to the cantons for their integration programmes (PIC) from 2024 to 2027.
“Successful integration comes at a cost,” the government said.
It pointed out that the lack of integration “costs even more, so it is money well spent.”
That’s because integrated immigrants can work and support themselves financially, reducing the burden on Switzerland’s social services.
How exactly will this money be spent?
According to the Federal Council, “these funds will be used primarily for language support, information and counselilng services, as well as integration into education or the labour market.”
Individual cantons will also allocate funds of their own to reach these objectives – their share will be at least equal to that of the federal contribution.
READ MORE: When do the Swiss think a foreigner is successfully integrated?
Are these integration programmes successful?
According to the government, yes.
On the whole, “integration into the labour market is working very well in Switzerland,” the Federal Council said, pointing out that “the employment rate of immigrants is 77 percent, one of the highest in the OECD [the Oragnisation for Economic Cooperation and Development].
“Nearly half of these individuals hold highly skilled jobs, which is also a high figure internationally,” it added.
The government stressed that language skills are also an important factor for successful integration and the study shows that Switzerland performs well in this area: after five years, nearly half of those who previously had only a basic knowledge of a national language have acquired advanced skills, which is slightly above the EU average.
“The proportion of people actively striving to learn the language is significantly higher than average: 61 percent of immigrants reported having participated in language training,” authorities noted. “Access to subsidised language courses largely explains this success.”
READ MORE: Integration of immigrants in Switzerland ‘working very well’
