While Switzerland's great quality of life keeps attracting new expats, a new study by the Federal Statistical Office reveals that most are likely to leave within a decade. This might partly be explained by how integrating into Swiss culture in the long-term presents many challenges.
57% of expats who migrated to Switzerland in 2011 have left by 2021
In October 2022, the Swiss Federal Statistical Office published the results of a longitudinal demographic study that spanned the 2011-2021 decade. It showed that out of 200,000 foreign nationals who immigrated to Switzerland in 2011, a startling 57% (114,000) were no longer on Swiss territory by the end of December 2021.
Only very few expats who moved to Switzerland in 2011 eventually became naturalized: 3%, that is 6000. The number is logically very low because, in most cases, foreigners need to have been residents for 10 years before becoming citizens.
How many expats changed their status to permanent residents over the course of the study? Around 53,000, or slightly over 26% of the newcomers of 2011, obtained Permit C (Swiss Permanent Residence Permit) by 2021. This is a fairly low number over the course of an entire decade.
Most of these new permanent residents had initially entered the country in 2011 with a Permit B – a temporary, 5-year residence and work permit. Unsurprisingly, many of these expats were from the European Union (EU) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA – Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein). Freedom of movement ensures that they can easily obtain that permit. Many highly-skilled economic expats from Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Americas also tend to enter Switzerland with a Permit B. As for refugees, they mostly came from Africa and South America.
While high-skilled expats, especially those from the EU/EFTA and other “developed” countries, linger longer than refugees, they also eventually tend to leave. One of the charts published by the Federal Statistical Office shows that, on average, men from Africa, many of whom are refugees, returned home after only 10 months in Switzerland, while North American men left after an average of 2 years.
What could be the reasons behind expats' unwillingness or inability to remain in Switzerland in the long term? It's well-known that the country has one of the highest costs of living worldwide, but salaries (including the minimum wage) are commensurately high. Switzerland also lacks ease of settling in for expats. While the country is safe, stable and has excellent quality of life, it can be hard to learn the local languages and make Swiss friends.
The complexity of local languages complicates the integration process
The first barrier to integration is linguistic. For such a geographically small country, Switzerland is extremely linguistically complex.
It has four official languages, German, French, Italian and Romansch, which are spoken in different parts of the country. Furthermore, the dialects of German, French and Italian spoken there are quite different from the languages used in Germany, France, Canada and Italy. The most commonly spoken out of these four is Swiss German: it is the native tongue of 62% of all Swiss.
The legal requirements for integration, as listed in the Foreign Nationals and Integration Act, include language skills. Expats who will live in Switzerland for over 3 months need to sign an Integration Agreement with their local canton. This agreement makes expats promise that they will respect the country's laws, participate actively in society through work or education, and learn German. The canton subsequently makes them attend language and integration courses.
But here's the problem: many expats find Swiss German difficult to learn. On Quora and Reddit forums, expats say that even if they have taken standard German classes, the dialect spoken in real life is very different. As reported in a 2010 article by Swissinfo, even native speakers from Germany struggle with the dialect. There aren't many textbooks explaining the dialect's rules, so it's possible to only learn it through intensive socialization with the Swiss.
Not mastering the local dialect contributes to feeling like outsiders even after many years in the country. Like an Italian expat on a Quora thread says, "It's frustrating living in a country being aware that you will never master its local language." This makes expats more likely to leave after a few years.
The reserved nature of society also makes integration difficult
On the popular YouTube channel "How to Switzerland," the American expat Sarah Nourse made a video to respond to her followers' assumptions about living in the country. One of the assumptions was that "Swiss people are cold and unfriendly." She responded that it's only partially true. She says that while it's true that Swiss people are very reserved when first meeting strangers, they do become friendly when they get used to you.
Sarah Nourse says that this can be hard for expats from much more "extroverted" countries to understand. For instance, in her native country of the US, service workers or strangers in public transit will easily strike up a conversation with you or at least greet you with a sunshiny "Hi! How was your day?". This will simply not happen in Switzerland.
Swissinfo recommends joining a club in your canton. 42% of all Swiss people are members of a sports, games or movie club, of which there are about 80,000 in the whole country. It's the easiest way to make Swiss friends. Friend groups in Switzerland can be very "clique-like”: given the small size of the country, most Swiss people are still friends with people they knew from elementary school, university or old-standing clubs.
Even if there are avenues to making Swiss friends, it nevertheless remains difficult. The Swiss have strong regional identities, which are hard for the foreign-born to fully acquire. On the Quora thread “What are the downsides to living in Switzerland?", a Polish expat explains that one of the reasons he decided to relocate from Zurich to London after only a few years was that he didn't feel he could truly "belong there." He says this is also the case of other expats he knew in Switzerland.
The Swiss government has earmarked 130 million Swiss francs (about the same amount in US dollars) to promote the integration of foreigners between 2024 and 2027. However, issues that cannot be fully controlled by government programs – such as making friends – will likely still keep affecting the emigration rates of foreigners.
