Quote Originally Posted by GenosseGeneral View Post
Well, as a country of about 8 million, Switze%rland is home to about 2 million foreigners. That is about 25 % of the overall population.
The largest groups are Germans and Italians, both numbering somewhere around 300.000. Mostly, these are highly educated people who have moved to Switzerland because salaries are extremely high (I have been told, the average.worker at McDonald's in Zürich makes 27.5 Franks/hour - that is about the same in USD or a bit more than 20 Euros).
So since Switzerland is extremely wealthy, offers a high standard of living and is a part of Schengen, a good deal of people want to make use of that chance.
I am living a 10 min walk from the border, and guess where I look for a job for the upcoming holidays…

Anyway, as the Swiss always liked to point out that they are no Germans, Italians or French but Swiss, there are a lot of people complaining about how the country is flooded by foreigners, who do not know Swiss customs or who do not know the Swiss dialect. (The German-speaking Swiss have a very distinctive dialect.) Also they complained about trains being crowded because of too many foreigners and so on
Well and somehow, the Swiss people's party, has managed to get 50.3 % of Swiss to vote in favor of a proposition to limit immigration in order 'to keep Switzerland Swiss'.
Interestingly, this was favored most in rural and in German-speaking areas.

From my point of view, it is their choice. However not a smart one. By limiting immigration, your doctor will not learn your dialect. He simply won't be there next time.
Also, a lot of companies, especially high-tech ones, employ up to 60-80% foreigners. With this proposition passed, they will have to prove for every single one, that there was no Swiss person who could do his job.
So in the end, the Swiss will have to pay a price for their decision, a price to be paid in standard of living and prosperity.
I worked in Switzerland before, when they already had these laws.

Boss of the ski school made an insert in the local newspaper (to conform to the demands), that he needed a ski instructor, 187cm tall, qualified Alpine instructor with a history degree and who was fluid in Swedish. Oh, and he needed to be ranked Sgt. or more in the army as well.

Guess what? I GOT THE JOB!!

Don't underestimate the Swiss, they can still get the people they want, even WHILE keeping the trash out.