Some migrants are being forced onto poverty by Swiss laws that can remove residency rights if they claim welfare payments, a conference has heard.

19 comments

  3. Honestly, it’s a bit controversial subject. People,who really cares about their residence are humble good citizens. From other hand, we see a huge families with 6 children (and that’s why they are not afraid to lose residence) and only one working parents. That family live thanks to this social help. So, they use and abuse the system on purpose.
    If the last piece of fear will be lifted, the system will collapse and we will see more poor people.

  5. The basic argument is this: If you are a resident, but not a citizen, then you are a citizen of some other country. If you cannot support yourself in Switzerland, then return to your home country to receive support.

    The devil is in the details, of course. If someone has been resident in Switzerland for a long time, and is just having a run of bad luck, I would hope the authorities would not revoke their residency.

  6. As an immigrant it’s clear to me that I should not rely on social benefits, and if I can’t support myself in Switzerland then I should go back to the shithole I came from. I don’t see why Switzerland needs to support civilians of other countries, this article is a joke.

  7. Does anyone know of Krankenkassenprämienverbilligung falls under this law? Asking for a friend.

  8. I’ve been fighting this since it took effect in 2008 (thanks, Blocher).

    And I dare anyone who wants to talk a big game at me about law and order and how it’s justified to threaten with deportation people who have fallen on hard times (many of whom have been here for decades and more often than not contributed into our system all that time) to come along with me to work (where I deal with the poverty fallout from this on the daily) and tell it to the faces of the affected elderly, families and kids.

  13. I’m a foreigner here, currently working on getting my C Pass.

    I’d rather starve than take RAV and prove some Bunzli right that “all foreigners do is come here, take RAV AND steal jobs.” We have a hard enough time trying to integrate and get by as it is.

  14. The problem that they needed the assistance, and if the assistance came from for example radical islamists if the migrant is Muslim? The extremists take advantage on the situation of difficulty and have return, acting like a sect.

  15. That seems pretty normal no? If you come to a foreign country on a work visa and lose that job, you have like 3 or maybe 6 months to find another employment before you loose your residency. It’s basically the same in Germany. In the article it says that C-Permit holders may get knocked back to B-Permit if they rely too heavy on social security, but can reapply to C-Permit, so they still do not have to leave (as much as I understand).

  16. What about someone who has been in a divorce process going on six years and is 140,000.00 chf in debt and the judge used it to push them out of the country, however stubbornness has stopped them from leaving their children.

    They are on a B visa, have been on RAV, have been homeless, have seen their children around three weeks in those six years.

    Their debt stops them from getting a C visa or citizenship and it is all because of the family law judge miscalculating their child support payments from the start?

  17. What i learnt about Switzerland that they are always only taking money from foreigners but when comes to them to pay anything back it’s a big nooooooo….

  18. This is nothing new, and honestly very understandable. If someone can’t even support themselves, why should they keep their right to live here?

  19. Hmm. How do I, an american….sneak into Der Schweiz and live there undocumented until I can claim permanent residency?

    I have a Rivella addiction, you see

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