Swiss citizens have come together to place a vote regarding their country's strict citizenship rules. The vote calls for easing the process for attaining the Swiss nationality for third-generation immigrants.
The law currently does not qualify individuals born in Switzerland for a citizenship. On the other hand, non-Swiss residents typically need to wait 12 years before applying for a citizenship request. The government interviews and tests involved are also highly expensive for everyone to be able to afford.
Projection from the start suggest that 59% of Swiss nationals voted in the affirmative to simplify and lax the rules. The proposal allows the exemption of third-generation immigrants from the strenuous tests and interviews involved in the naturalization process.
Third-generation immigrants are referred to as individuals who were born in Switzerland and whose parents as well as grandparents resided permanently in Switzerland. Supporters of the new plan argue over the ridiculousness of questioning people who were born and raised in Switzerland to prove their "integration".
This resulted in the right wing Swiss People's Party's defeat. According to BBC, It had forewarned that the measure was the first stage at allowing all of the Swiss immigrants - about 25 percent of the population - to attain citizenship.
Those who stood against the plan argued that the new proposal could result in the "Islamisation" of Switzerland as a country. A prominent opposition poster even went ahead to feature a niqab-clad woman despite the fact that the occurrence is rare in the country.
The Independent states that the new law when put into effect will change the lives of 25,000 people. The majority of these individuals are of Italian descent and origin.
The current vetting procedure inclusive of interviews that are executed by town councils aims to ensure that new citizens are well integrated. The questions asked of interviewees may even center round naming mountains or local cheeses.
In the past three decades, three attempts were made to relax the rules. However, all three attempts proved futile and were defeated.
