Conditions upon arrival

Once they arrive in Switzerland, migrants will have to start integrating into working life. Their place of education and language skills will affect both the conditions under which they join the labour force and the obstacles they encounter.

Education and requests for equivalence

In 2021, 66% of the population aged between 15 and 74 and born abroad had completed their highest level of education outside Switzerland.

Few people born and trained abroad make use of the possibility of having their foreign diploma recognised by Switzerland, in 2021 only 14% requested equivalence. 14% of people with an upper secondary education and 19% of those with a tertiary education made such a request.

Almost three quarters (73%) of those who made a request said that they had obtained the equivalence. The number of people who stated they obtained an equivalence is greater among those with a tertiary education: 82%, compared with 56% for those with other levels of education.

68% of people who did not request equivalence thought they did not need it to carry out their work.

Requests for equivalence, 2021
 

%

IC

Request

13.9

 1.2

Equivalence obtained

72.5

 4.3

Equivalence not obtained

22.7

 3.9

Being processed

4.3

2.3

No request

83.2

1.3 

Equivalence not needed

68.0

1.7

Did not know request was possible

5.5

0.8

Process too complicated, too expensive

3.9

0.7

Request impossible

3.8

0.7

Other reasons

16.0

1.3

No indication

2.9

 0.5

Source: FSO - Swiss Labour Force Survey (SLFS), migration module

Employment

Within the population born abroad who reported that they came to Switzerland for professional reasons, 68% had already found a job in Switzerland before migrating in 2022. The remaining third had not found a job prior to arrival.

Language skills

Language skills are central to a migrant's economic and social integration. A good command of one of Switzerland’s national languages can be seen as both an essential requirement and the result of successful integration.

In 2021, among the permanent resident population aged 15 to 74 who migrated to Switzerland after the age of four, 55% had no knowledge of or were beginners in one of the official languages of their canton of residence before their arrival in Switzerland. 7% had an intermediate level, and 38% had either main language or advanced language skills in one of the official languages of their canton of residence.

Further information

Tables

Methodologies

Place of education: Proportion of the permanent resident population aged 15 to 74 born abroad who completed their highest level of education abroad. Only upper secondary and tertiary education are taken into account.

Request for equivalence: Proportion of the permanent resident population aged 15 to 74 born abroad who requested equivalence for a foreign diploma.

Languages skills prior to immigration: Proportion of the permanent resident population aged 15 to 74 born abroad who immigrated to Switzerland after the age of four, by level of oral language skills in one of the official languages of their canton of residence prior to immigration in Switzerland:

- Main language or advanced level;
- Intermediate level;
- Beginner level or no knowledge.

Current language skills: Proportion of the permanent resident population aged 15 to 74 born abroad, by level of oral language skills in one of the official languages of their canton of residence:

- Main language or advanced level;
- Intermediate level;
- Beginner level or no knowledge.

Publications

Contact

Federal Statistical Office Section Demography and Migration
Espace de l'Europe 10
CH-2010 Neuchâtel
Switzerland

Contact

Remark

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https://www.bfs.admin.ch/content/bfs/en/home/statistics/population/migration-integration/international-migration/conditions-arrival.html