Switzerland doesn’t mess around and uses sense in immigration hat all countries should follow, including the United States.
The idyllic wealthy nation where the average annual GDP per capita is nearly $80,000 doesn’t like deadbeats and leaching immigrants. The nation recently enacted a new civil rights act that prevents immigrant residents who received welfare benefits from becoming citizens until they pay back the money they took.
The new regulations took effect January 1. Asylum seekers and refugees who received handouts in the previous three years can’t become permanent residents without paying back the government.
What’s more, refugees must prove they are making efforts to integrate into society in order to win citizenship. They must show that have “cultivated contacts” with a number of Swiss people, according to Kronen Zeitung. There are also new language requirements, which vary depending on the canton they are living in, the Daily Mail reports.
Although not part of the European Union the Swiss Government did accept some families fleeing Syria.
In 2016, they announced they would take 3,000 asylum seekers from the war-torn country.
Switzerland’s tough stance is different from that taken by Germany in the past few years when the nation allowed more than 1 million refugees in. But after stiff pushback from German citizens, the country’s leaders are rethinking the move.
Late last year, Germany began offering rejected asylum-seekers who voluntarily move back to their home countries a one-time payment of $3,570. The Interior Ministry said those who qualify can apply by a February 28 deadline and would get the money when they get home, the Associated Press reported.
The Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported on Sunday that more than 8,600 refugees have already taken up Germany’s offered cash to go home over the last few months, but there are some 115,000 rejected asylum-seekers in Germany and the security situation is grim, as Germany had numerous terrorist attacks in 2017 alone.