Author(s) : Gianni D’Amato
When people migrate, traditionally they tend to settle at their destination. Scholars have for the most part focused on immigration flows in a way that assumes permanent or long-term settlement. Demographic studies have given us a detailed picture of the immigrant population in Switzerland and how it has changed over time. Migration studies and related fields such as law, sociology, or economics have provided accounts of how the arrival of immigrants affects the resident population (e.g. Berry 2008; Borjas 1999). Some of these works also qualified notions of settlement and destination, and highlighted the diversity of migratory projects when entire life courses are considered (e.g. Faist 2000; Massey et al. 1994). A changed international environment and adoption of a new legal framework has induced major policy changes in Switzerland during the past decade, notably with the entry of force of the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons and the 2008 Foreign
Nationals Act. These changes have affected both markets and society in fundamental ways.