L’émigration illégale des Italiens en France et en Suisse après la Deuxième Guerre mondiale

The great size of the black labour market and the restrictive legal immigration policies of both the French and the Swiss State were the main causes for the illegal immigration of Italians to France and Switzerland after the Second World War. While the French State actively controlled and encouraged the immigration of foreignworkers by promoting settlement services to immigrants and their families, the Swiss immigration policy was characterized rather by reluctance and even hostility towards the reunification of immigrant families. In both countries, the restrictive nature of immigration policy was designed to reduce the number of foreign workersduring economic crises. However, it also complicated the recruitment of foreign workers during phases of economic growth. Illegal immigration enabled both the French and the Swiss State to add the necessary flexibility to this rigid framework.