Abstract
ABSTRACTSince the 1990s, Swiss immigration policies have placed increasing restrictions on non-European Union (EU) immigrants. However, in 2011, based on the initiative of Jacques Neirynck, the Swiss Parliament approved a law facilitating the admission and integration of non-EU nationals with a Swiss university degree. How can this policy openness in times of closure be explained? Drawing on the narratives of stakeholders during parliamentarian debates, and interviews with key political actors, we propose a unique explanatory approach combining: (1) the convincing narratives of steering crafted by parliamentarians, (2) an appropriate temporal and geographical context, and (3) the biographical capacity of the policy initiator to effect policy change. This model will be useful for studies of migration policy change in general.
Highlights
As the increase in globalised human mobility continues, contemporary states face a major dilemma: how to control migration flows while simultaneously attracting highly skilled workers? As a result of this tension, migration policies are becoming increasingly selective
We propose an original three-fold approach to explain policy liberalisation towards nonEU students, which involves assessing (a) the effectiveness of the narratives of steering used by policy elites to convince MPs of the need for policy change, (b) how favourable the spatio-temporal context is for such narratives to succeed, and, (c) to what extent a policy initiator’s biographical capacity places him/her in a legitimate position to push for change
Using the concept of narratives of steering, this paper examined the recent policy shift in Switzerland to facilitate the international mobility and labour market integration of non-European Union (EU) graduates of Swiss universities, despite prevailing restrictive policies towards non-EU immigrants
Summary
As the increase in globalised human mobility continues, contemporary states face a major dilemma: how to control migration flows while simultaneously attracting highly skilled workers? As a result of this tension, migration policies are becoming increasingly selective. Following Jacques Neirynck’s initiative in 2008, the Swiss Parliament approved amendments of the Foreign Nationals Act, and of the Regulation on Admission, Residence and Employment concerning non-EU nationals, that can be summarised as follows: (1) international students are no longer required to submit a declaration confirming their intent to leave Switzerland immediately after completing their tertiary education; (2) graduates of Swiss universities are provisionally admitted to stay in Switzerland for six months after graduation to seek employment matching their qualifications; (3) graduates are not subjected to the priority rule giving Swiss and EU citizens priority over jobs if the prospective employment is of ‘high scientific or economic interest’ for Switzerland; and (4) the years spent by graduates studying at a Swiss university may be counted retrospectively to obtain long-term residence status (Federal Office for Migration (FOM) 2010; Vaitkeviciute 2017) These changes represented a significant opening-up of migration policy differing from the former restrictive policies aimed at avoiding competition from non-EU nationals. This paper aims to fill a part of this research gap by achieving a deeper understanding of why policy openness in times of closure occurs
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