High-school student Selena Mercado was born in Switzerland, has gone to school in Switzerland, considers herself Swiss and dreams of a political career here one day. But her passport is from Chile, a country that she’s never set foot in but was home to her grandparents before they moved to this small Alpine nation decades ago.
Being born in Switzerland doesn’t mean automatically mean becoming Swiss, a situation echoed in a few other European nations.
On Sunday, Swiss voters will decide whether to make it easier for young “third-generation foreigners” like the 17-year-old Mercado, giving them the same fast-track, simplified access to Swiss citizenship that foreign spouses of Swiss nationals often enjoy.
The issue resonates in a country that has long taken in foreigners and underlines a dilemma faced across Europe these days: How best to integrate newcomers, if at all, at a time of rising nationalism.
Mercado is among thousands of foreigners who have become so integrated that they’re all but Swiss – just not legally.
“When I tell people I want to give back to Switzerland, they just say, ‘you can’t, you’re not Swiss,’ ” Mercado, who lives in the town of Vallorbe on the French border, said Friday in a phone interview.
The issue is one of three being considered in Sunday’s referendum, the latest installment of Switzerland’s direct democracy.
One referendum topic has to do with financing for infrastructure. The other – also with important implications for Switzerland’s relations with its neighbors – centers on corporate tax reform.
Polls suggest the “simplified naturalization of third-generation immigrants” will pass.