ABSTRACT
Citizenship can be understood in its wider sense as full membership in the community, and encompasses civil, political, and social participation (Marshall 1950: 18). In the case of immigrants, labor market participation is a particularly important aspect of citizenship as their residence status and access to naturalization are often contingent on their employment situation. Access to the labor market, and to certain professions, however, is controlled by immigration legislation. In recent years immigration policies in Switzerland, and in Europe more generally, have emphasized the recruitment of skilled immigrants to bolster local human resources. In an increasingly globalized world, the underlying assumption of attracting skilled migrants is that their knowledge will fl ow easily into the local economy and that, precisely because the immigrants are better educated, they will integrate more rapidly.
