Whenever a vote on immigration approaches in Switzerland, Spanish-speaking groups are flooded with messages that mix legitimate concerns with rumours that have no basis in the text put to the vote. With the “Pas de Suisse à 10 millions!” initiative on 14 June, the cycle is repeating itself once again. It is worth reading what the text actually says and, above all, what it does not say.
The SVP’s initiative proposes that Switzerland’s permanent resident population should not exceed 10 million by 2050. If the threshold of 9.5 million is reached before that date, the Federal Council and Parliament would be obliged to take action. The measures explicitly mentioned in the text mainly concern asylum: people with provisional admission would no longer be able to obtain settlement permits, and family reunification would be restricted in certain cases. The text also includes a clause on compliance with peremptory international law.
What the text does not contain is any provision for the withdrawal of permits already granted or for the forced return of residents with stable legal status. Holders of B permits, C permits and G permits, and their family members with dependent permits, are not the target of this initiative. To claim otherwise without any basis in the text is simply incorrect. The Federal Council and Parliament reject the initiative, but because of its potential impact on bilateral agreements with the EU and on the Swiss economy, not because it would expel established residents.
There is a certain logic to the confusion: an initiative that talks about “controlling the number of residents” naturally causes anxiety, especially among those who have had to deal with permit renewals or complicated immigration procedures. But voting or commenting out of fear rather than on the basis of the text itself helps no one. The full text is available at admin.ch. It takes ten minutes to read and is worth more than a hundred WhatsApp posts.
- admin.ch, the initiative’s official website: https://www.admin.ch/fr/initiative-durabilite - ejpd.admin.ch, the Federal Council’s position: https://www.ejpd.admin.ch/fr/le-conseil-federal-rejette-linitiative-populaire-pas-de-suisse-a-10-millions- - rts.ch, analysis of the text: https://www.rts.ch/info/suisse/2026/article/plafonner-la-population-suisse-a-10-millions-un-objectif-simple-une-mise-en-uvre-complexe-29182359.html - bk.admin.ch, official initiative details: https://www.bk.admin.ch/ch/f/pore/vi/vis555t.html