[jpatokal]

Switzerland and Singapore aren't actually all that different here, although I'll readily admit Sg is more draconian -- eg. government permission is required for a Work Pass holder to marry a citizen!

But both make it very difficult for "unskilled" people to acquire residence or citizenship. This avoids the need to provide an option for social mobility among the lowest earners by ensuring that they get shipped out to become someone else's problem before they have kids, and some undemanding fresh meat is imported instead, because life as a maid/construction worker in Sg is still more lucrative than toiling in the fields in the Philippines/Bangladesh/etc.

[seanmcdirmid]

Switzerland doesn't import unskilled workers directly, they just get them as refuges that they accept. They do not take them in as short term residents, that would be very unswiss.

(lived in Switzerland for two years)

[_delirium]

The situation's changed post-Schengen, but Switzerland traditionally did have a guest-worker program, focused on short-term and seasonal workers who wouldn't gain any kind of rights. These were mostly from Europe, not refugees from elsewhere (the vast majority from Italy, with smaller numbers from Spain, Turkey, and Portugal). Under pressure, some were subsequently given residence rights, or (for those from EU countries) gained them later as a result of the Schengen treaty. See the section "Post-war labor migration" here: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/switzerland-faces-com...