Switzerland should recognise the rights of young people born and raised here and who are well integrated into Swiss life. Adrian Wüthrich, president of trade union umbrella group Travail Suisse, believes facilitated naturalisation is needed for third-generation foreigners.

On February 12, Swiss citizens will decide whether young immigrants and third-generation foreigners should be granted a simplified naturalisation procedure.

The facilitated process would not be automatic as applicants would have to demonstrate their interest and apply before they turn 25. Moreover, the criteria for eligibility is strict, limiting the amount of people would could apply.

But in order to better understand the issues at stake, it’s important to look at who these young third-generation foreigners are, and how they and society as a whole will benefit if voters say yes at the polls on February 12.

The constitutional change under consideration only concerns young people born in Switzerland, and whose parents and grandparents have also lived in Switzerland. These young people and their parents must have completed five years of compulsory schooling and hold a ‘C’ permanent resident permit.

According to a recent study from the University of Geneva, Italians would be the most-affected by this change, along with people from the Balkans, Turkey, Spain and Portugal. These immigrant grandchildren, born in Switzerland, are fluent in a national language. Having studied and obtained diplomas in Switzerland, their professional and social futures are certainly here, too. As such, these third generation immigrants don’t need to prove they are integrated, rather it should be recognised. And especially as their links to their grandparents’ homelands are practically non-existent or less important than their ties to Switzerland.

Therefore, it would be unfair to subject Swiss-born grandchildren to the same naturalisation conditions as their parents and grandparents, whose history and non-migratory background differs. That is why simplifying the process to eliminate hearings to prove that already-integrated people are integrated is a necessary and right step forward.