Swiss Immigrants

A couple of Swiss immigrants

Switzerland has one of the highest percentages of foreigners of any country in the world.  Tons of famous, and not so famous people (us) have moved to Switzerland.  They have a very, um, generous tax policy.

Resident foreigners and temporary foreign workers make up about 22% of the population (30.6% of the population is either an immigrant or first generation). Famous Swiss immigrants include: *

• Boris Becker
• Jean Calvin

• Charlie Chaplin
• Phil Collins
• French Actor Alain Delon

Courtesy of Top Gear and Hublot

• Formula 1’s Bernie Ecclestone
• Audrey Hepburn
• Ikea’s Kamprad Ingvar
• Sophia Loren
• Frida Lyngstad of ABBA

Courtesy of jsp31’s Blog

• Freddie Mercury
• Sir Roger George Moore (James Bond)
• Yannick Noah
• Patek Phillipe’s Antoine Norbert de Patek
• “King of Commodities” Marc Rich
• Michael Schumacher
• Tina Turner

Courtesy of Why Not? and OWN

• Shania Twain
• Voltaire

For centuries, people have immigrated to Switzerland.  In general, its immigrants have been highly skilled and/or educated.  The Swiss watch industry was fed with French Huguenot’s who fled persecution in France.  Immigrant German professors started Zurich University.  Many Italian immigrants worked on Switzerland’s great engineering projects in the Alps.

courtesy of Leopard Trek

*For you cycling fans, famous cyclists who have lived/trained in Switzerland include: Fabian Cancellara (a Swiss child of Italian immigrants, until recently he was my most popular post), Oscar Freire, Francisco Mancebo, Jan Ullrich, Christophe Moreau, Cadel Evans, Markus Burghardt, Andreas Klöden, Linus Gerdemann, Thor Hushovd, Daniele Nardello, and Thomas Frei.

Related articles

• Swiss party slams ‘exploding’ number of asylum seekers (vanguardngr.com)
• A Brief History Of: Swiss Banks (time.com)
• Why CH? (schwingeninswitzerland.wordpress.com)
• The Road Through The Alps Into Switzerland’s Lötschental Valley (schwingeninswitzerland.wordpress.com)
• Skiing in Sunny, Snowy Crans Montana (schwingeninswitzerland.wordpress.com)
• Our Basement Bomb Shelter, Otherwise Known As Our Storage Unit (schwingeninswitzerland.wordpress.com)
• Winkelwho? Winkelreid, The Legendary Swiss Hero (schwingeninswitzerland.wordpress.com)