GENEVA (AP) – High-school student Selena Mercado was born in Switzerland, has gone to school in Switzerland, considers herself Swiss and dreams of a political career here one day. But her passport is from Chile, a country that she’s never set foot in but was home to her grandparents before they moved to this small Alpine nation decades ago.
Being born in Switzerland doesn’t mean automatically mean becoming Swiss, a situation echoed in a few other European nations.
On Sunday, Swiss voters will decide whether to make it easier for young “third-generation foreigners” like the 17-year-old Mercado, giving them the same fast-track, simplified access to Swiss citizenship that foreign spouses of Swiss nationals often enjoy.
The issue resonates in a country that has long taken in foreigners and underlines a dilemma faced across Europe these days: How best to integrate newcomers, if at all, at a time of rising nationalism.
Mercado is among thousands of foreigners who have become so integrated that they’re all but Swiss – just not legally.