Unlike commonly thought, Sans-papiers (undocumented migrants) are not people who do not possess a passport, but people who lack a legal status: that is, those without a valid residence permit for the country they live in.
And there are different kinds of undocumented migrants. On one hand, there are those who came to Switzerland to look for work and were not able to obtain a residence permit, and remained stuck in undocumented status. On the other hand, there are asylum seekers whose requests have been rejected or into whose cases a court decided not to enter. These people stay in Switzerland for lack of other possibilities, or because they have been here for years and have established ties.
Although undocumented migrants do not have residence permits, they still have rights. All children, regardless of legal status, have the right to go to school, and undocumented migrants have the right to receive medical treatment and even to take out health insurance without the risk of being reported to the police. In the work place, they have the right to a salary corresponding to their job, to paid vacation, and to have proper notice of termination. They [basically] have the right to sign up for and benefit from certain social services such as the national pension, disability insurance, unemployment insurance, and others, without risk that their personal information will be reported to the police.
A brochure in several languages about these rights can be found on the website of the UNIA union at http://www.unia.ch/Sans_Papiers.1339.0.html?&L=1.
Undocumented migrants do not choose their status for pleasure - they are the victims of a Eurocentric migration policy and ever-more restrictive asylum policies.
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