About a quarter of a million German nationals had permanent residence in Switzerland in 2009, rising to some 300 thousand five years later.

[3][4][5] The "surge" of immigration during the first decade of the 21st century, especially the German one, is a result of the EU-15 opening[6][7][8] and, for students, of the Bologna Process.

[9] Ever since the emergence of Switzerland and Germany as distinct nations in the Early Modern period – the Swiss became exempt from the jurisdiction of the Imperial Diet in 1499 as a result of the Swabian War, formal recognition of Swiss independence dates to 1648 (Peace of Westphalia) – there has been considerable population movement in both directions.

Meaningful population statistics became available only after the Napoleonic era, with the formation of the restored Swiss Confederacy and the German Confederation in 1815.

[citation needed] While the freedom of movement treaty applies to all EU citizens, German nationals have been the main beneficiaries because their proficiency in the German language allows them to take qualified jobs in German-speaking Switzerland without the added difficulty of a language barrier.

[12] In 2017, there were almost 15,000 German nationals living in the non-German speaking cantons of Vaud, Geneva, Ticino, Neuchâtel and Jura.

[13] Historical demographics 1995–2017: German citizens have mostly settled in Zürich and the city's wider metropolitan area.

It is particularly notable that Italians are the most liked immigrants, while at their arrival in the 1950s and 1960s they were the group of immigrants that attracted the most hostilities.In the relations of the German-Swiss and the incoming German come up, overtly or covertly, specific misunderstandings – perceived similarities, different mentalities and manners and, now already well known, language problems and differences.