Half Black Canadian moving to Switzerland for a job

Swiss German people in Switzerland are they friendly and easy to make friends with people?

On the contrary!

And also I have be reading some posts on websites saying that Swiss people are not very keen on immigrants and foreigners in their country and that they don't like black people is that true?

It might be hard to understand for a Canadian, where basically everybody is an immigrant, but in most countries of the world people prefer to live among their kin and not with strangers from foreign lands. For its small size there are way too many immigrants in Switzerland already, so people naturally think that it`s more than enough.

Its not so much that they dont like black people, but they dont like foreigners who come to live in their perfect country and than rape them, rob them and cheat them. Unfortunately most of the criminals in Switzerland are immigrants. If youre a honest man with a legal job and respect the locals, theyre going to respect you too and you might even make friends, just dont expect them to treat you as a Swiss.

This is indeed a great opportunity to live in Switzerland and I wouldn`t hesitate to take that job and move there.

Switzerland, and Zurich in particular, is a lot more cosmopolitan than it used to be. Generally, Swiss people like English speakers. They hate it when people don't speak Swiss German but won't hold it against English speakers as much as they do with Germans. Having said that, do make an effort to learn Swiss German (hard to do) or at least German. Swiss people in general are a bit odd and don't make friends easily (compared to Canadians etc.) but they're quite a decent lot, really and are generally friendly (albeit in a distant sort of way). If you make a bit of an effort to fit in you shouldn't really have any problems. Yep, and they're not very keen on immigrants, but that's really a matter of getting used to most recent groups of migrants/refugees. They used to dislike Italians a few decades ago but they don't even get noticed these days. Plus, I've never met any Swiss who disliked Canadians. Zurich is a great little city and the nightlife isn't too bad. You'll probably meet lots of other expats who are just as keen to go out and socialise as you are. So I reckon you should just give it a go.

About a quarter of the Swiss population are foreigners; in Geneva it's more than the half. You find Africans and Asians all over Switzerland.
Swiss people don't like (mostly Nigerian) drug dealers, Islamists who mistreat their wifes and daughters, nor organized robberies done by people from abroad (often from the Balkans).

Swiss people have a rather reluctant (although friendly) behaviour with people they don't know (the colour of their skin has nothing to do with that), but if once they accept them as friends, such friendships often last for ever, in very difficult situations too.

Foreigners are most welcome and at any case not considered as criminals when they put much money in the banks, like many notorious dictators seem to do. The Swiss hypocrisy to strangers... but ok, don't want to go off-topic.

To their defence it's a tendency in more European countries, as mentioned above also the attitude to islam. Switzerland is IMO top of the bill: no more minarets on mosques

As to black people it's a bit ambiguous but you should be fine in 'international and touristy' areas. As an example a black Swiss (nationality) football player (N'Kufo) left his country to play elsewhere in Europe mainly due to his treatment. Though I hurry to admit that soccer fans are not always the standard for pleasant behaviour.

#4

Did he go to play for the French national team?

He wouldn`t stand out there! :)

Arizona: did you ever try to open a bank account in Switzerland? You have to answer a lot of questions (more than everywhere else) in order to prove that the money you want to deposit is honestly earned.

These kind of transactions are much easier in the USA (especially Delaware) and in many parts of the (former) British Empire (Cayman islands, British Virgins, St. Kitts, etc.)

Or create a foundation according to British Law and you can do everything that's forbidden elsewhere.

Switzerland had almost no Muslims in 1950, 16.000 in 1970, 150.000 in 1990 and about 350.000 today.

The foolish minaret ban, proposed by the not less foolish right wing party SVP/UDC was voted with a very scarce participation during the period where the Libyan President Ghadafi (personnel friend of the Presidents of Italy, France and Spain) emprisoned 2 unguilty Swiss people as hostages as an act of revenge because Geneva police prevented Hannibal Ghadafi, son of his Excellency Muammar Ghadafi, to kill his 2 Moroccan domestics in a Geneva hotel. At the same period, a Muslim father killed a St. Gallen school teacher who wanted to persuade him to let his daughter attend the gymnastics lessons.
SVP/UDC used these (and other similar) cases (and millions of Swiss francs) widely as "arguments" and were able to mobilize people for their nonsense. They furthermore told people that they would be awaked several times every night by the Muezzin call.

Public opinion polls in Germany, France and Italy showed that the results would have been even worse if the same vote would have taken place there. So Switzerland cannot be top of the bill, because this idiotic vote took place in Switzerland only: no comparison possible.

Unfortunately I don`t have a bank account in Switzerland, but I can imagine the first question they ask is how much money would you like to deposit. If this amount is high enough I guess this was the last question. :)

The minaret ban is indeed nonsense! It doesn`t solve any problem, the mosqes will keep growing in number and so will the Muslims with or without minarets, soon they will be strong enough to turn a new vote in favour of minarets.

"...Minareler Süngü..." (Minarets our bayonets)

Quote from Recep Tayyip Erdogan - Prime minister of the country with the 2nd largest NATO army

"I can imagine the first question they ask is how much money would you like to deposit. If this amount is high enough I guess this was the last question. :)"

Please, stop to write such a nonsense! Or are you paid by the bankers of the countries I mentioned above, who have all interest to create these legends in order to prevent to be themselves in the line of fire?

Arizona: did you ever try to open a bank account in Switzerland?

Gday neckervd,
Yes, of course I did. Pretty easy.
(not true, a friend did some years ago, it's gonna be more difficult the past few years after immense international pressure)
Maybe easier elsewhere but we're talking about Switzerland and the recent past, after kicking out of their countries, a fine bunch of billionaires - has appeared in the limelight.

Switzerland is top of the bill: there has been voted about the minarets. You're right, no comparison possible. Other countries remained in the stadium of polls. So far the semantics.

#4: Bristolnewbie: He played (N'Kufo) for the Swiss national team, I know him from FCTwente (a club at my doorstep) where he played in the championship and won the Dutch title.
He got a statue
So far the start of going off-topic.