The Upper House of Parliament has thrown out an attempt to change the way citizenship is granted.
A senator from Sankt Gallen was proposing to change the law to allow those born in the country to automatically apply for citizenship.
Paul Rechsteiner says those born and brought up in the country deserve to be recognised as full members of society.
But the Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter says the government is no longer able to control immigration sufficiently to allow birth-right citizenship.
She also rejected the arguments that it was almost impossible for children of immigrants to become Swiss.
The rejection at the Senate means the Lower House won’t be debating the issue.
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