Everywhere You Go Is a Challenge: Finding Peace in the 'Playground of Europe'

At the back of Spice Village Indian Restaurant in Interlaken, Switzerland, Ali Zulfiqar’s two little nieces run up to him, bubbling over with things to tell. “Acha, acha,” he replies, leaning back in his chair.

Zulfiqar is one of the 40 percent in Switzerland from a migration background, and one of over 5,000 Pakistanis living there as of 2020. He has met few other Pakistani residents in this small city in the heart of the Alps. So, Zulfiqar shares his culture with tourists through the quality food he offers: tandoori chicken, grilled lamb, biryani. And, of course, the spices: saffron, cardamom, coriander.

But despite giving a taste of his home to others, Zulfiqar has still not found peace in the country where he has lived for almost a decade. For the past two years, Zulfiqar has been fighting for his 84-year-old father, his only surviving parent, to obtain a permanent Swiss residence visa.

“He don’t like to live here . . . but we have [a] problem—he is alone there,” Zulfiqar says sadly. A distance of 3,000 miles separates him from his father in Punjab, Pakistan.

Zulfiqar rubs his dark-circled eyes, resting his elbows on the table. The restaurant is almost empty, with only a couple of tourists and a few men chatting in Urdu on the patio. Often, Zulfiqar stops to answer his cellphone, his energy rising when he speaks in his native tongue. “Salam alaykum!”

When Zulfiqar first visited in 2006, Interlaken impressed him with its good weather and lack of pollution. He had already immigrated to Europe in 2000 to work in construction and ceramics in Madrid. But Switzerland offered him new opportunities first as an employee in an Indian restaurant, then as a small shop owner, and finally as the manager of his own restaurant.

While Zulfiqar’s father was able to visit in 2019, the government has made obtaining permanent residence almost impossible. “I have 8 or 9 workers . . . I have never had a mistake in taxes,” Zulfiqar says in exasperation. “But they don’t give me my visa . . . Every time they say this paper, this paper, this paper.”

Switzerland is known as “the playground of Europe.” But this playground is not open to everyone. Even tourist visas have become increasingly difficult for African and Asian countries such as Pakistan, where almost half (49.6 percent) of Schengen visa applications were denied in 2023.

Family has been described as “the heartbeat of Pakistani society,” where the norm are multigenerational households and wasta, or relationship forming. The fragmentation of Pakistani and other South Asian families complicates the process of building a home in their host countries.

“When . . . [you] come here . . . [and do] not have any family,” Zulfiqar comments, “everywhere you go is [a] challenge.”

Zulfiqar refuses to give up, however. The Swiss embassy has finally given his father an appointment, but not until April of 2025. The results of the appointment are uncertain. Nevertheless, maintaining close connections to family across borders—just like serving the best plate of tandoori chicken—is a battle that immigrants like Zulfiqar are determined to win.

Kara Barlow is from Windsor, Connecticut. She attended WJI Europe 2024.