SWITZERLAND – Quotas for EU/EFTA L Permits Exhausted for Second Quarter of 2017
The quota for L permits for the second quarter of 2017, for short-term assignees from European Union (EU) / European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) countries, has been filled.
Who is Affected?
New, incoming EU/EFTA nationals who are assigned to Switzerland but remain on foreign employment contracts will not be issued L permits until 1 July 2017.
Who is Not Affected?
The quota for B permits, and permits not subject to quotas, such as the 120-day permit and the 4-month short-term permit, are not affected. Quotas for non-EU/EFTA nationals are also not affected.
Cantonal Variations
The cantonal procedures in dealing with the situation vary:
Zurich
The authorities will grant permit approval for one month for the time being. One can then ask for an L permit for the duration after expiration of that month and should be able to join the applications which fall under the next quarter, from 1 July 2017 onwards.
Basel and Geneva
The authorities will establish a preliminary decision which will allow assignees to start work. The quota will be issued on 1 July 2017.
Ticino
The authorities in Ticino will not issue any preliminary or temporary approvals. An L-Permit can be applied for only for assignments starting from 1 July 2017.
All other cantons
Still under investigation.
Background
The Swiss government decided to keep the reduced amount of permit quota for EU/EFTA nationals on assignment for the year 2017 (see our alert of 13 October 2016). The quotas are allocated to the cantons on a quarterly basis.
Action Items
- Allow for possible delays with sending EU/EFTA nationals to Switzerland.
- Contact your immigration supplier for any new EU/EFTA national assignments to Switzerland, as pending applications will be treated differently depending on the canton.
