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SWITZERLAND: Quotas for EU/EFTA L Permits Exhausted for Second Quarter of 2017
May 25, 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 1st 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 1st 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 1st 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 1st 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 27th October 2016). The quotas are allocated to the cantons on a quarterly basis.
Our advice
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.
For further information on Swiss immigration, please email us at [email protected].
This information was provided by our sister company, Peregrine Immigration Management.
