Saturday , November 2 2024
Home / SNB & CHF / Switzerland increases employment permits for non-EU workers

Switzerland increases employment permits for non-EU workers

Summary:
Companies argue that the Swiss workforce alone cannot fill every highly skilled job vacancy. The Swiss authorities have responded to demands from companies and cantons for access to highly-skilled employees by granting 1,000 extra permits for workers that come from outside the European Union from next year. From 2019, firms will be able to recruit 8,500 foreign workers from countries such as the United States, China and India. The extra 1,000 permits will give firms access to the same number of non-EU workers as in 2014. This was the year that Swiss voters passed an initiative calling on the government to restrict migration. In response, the authorities slashed the number of ‘third country’ work permits to 6,500.

Topics:
Swissinfo considers the following as important: , , ,

This could be interesting, too:

Guillermo Alcala writes USD/CHF slides to test 0.8645 support with US inflation data on tap

Swissinfo writes Swiss central bank posts CHF62.5bn profit

Nachrichten Ticker - www.finanzen.ch writes Trump-Faktor und Marktbedingungen könnten für neuen Bitcoin-Rekord sorgen

Charles Hugh Smith writes Is Social Media Actually “Media,” Or Is It Something Else?

Switzerland increases employment permits for non-EU workers

Companies argue that the Swiss workforce alone cannot fill every highly skilled job vacancy.

The Swiss authorities have responded to demands from companies and cantons for access to highly-skilled employees by granting 1,000 extra permits for workers that come from outside the European Union from next year.

From 2019, firms will be able to recruit 8,500 foreign workers from countries such as the United States, China and India. The extra 1,000 permits will give firms access to the same number of non-EU workers as in 2014.

This was the year that Swiss voters passed an initiative calling on the government to restrict migration. In response, the authorities slashed the number of ‘third country’ work permits to 6,500. Swiss firms are now also obliged to prove that there are no Swiss workers available to fill positions before employing a foreign candidate.

Last year Zurich, Geneva and Basel, three cantons that traditionally have a large foreign workforce, joined forces to urge the government to raise permit levels back to 2014 levels. Cantonal leaders argued that Switzerland’s economic welfare and reputation as a global centre for business and research was being damaged by the restrictions.

Their protests appear to have been heard as an announcement came on Friday that the cantons’ wishes would be granted. Next year, 4,500 resident permits will be issued plus 4,000 B permits with a five-year duration. The number of short stay L permits, with a three to 12-month duration, will be cut by 500.

The government will keep the extra 1,000 B permits in reserve and will hand them out to cantons on demand.

 

Tags: ,,
About Swissinfo
Swissinfo
SWI swissinfo.ch – the international service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Since 1999, swissinfo.ch has fulfilled the federal government’s mandate to distribute information about Switzerland internationally, supplementing the online offerings of the radio and television stations of the SBC. Today, the international service is directed above all at an international audience interested in Switzerland, as well as at Swiss citizens living abroad.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *