Swiss Federal Council decision on implementation of new constitution article on migration of EU citizens

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In February 2014, Swiss voters approved a political initiative which demanded further steps to tighten the possibility to migrate to Switzerland (“Masseneinwanderungsinitiative”). To derivate the laws necessary to fulfil the new constitution article implemented by this initiative, it has subsequently been processed in the parliament and has now also passed the Federal Council. The Federal Council has published its decision concerning the implementation, which contains the following aspects:

  • Professions with an overall unemployment rate of equal to or more than 5% are subject to a notification obligation – this threshold value will be reassessed and can be adjusted by the Federal Council on a yearly basis.
  • Short employments of labour are excluded from this notification obligation. The threshold for what can be counted as short has yet to be defined – periods of either 14 days or one month are under discussion.
  • The following types of recruitment are also excluded from the notification obligation: internal takeover of apprentices, internal promotion of a person who has been employed by the respective company for more than six months, the hiring of family members.

The enactment of the adjusted regulations is planned for the beginning of 2018.

A notification obligation for certain professions in Switzerland will presumably be introduced by the beginning of 2018.

For further questions, please do not hesitate to contact International HR Services Ltd.