Who files the application, what the employer has to prove, what they risk, and what the permit changes in Swiss payroll.
Reading time: 23 min
In Switzerland, the procedure for putting a foreign employee to work depends on their nationality, on how long the activity lasts and on the way they work in Switzerland. Where an authorization is required for employed activity, the employer plays a central role in the procedure and has to file the application with the competent authority in the cases the law provides for. For certain short-term activities under the EU/EFTA rules, a notification procedure replaces the authorization. Two questions drive the whole thing: which nationality, and for how long.
The system has several floors. The Confederation sets the legal framework, while the cantonal authorities are the employer's first point of contact and handle the files under the applicable procedure. The regimes differ above all with the nationality of the person concerned.
The path marks itself out quickly, though. Once the two questions are asked, only a small number of situations remain, and each has its own procedure.
In brief
- Ask two questions before promising anyone a job: the person's nationality and the length of the engagement, because they decide everything else.
- Look at your candidate's residence permit before you put them to work, not on the day they start.
- Treat the notification procedure and the authorization procedure as two distinct regimes, and count the days over the calendar year.
- Once the employee holds a permit, build the data needed for their administration and their salary into your records, then set up a way of tracking the expiry date where there is one.
- Check with the canton which documents are required and how long processing takes: both can vary from one canton to the next.
Two questions decide everything: which nationality, for how long
The starting rule addresses the company as much as the person being hired. Any foreign national intending to carry on a gainful activity in Switzerland has to hold an authorization, whatever the length of their stay, and that authorization is applied for with the competent authority of the intended place of work. Where the LEI requires an application for employed activity, it is filed by the employer. Certain short-term activities under the EU/EFTA rules follow a notification procedure rather than an authorization procedure.
Source: Swiss Confederation, Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (LEI), RS 142.20, art. 11 para. 1 and 3, as at 12 June 2026, verified 14 August 2026.
Three families exist. A Swiss national applies for nothing. A national of an EU or EFTA member state falls under the free movement of persons, and their permit is issued on presentation of an employment contract. A third-country national falls under the admission regime of the federal act, which is considerably more demanding for the company.
For the latter, the law sets out three cumulative conditions: their admission serves the economic interests of the country, their employer has filed an application, and the conditions in articles 20 to 25 are met. The second condition concerns the company directly: in this admission regime, the employer's application is one of the conditions the law lays down.
Source: Swiss Confederation, Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (LEI), RS 142.20, art. 18, as at 12 June 2026, verified 14 August 2026.
The second criterion is the length of the engagement, the one recruiters forget. An Italian graphic designer hired for three weeks in Lugano and the same designer hired for two years do not fall under the same permit.
The legal structure of your presence in Switzerland is a separate question, covered by our article on hiring employees in Switzerland as a foreign company. This page is about the work authorization, whatever structure you choose.
Good to know
The file goes to the authority of the intended place of work, not to the one where your company has its registered office. A company based in Zug opening a position in its workshop in Delémont deals with the Jura authorities.
The five permits an employer comes across, and what they change
Five permits come up in the life of a company. The State Secretariat for Migration fact sheets describe the regime for EU and EFTA nationals, the federal act describes the one for third-country nationals, and the durations do not always overlap.
Permit L, the short-term residence permit
On presentation of a contract of three months to a year, EU and EFTA nationals are entitled to this permit. Its validity follows that of the contract and can be extended up to twelve months in total. Below three months in the calendar year, the employment relationship is not subject to authorization but to the online notification procedure.
Source: State Secretariat for Migration, Permit L EU/EFTA (short-term residence permit), page verified 14 August 2026.
For a third-country national, the law sets a separate framework: the short-term residence permit is granted for a stay of one year at most, its validity can be extended up to a total of two years, and a change of job is granted only on important grounds. A Brazilian project manager hired in Basel therefore does not change employer mid-assignment without a new authorization, granted only where important grounds justify it.
Source: Swiss Confederation, Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (LEI), RS 142.20, art. 32 para. 1 and 3, as at 12 June 2026, verified 14 August 2026.
Permit B, the residence permit
The residence permit of an EU or EFTA national has a validity of five years. It is granted to anyone who can show an engagement of indefinite duration or of at least one year, meaning 365 days. The first extension can, however, be limited to one year where the person has been involuntarily unemployed for more than twelve consecutive months.
Source: State Secretariat for Migration, Permit B EU/EFTA (residence permit), page verified 14 August 2026.
Permit C, the settlement permit
Depending on the nationality and the situation of the holder, a settlement permit can be granted after five or ten years of residence in Switzerland. Once granted, the right of residence attached to permit C is of indefinite duration.
What decides between five and ten years is the nationality. Nationals of Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden, together with the EFTA states Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, can obtain a settlement permit after five years, under establishment and reciprocity agreements. No such agreements exist for the other EU member states, so nationals of Poland, Romania or Croatia, for instance, wait ten years.
Source: State Secretariat for Migration, Permit C EU/EFTA (settlement permit), page verified 14 August 2026.
For you, this permit therefore creates no residence deadline to watch.
Permit G, the cross-border commuter permit
Cross-border commuters from the EU and EFTA enjoy professional and geographical mobility across the whole of Switzerland, the border zones having been abolished. The cross-border commuter permit has a validity of five years where the employment contract is of indefinite duration or longer than one year.
Source: State Secretariat for Migration, Permit G EU/EFTA (cross-border commuter permit), page verified 14 August 2026.
For a third-country national, the law adds a condition your work organization has to respect: the holder must return to their place of residence abroad at least once a week, and the permit can be made subject to further conditions. Its validity is limited, but renewable.
Source: Swiss Confederation, Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (LEI), RS 142.20, art. 35 para. 2 and 3, as at 12 June 2026, verified 14 August 2026.
The entry conditions are narrower too. They obtain a cross-border commuter permit only if they hold a permanent right of residence in a neighboring country and have had their regular domicile in the neighboring border zone for at least six months. The initial permit runs for one year as a rule, it is valid only for the border zone of the canton that issued it, and a change of job or occupation requires a new permit.
Source: State Secretariat for Migration, Permit G (cross-border commuter permit), non-EU/EFTA nationals, page verified 14 August 2026.
What this permit then changes in the payroll records is covered by our page on salary and payroll for cross-border workers in Switzerland.
The other permits you may come across
The Ci residence permit with gainful activity is issued to family members of officials of intergovernmental organizations or of members of foreign representations. It covers spouses and children up to the age of 25 only, and its validity is limited to the duration of the main holder's function. An international school in Geneva comes across this permit.
Source: State Secretariat for Migration, Permit Ci EU/EFTA (residence permit with gainful activity), page verified 14 August 2026.
Other permits circulate, notably in the asylum field. What they allow in terms of gainful activity cannot be guessed: at the slightest doubt, ask the competent cantonal authority before signing.
Notification or authorization: the threshold that changes the procedure
Not every hire goes through an authorization file, and the confusion costs in both directions: some companies file an application where a notification would have been enough, others notify nothing at all.
The Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons between Switzerland and the European Union liberalizes cross-border services up to 90 days of actual work per calendar year, and such an activity is subject to a notification obligation only. The same electronic procedure serves for an EU or EFTA national taking up employment with a company in Switzerland, for contracts of three months at most. Where a third-country national is hired directly by a Swiss employer, they do not fall under this notification procedure and remain subject to the applicable authorization regime. There is one important exception, though: a third-country national posted to Switzerland by a company whose registered office is in the EU/EFTA can fall under the notification procedure up to 90 days of actual work per calendar year, provided they were previously integrated on a lasting basis into the regular labor market of an EU/EFTA state, meaning as a rule for at least twelve months. Two thresholds therefore coexist, and they do not cover the same situation: 90 days for a provision of services, three months for a direct hire.
Source: State Secretariat for Migration, Notification procedure for short-term gainful activity, page verified 14 August 2026.
The notification deadlines differ too. Each gainful activity has to be registered separately and notified at least eight days before work starts. For taking up employment of three months at most with a company in Switzerland, notification has to be made no later than the day before the activity begins. A French company posting fitters to a site in Valais falls under the first case, a Vaud agency hiring a stage manager for two weeks falls under the second.
Source: State Secretariat for Migration, Notification procedure for short-term gainful activity, page verified 14 August 2026.
A second eight-day rule sits alongside that eight-day deadline, and the two are easy to confuse. The deadline says when to notify. The threshold says whether to notify at all: the activity of posted workers and self-employed service providers has to be notified once it exceeds eight days per calendar year. Seven sectors are the exception, and there notification is due from the very first day, whatever the length of the assignment: construction, civil engineering and finishing work; landscaping and landscape maintenance; hotels and catering; industrial or domestic cleaning; surveillance and security; itinerant trade, other than fairground operators and circuses; and the sex industry. A Portuguese firm sending two painters to a site in Vaud for three days notifies them. The same firm sending a translator for three days does not.
Beyond these thresholds, the ordinary procedure applies again. The count runs over the calendar year, and that is where employers trap themselves.
The mistakes to avoid
Splitting an engagement into several short contracts is not a neutral manoeuvre. Employment relationships of less than three months are assessed over the calendar year, and each gainful activity is registered separately in the notification procedure.
The SEM settles the question the calendar raises. For posted workers, the eight days that can be worked without notification and the maximum 90 days of activity apply both to the posting company and to each posted employee. The counter does not go back to zero with a new contract, and it does not run separately for the firm and for the person. So before signing that third six-week contract, work on the assumption that the days accumulate, and ask the canton of the place of work where a particular set-up leaves a genuine doubt.
Source: State Secretariat for Migration, Notification procedure for short-term gainful activity, and Permit L EU/EFTA (short-term residence permit), pages verified 14 August 2026.
Hiring a third-country national: what you have to prove
A third-country file is built less around the candidate than around what the law asks the company to demonstrate. Four requirements stack up, and our complete guide to lSwiss employment law places them in the general framework of employment.
One reservation comes first, and it changes the picture entirely for a large share of hires in French-speaking Switzerland. Where the third-country national is being taken on as a cross-border commuter, the law expressly sets three of these requirements aside: art. 25 para. 2 LEI provides that articles 20, 23 and 24 are not applicable. No quota unit is needed, no qualification requirement applies, and the housing condition falls away. What remains is the priority given to workers already in the market (art. 21) and the usual pay and working conditions (art. 22). The four cumulative requirements set out below therefore apply to a hire based in Switzerland, not to a cross-border commuter.
Economic interest and the candidate's qualifications
The law restricts access: only managers, specialists and other qualified workers can obtain a short-term residence or residence permit.
Source: Swiss Confederation, Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (LEI), RS 142.20, art. 23 para. 1, as at 12 June 2026, verified 14 August 2026.
That first paragraph is not the whole article, though, and the derogations matter for companies that move people between countries. Art. 23 para. 3 LEI allows admission outside the qualification requirement for investors and business owners who will create or maintain jobs, recognized figures in science, culture or sport, people with particular professional knowledge or skills where their admission meets a demonstrated need, managers transferred by internationally active companies, and people involved in international business relations of major economic significance whose activity is indispensable in Switzerland. The transfer of a manager within a group is the case that comes up most often in practice.
The SEM says the same thing from the practical side and adds the part that falls to you: the future employer has to demonstrate that the staff needed cannot be recruited on the Swiss labor market or on that of the EU or EFTA.
Source: State Secretariat for Migration, Work: nationals of non-EU/EFTA states, page verified 14 August 2026.
A service assistant post in Crans-Montana does not fall into these categories, whereas a microtechnology engineering post in Neuchâtel does.
Priority given to workers already in the market
The text is explicit: a foreign national can be admitted only where it is shown that no worker in Switzerland and no national of a state with which an agreement on the free movement of persons has been concluded, matching the required profile, could be found.
Source: Swiss Confederation, Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (LEI), RS 142.20, art. 21 para. 1, as at 12 June 2026, verified 14 August 2026.
The law does provide one exception, worth knowing if you recruit from Swiss universities. In derogation from the priority rule, art. 21 para. 3 LEI allows a foreign national holding a degree from a Swiss higher education institution to be admitted where their gainful activity is of major academic or economic interest, and they are admitted for six months from the end of their education or continuing education in Switzerland in order to find such an activity.
The burden of demonstrating this rests on your company, and no federal text consulted here sets out the list of documents to produce. The law lays down the priority requirement, while how you actually document your search depends on the file and on what the competent authority expects. In practice, keep whatever can establish your efforts: the advertisements published and their dates, the channels used, the applications considered, and the reason why no profile available in Switzerland or the EU/EFTA was suitable.
Pay and working conditions in line with local practice
The condition fits in a line: a foreign national can be admitted for gainful activity only where the pay and working conditions customary for the place, the occupation and the sector are respected.
Source: Swiss Confederation, Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (LEI), RS 142.20, art. 22 para. 1, as at 12 June 2026, verified 14 August 2026.
Three references combine, and none is sufficient on its own: the place, the occupation, the sector. A mechanic's post in Geneva is therefore not compared with the same post in Chur. The SEM adds social insurance contributions to that list, which ties your file back to payroll management.
Source: State Secretariat for Migration, Work: nationals of non-EU/EFTA states, page verified 14 August 2026.
The maximum numbers set each year
The Federal Council can limit the number of initial short-term residence permits and initial residence permits granted for gainful activity, and set a maximum number for the Confederation and for each canton.
Source: Swiss Confederation, Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (LEI), RS 142.20, art. 20 para. 1 and 2, as at 12 June 2026, verified 14 August 2026.
For the current year, the ordinance puts figures on it: 4,000 short-term residence permits in total, of which 2,000 for the cantons and 2,000 for the Confederation, and 4,500 residence permits in total, of which 1,250 for the cantons and 3,250 for the Confederation. These numbers apply from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026 and cover third-country nationals admitted under articles 19 and 20 OASA.
They are not the only quotas, and the distinction matters to anyone recruiting British nationals or bringing in a service provider from the EU. The same ordinance sets two separate contingents, under articles 19a, 19b, 20a and 20b OASA. Service providers from the EU/EFTA working beyond 90 days have 3,000 short-term residence permits and 500 residence permits, released in quarterly tranches of 750 and 125. United Kingdom nationals have a quota of their own, 1,400 short-term residence permits and 2,100 residence permits, in quarterly tranches of 350 and 525. A British engineer therefore does not draw on the 4,000 and 4,500 above, and a quota exhausted in one of these categories tells you nothing about the others.
Source: Swiss Confederation, Ordinance on Admission, Residence and Gainful Employment (OASA), RS 142.201, annex 1 nos. 1 and 2 and annex 2 nos. 1 and 2, as at 12 June 2026, verified 14 August 2026.
The SEM draws the conclusion that matters to a recruiter: a job offer is not enough, since the employer has to respect the priority given to domestic workers and to those of the EU and EFTA countries, demonstrate the qualifications and the salary conditions, and a unit of the quota has to be available. How far a quota has been used up is a question for the canton.
Source: State Secretariat for Migration, Work FAQ, page verified 14 August 2026.
Who files the application, with whom, and in what order
The order matters as much as the content of the file, and the law fixes it: before hiring a foreign national, the employer has to make sure they are authorized to carry on gainful activity in Switzerland, by examining their residence permit or by asking the competent authorities.
Source: Swiss Confederation, Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (LEI), RS 142.20, art. 91 para. 1, as at 12 June 2026, verified 14 August 2026.
The steps then run in this order:
- Establish the nationality and the length of the engagement, then the applicable procedure.
- Examine the permit already held, which sometimes covers the intended activity.
- Gather the elements of the position: contract or job offer, job description, proposed salary, place of work.
- Document your prior search where the candidate comes from a third country.
- File the application with the competent authority of the canton of the place of work.
- Wait for the decision: a prior cantonal labor market decision is required where the person has no right to carry on gainful activity.
- Organize the start date once the authorization has been obtained, and file the permit.
Source: Swiss Confederation, Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (LEI), RS 142.20, art. 40 para. 2, as at 12 June 2026, verified 14 August 2026.
The forms and documents vary from canton to canton, and no federal text sets a processing deadline. So do not promise a start date before reading the page of the competent cantonal service.
For a foreign company with no entity in Switzerland, the authorization rule has to be kept apart from the structure chosen to employ the person. The absence of a local entity is not enough on its own to determine who can file the application: that depends on the employment structure and on the worker's situation. So check with the canton of the place of work who has to act as employer in the file before starting the procedure.
The application also assumes an employer in a position to file it. If your company has no entity in Switzerland, setting up a local structure or using an employer of record are among the options to examine, and our employer of record service in Switzerland covers that case.
What the permit changes in your payroll
Once the authorization has been obtained, the permit is not filed away in a binder: it goes into your salary data and stays there, with its expiry date. Three effects deserve attention.
The residence permit and withholding tax
The residence permit and withholding tax meet in your payroll records, but a permit does not decide the taxation on its own. We do not go back over that mechanism here, which is a cantonal matter and which our page on withholding tax in Switzerland and how it works for the employer sets out in detail. What to remember is that the type of permit and its expiry date have to be accurate in your salary data before the payroll run.
The data your personnel file has to contain
The law asks you to examine the permit before hiring, but it does not list the fields to keep afterwards. Practice, on the other hand, is stable: the type of permit, its expiry date, the canton that issued it and the actual place of work cover most situations.
Source: Swiss Confederation, Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (LEI), RS 142.20, art. 91 para. 1, as at 12 June 2026, verified 14 August 2026.
This data does not serve filing alone: it drives how the salary is set up, and it is corrected as soon as the situation changes. At Numeriq, keeping it in the salary data is part of our administrators' routine work, taking over the type of permit and its expiry date and following the situation as reported by the canton.
The particular case of the cross-border commuter
A cross-border commuter appears in your payroll records like any other employee, but several items there follow rules of their own, from social insurance contributions to health insurance. Our page on salary and payroll for cross-border workers, cited above, is dedicated to them. Check from the moment of hiring that the permit G is in the file.
Tracking permits over time
A permit has a life. It expires, it is extended, it follows its holder when the situation changes. Three moments deserve an alert in your calendar.
Renewal deadlines
The durations set out above give you your alert dates: five years for an EU/EFTA residence or cross-border commuter permit, one year as a rule for an initial cross-border commuter permit of a third-country national, and the length of the contract for a short-term permit.
Source: State Secretariat for Migration, Permit L, B and G EU/EFTA fact sheets and Permit G non-EU/EFTA nationals, pages verified 14 August 2026.
For the cross-border commuter permit, the law creates a right: after five years of uninterrupted activity, the holder is entitled to an extension where no ground for revocation exists.
Source: Swiss Confederation, Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (LEI), RS 142.20, art. 35 para. 4, as at 12 June 2026, verified 14 August 2026.
The renewal is applied for by the holder with their canton, and we found no obligation in the LEI to renew that falls on the employer. Track the date all the same.
A change of employer, canton or role
The holder of a short-term residence permit can be authorized to change job where important grounds justify it and the conditions of articles 22 and 23 are met, whereas the holder of a residence permit changes job without further authorization. If you are recruiting a third-country national who already holds a short-term residence permit, a workshop manager for instance, ask the question before signing.
Source: Swiss Confederation, Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (LEI), RS 142.20, art. 38 para. 1 and 2, as at 12 June 2026, verified 14 August 2026.
For a cross-border commuter, a change of job requires the conditions of articles 21 and 22 to be met, and it becomes a right after five years of uninterrupted gainful activity. The prior cantonal labor market decision also covers a change of job, where the person has no right to carry on gainful activity.
Source: Swiss Confederation, Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (LEI), RS 142.20, art. 39 para. 2 and art. 40 para. 2, as at 12 June 2026, verified 14 August 2026.
The end of the employment relationship
This point calls for caution: no federal obligation to report the end of a permit holder's employment emerged from the texts consulted. Ask the competent cantonal service at the time of departure, and keep the end date in the file.
What a company employing someone without authorization risks
The subject is best handled without drama, with the text in front of you. The law starts with a duty of care: before hiring, the employer has to check that the person holds the right needed to carry on the intended activity.
It then provides for a penalty, graded by the state of mind of the offender. Anyone who intentionally employs a foreign national not authorized to carry on gainful activity in Switzerland is liable to a custodial sentence of up to one year or a monetary penalty, and in serious cases to a custodial sentence of up to three years or a monetary penalty. Where the offender acts negligently, they are liable to a fine of up to CHF 20,000.
Source: Swiss Confederation, Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (LEI), RS 142.20, art. 117 para. 1 and 3, as at 12 June 2026, verified 14 August 2026.
The difference between intent and negligence separates two regimes: the company that knows falls under the first, the one that did not look at the permit falls under the second. In both cases, the question asked will be the same: what did you check, and when?
No other amount and no enforcement statistics appear here, for want of being able to verify them in an official text.
Tracking deadlines happens in the same place as your salary data, which is why it belongs to our team's work at Numeriq: taking over the type of permit and its expiry date, alerting before it expires, updating the file once the canton has decided. Our payroll management solutions carry that work, without standing in for the authority.
Frequently asked questions
Who has to apply for the work permit, the employer or the employee?
It depends on the worker's status and on the applicable procedure. Where an authorization has to be applied for in the context of employed activity subject to the LEI, the employer takes part in the application under the applicable rules. For certain short-term activities under the EU/EFTA rules, a notification procedure applies instead, and the employer is then responsible for notifying its own workers. The candidate or employee remains responsible for the steps that fall to them personally, depending on the type of permit and the procedure concerned.
Source: Swiss Confederation, Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (LEI), RS 142.20, art. 11 para. 1 and 3, as at 12 June 2026, verified 14 August 2026.
What are the conditions for obtaining a work permit in Switzerland?
They depend on nationality. An EU or EFTA national obtains their permit on presentation of an employment contract, whose duration determines the form of the permit. For a third-country national, the law sets three cumulative conditions: the admission serves the economic interests of the country, the employer has filed an application, and the conditions of articles 20 to 25 are met.
Source: Swiss Confederation, Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (LEI), RS 142.20, art. 18, as at 12 June 2026, verified 14 August 2026.
What are the different work permits in Switzerland?
Permit L covers a short-term engagement. Permit B is the residence permit, issued for an engagement of at least one year or of indefinite duration. Permit C is the settlement permit, whose right of residence is of indefinite duration. Permit G is the cross-border commuter permit, issued to an employee who lives abroad, and its validity is five years for an EU/EFTA national whose contract is of indefinite duration or longer than one year. Permit Ci covers the spouses and children up to the age of 25 of international officials.
Source: State Secretariat for Migration, Permit L, B, C, G and Ci EU/EFTA fact sheets, pages verified 14 August 2026.
Can someone work while their application is being processed?
No. The authorization comes before the activity, since any foreign national intending to carry on gainful activity has to hold one, and the employer has to have made sure of that right before hiring. In the notification procedure the order is the same: notification is made at least eight days before work starts, or the day before at the latest for taking up short-term employment.
Source: Swiss Confederation, Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (LEI), RS 142.20, art. 11 para. 1 and art. 91 para. 1, as at 12 June 2026, and State Secretariat for Migration, Notification procedure for short-term gainful activity, page verified 14 August 2026.
Can a foreign employer with no entity in Switzerland apply for a permit?
The absence of a Swiss entity does not, on its own, allow a yes or a no: the employment model, the worker's situation and the applicable procedure have to be established first. A foreign company therefore has to clarify in what form the person will be employed in Switzerland and check with the authority of the canton of the place of work who can or must act in the file. Depending on the structure chosen, setting up a local entity or using an employer of record may be among the options. Our article on hiring employees in Switzerland from abroad, cited above, compares these solutions.
