Immigrants are emigrating

28 January 2010 - Moving to Switzerland

For citizens of the EFTA as well as of the 17 EU states, the amount of issued residence permits for Switzerland has decreased by one quarter, compared to the previous year. The NZZ reported this on Sunday, quoting the Federal Office for Migration. In 2008, 134,950 B and L permits were issued. Last year it was only 103,032. This means a decrease of 23.7 percent. B permits allow for a residence duration of a maximum five years, given you can prove employment in Switzerland of at least a year. L permits are issued for a maximum of a year, if employment of at least 3 months is the case. They are valid until the end of employment. It is remarkable that immigration in the year 2009 did not only decrease over the whole year, but also in every single month. On average, 3,000 persons from the EFTA and the 17 EU states left Switzerland again per month.

According to NZZ am Sonntag it is therefore rather unlikely that the protective clause (reintroduction of quotas) will be implemented in May. It would allow Switzerland to limit immigration for a limited time – if the issued work permits in one year would be at least 10 percent more than the average of the previous three years.

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