On May 14th, Switzerland's Federal Council laid out the new criteria under which it could activate its so-called "safeguard clause" which when in place would temporarily limit immigration from the EU.
The clause would be activated in certain circumstances such as in situations when the council judged immigration from the EU or EFTA was causing "serious economic or social problems.”
The clause, which Switzerland has activated previously, is designed to protect the country's labour market and the social welfare system in the event of a sudden rise of new arrivals from one of the European Union countries. (The same rules apply to other EFTA nations — Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein).
But just how many EU and EFTA citizens currently live and work in Switzerland?
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Overall, about 2.4 million foreigners live in Switzerland, according to latest figures from the Federal Statistical Office.
The largest group are citizens of the EU, as well as EFTA nations — that is, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. The two groups are always bunched together for statistical purposes because they both have an almost unlimited access to Switzerland’s labour market.
However, people from the EU far outnumber their EFTA counterparts, if only because there are many more countries in the former bloc than the latter one.
Let’s look at the EU numbers in more detail
The FSO data reveals that most European Union residents who work and live in Switzerland come, logically enough — from the geographical and language perspective — from neighbour countries.
Those from Italy form the majority of the EU contingent: 338,000 people.
Next is Germany (just over 323,000).
The Portuguese are the next large group — 255,000, ahead of neighbour France (163,000).
(These are the numbers for those who live in Switzerland, either under the B or C permit. The order of countries is different among the EU-based cross-border commuter population: the French are in the lead with 57.8 percent of G permits, followed by 22.7 percent from Italy, and 16.3 percent from Germany).
Why do so many EU nationals immigrate to Switzerland?
Among the main reasons is the economic one: on one hand, certain sectors of the country’s labour market are experiencing shortages of qualified personnel, which can’t be filled by those already living in Switzerland — either Swiss citizens or other EU / EFTA nationals.
For these employees, working in Switzerland is a lucrative deal, as the wages are quite a bit higher than in their home countries, and taxes are quite a bit lower. (Yes, the cost of living is higher as well, but in the end it probably evens out in their favour — otherwise, they wouldn’t keep coming to Switzerland).
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That is the way it has been since the Agreement on the Free Movement of People (AFMP) between Bern and Brussels went into effect in 2002.
However, as suggested above the most recent treaty between the two sides, concluded in December 2024, may make EU immigration to Switzerland more difficult.
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