Job offer · EU/EFTA free movement
Taking up a job with an EU/EFTA passport — your contract length decides the paper
With an EU/EFTA passport you have the right to work in Switzerland: nobody files an application for you, and there is no priority test. The only question is which paper your case needs — a simple notification or a permit.
This page applies to nationals of the EU and of the EFTA states Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway taking up a job with an employer in Switzerland. For United Kingdom nationals, free movement no longer applies; in essence, only rights already acquired are protected — anyone moving now follows the third-country procedure. Self-employed persons and posted service providers have their own rules.
Notification or permit
Three cases — the length of the employment relationship decides
The free-movement agreement ties the paper to the length of your employment contract: short stints are merely notified; from three months a permit is issued — time-limited or straight away for at least five years.
Up to 3 months per calendar year
No permit — online notification
If you work in Switzerland for no more than three months in total per calendar year, you need no permit. The job is notified through the online notification procedure — at the latest the day before work begins; the salary is not reported.
A missed or late notification can be punished with a fine of up to 5,000 francs.
More than 3 months, less than 1 year
Short-stay permit L EU/EFTA
For an employment relationship of more than three months and less than a year, you receive a permit whose validity matches the length of your contract.
From 1 year or open-ended
Residence permit B EU/EFTA
From an employment relationship of at least one year, you receive a permit valid for at least five years. It is normally renewed automatically.
The permit is an entitlement under the agreement: if you meet the conditions, it is issued — it records your right, it does not create it. For nationals of new EU member states, the agreement can provide for quotas and other special rules during transitional periods.
Your guarantees
What free movement assures you
The agreement does not only govern whether you may work — it also protects the how. Four guarantees that matter day to day:
Two documents only
For the permit, the authorities may require from you only the identity document with which you entered Switzerland and a declaration of engagement or certificate of employment from the employer.
FZA Anhang I Art. 6 Abs. 3Formalities must not hold up the start
Completing the permit formalities must not prevent you from fulfilling your employment contract on time — the agreed start of work takes precedence.
FZA Anhang I Art. 6 Abs. 7All of Switzerland, free to change
The permit is valid throughout Switzerland. You may freely change employer, job, occupation and place of work — moving into self-employment is covered too.
FZA Anhang I Art. 6 Abs. 4FZA Anhang I Art. 8Equal working conditions
On account of your nationality, you may not be treated differently from the country's own workers in pay, dismissal and other working conditions.
FZA Anhang I Art. 9 Abs. 1
Step by step
Four steps from contract to permit card
No employer application, no preliminary ruling, no federal approval — the path is short. What matters is the order at the start.
Sign the contract — check its length
The length of the employment relationship determines your paper: up to three months, the notification; beyond that, the L or B permit. For fixed-term contracts, the agreed length counts.
FZA Anhang I Art. 6Up to three months: a notification, not a permit
Your employer enters the job in the federal online notification procedure, at the latest the day before work begins. You yourself apply for nothing — you then work without a permit.
VFP Art. 9 Abs. 1bisMore than three months: register before starting work
Before taking up the job, register with the competent authority at your place of residence — with your identity document and the declaration of engagement. The permit application itself is filed by the employer for salaried work.
Work from day one — the card follows
Once you are registered, the pending formalities must not delay your start. The permit card documents your right under the agreement — it does not create it.
FZA Anhang I Art. 6 Abs. 7
Applies to taking up a job with an employer in Switzerland while living here. If you live in the EU/EFTA and commute, the cross-border commuter rules apply — see below.
No contract yet?
Looking for a job is covered too
You may enter and stay to search — in stages:
- For up to three months you search without a permit.
- If the search takes longer, you receive a short-stay permit for the job search — extendable up to one year if you can show your search efforts and there is a genuine prospect of being hired.
- Provided you have sufficient financial means for your living costs; job-seekers can be excluded from social assistance during this period.
If your case is different
Other paths, briefly flagged
Three common branch-offs:
Passport from outside the EU/EFTA
Then free movement does not apply but the admission procedure does: your employer files the application, and quotas and the priority test apply.
To the third-country procedureCross-border commuter
If you are an EU/EFTA national, live in the EU/EFTA and return there at least once a week, you need no residence permit: you receive an EU/EFTA cross-border commuter permit. A change of job must be notified to the competent authority at your place of work before you start.
Ask ClaraSelf-employed or posted
Self-employment and services provided from abroad are not “taking up a job”: for up to 90 working days per calendar year no permit is needed; a notification duty generally applies instead.
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Where these details come from
Last verified: 11.06.2026
General information based on the treaty and ordinance provisions cited, not lawyer-reviewed legal advice. Administrative practice and forms change — what counts is the state at the last verification.
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