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TAXES

Golden visas: Everything you need to know about ‘buying’ Swiss residency

Swiss residency permits are notoriously hard to obtain for people from some countries. But there is a way to do this — here’s how.

Published: 16 September 2021 11:45 CEST
Updated: 15 April 2024 14:23 CEST
Golden visas: Everything you need to know about ‘buying’ Swiss residency
You need much, much more than this to live in Switzerland on a golden visa. Photo by Claudio Schwarz un Unsplash

If you are a citizen of a EU / EFTA state, then you can get either a permit B (resident foreign nationals) or C (settled foreign nationals) relatively hassle-free. That’s because Switzerland has signed the Free Movement of Persons agreement with the EU and EFTA countries, lifting restrictions on citizens of those nations wishing to live or work here.

In fact, out of 2.2 million foreign citizens who live in Switzerland, more than half — 1.4 million — came from the European Union, predominantly from neighbouring nations.

However, things get a lot more complicated for people from outside Europe — the so-called third countries — who want to settle in Switzerland.

Those who want to work are subject to a quota system. Each year, the Federal Council issues a certain number of work permits for non-EU citizens. In 2024 this figure was 8,500.

From this quota, 4,500 people were be granted a residence permit B, and the remaining 4,000 received a short-term residence permit L, entitling them to work in Switzerland for up to one year.

Swiss authorities are a bit more generous toward people from the UK: in 2024, 3,500 work authorisations (in addition to those grated to other third-nation citizens) were reserved especially for UK nationals — 2,100 B permits and 1,400 L permits.

If you come from one of these countries you don’t need derogations to settle in Switzerland. Photo by OLIVIER HOSLET / AFP

But what happens if you are a third-country national who doesn’t want to work in Switzerland — just live here?

It depends on how wealthy you are.

As stated above, non-EU / EFTA nationals are subjected to more restrictive rules and regulations than their European counterparts.

However, the Swiss are very pragmatic people, especially when it comes to making money.

A little known (except to the financially astute) and rarely used Article 30 of the Federal Aliens Act sets out derogations from the regular, strict admission requirements.

It enables foreigners from outside Europe to move to Switzerland — but only if they are sufficiently wealthy to live here without having to work or resort to welfare benefits.

The law states that in cases of “important public interests” — that is, plenty of money in state coffers— cantons can grant citizens of third countries permissions to settle on their territories with a B residence permit. 

READ MORE: How wealthy foreigners can ‘buy’ a Swiss residence permit

These are the so-called “golden visas”, a term used to describe residency based on investment in local economy.

So what does “sufficiently wealthy” actually mean in Switzerland?

Obviously, the sky’s the limit and the amounts depend on where in the country you want to live. But just as an indication, ‘buying’ your way into the residency permit in Geneva costs roughly 312,522 francs in tax revenue per year, 415,000 in Vaud, and 287,882 in Valais.

Add to this a fee you would have to pay a specialised relocation attorney — reportedly at least 50,000 francs — to negotiate a lump-sum tax agreement for you with authorities of the canton where you would like to live.

One thing to keep in mind is that money alone can’t buy you a golden visa.

The law also stipulates that you “must not pose a threat to public security and order or to Switzerland’s international relations”.

Additionally, all foreign nationals living in Switzerland — rich and poor alike — must purchase compulsory health insurance coverage.

READ MORE: ‘Golden visas’: How multi-millionaires are ‘buying’ Swiss residency permits

Why do wealthy foreigners want to live in Switzerland?

While it is true that lots of money allows you to live well almost anywhere in the world, The Local previously reported that “well-heeled people want to move away from developing nations to safer and more prosperous locations”.

“Switzerland is the Rolls-Royce of destinations”, said Enzo Caputo, a Zurich lawyer specialising in permits and tax packages.

Another advantage of a B-permit is that it allows third-nation citizens to move freely throughout the Schengen area.

Who are the golden visa holders in Switzerland?

Every year, around 40 to 50 people get these visas, as reported by TagesAnzeiger, which used the numbers published by the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM)

A total of 352 foreigners with this special permit lived in Switzerland at the beginning of 2021. They came mostly from Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United States and Brazil. (Currently, Russians are no longer allowed to settle in Switzerland).

However, people from China are now making up the largest proportion of special-permit foreigners, according to SEM.

A total of 34 Chinese nationals came to settle in Switzerland in the last four years.

“Coincidence or not, this is occurring in parallel with the increasingly totalitarian course of the Beijing regime”, TagesAnzeiger said.

Cantons don’t release the identities of these wealthy foreigners, justifying the lack of information with data protection laws.

What is known about this select group of people is that most of them live in canton Geneva. Next are Ticino, followed by Vaud, Zug and Bern. 

READ MORE: EXPLAINED: Everything you need to know about retiring in Switzerland

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LIVING IN SWITZERLAND

REVEALED: How Switzerland’s native-English speakers are growing in number

Some Swiss cities have higher concentrations of foreign residents than others. A new study reveals where most of them live and interestingly how more and more of them are native English-speakers.

Published: 23 April 2024 15:21 CEST
REVEALED: How Switzerland's native-English speakers are growing in number

Foreigners who move to Switzerland like to settle in the cities.

This is what emerges from a new study published by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) on Tuesday.

Surprisingly, the municipality with the highest number of foreign residents is not Zurich or Geneva, but Kreuzlingen in canton Thurgau, where 56.3 percent of the population are foreigners.

Next is Rorschach in St. Gallen, where just over half (50.6 percent) of residents are foreign.

In terms of regions, however, more towns in the French-speaking part of the country have a high proportion of non-Swiss.

In the first place is the Lausanne suburb of Renens, where 49.3 percent of inhabitants are foreign.

It is followed by Geneva (49.2 percent) and its districts Meyrin (45.4 percent) and Vernier (44.8 percent). Next are Vaud municipalities of Montreux (44.2 percent) and Yverdon (37.7 percent).

The study doesn’t indicate why exactly so many immigrants move to these particular towns, but generally new arrivals tend to settle in or near places where they work.

Another interesting finding: English language is gaining ground

“If we consider non-national languages, it is striking to see that English has developed significantly,” FSO reports.

“It is today the main language of 8.1 percent of the resident population.”

This has also been shown in another FSO study in March, which indicated that  English is not only the most prevalent foreign language in Switzerland, but in some regions even ‘outperforms’ national languages.

In French-speaking Geneva, for instance, 11.8 percent of the population speak English — more than 5.7 percent who speak Italian. And in the neighbouring Vaud, 9.1 percent of residents speak English, versus 4.9 percent for both German and Italian.

In Basel-City, where the main language is German, 12.5 percent speak English, 6.1 percent Italian, and 5 percent French.

And in Zurich,10.8 percent speak English, versus only 5.8 percent for Italian and 3.2 percent French.

The ‘ winner’ however, is the German-speaking Zug, where 14.1 percent of the population over the age of 15 has English as their primary language. 

READ ALSO : Where in Switzerland is English most widely used? 

What else does the study reveal?

It shows to what extent Switzerland’s population ‘migrated’ from rural areas to cities over the past century.

While only a third of the country’s residents lived in urban regions 100 years ago, the 170 Swiss cities and their agglomerations are now home to three-quarters of the population.

As a result of this evolution, “new cities sprang up, many political and spatial boundaries were moved, and the country became increasingly urban.”

With a population of 427,000, Zurich is still the most populated city, followed by Geneva (204,000) and Basel (174,000).

And there is more: Fewer people practice religion

The proportion of people who feel they belong to a traditional religion is generally falling, FSO found.

This downward trend concerns all religions, but it is strongest among people of the Reformed Evangelical faith.

In six towns in particular — Bussigny, Crissier, and Ecublens (VD), Kloten, and Opfikon (ZH), as well as Oftringen (AR) — the drop was of more than 70 percent.
 
 READ ALSO: Why so many Swiss are quitting the church and taking their money with them

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