Swiss government backs conditional immigration charge

The Swiss Federal Council has backed proposals to introduce an immigration charge if EU immigration exceeds defined thresholds and Switzerland invokes a safeguard clause, SRF reports. The Council recommended that Parliament approve two motions from the Council of States. The upper house is due to vote in three weeks.

How the charge would work

Under the proposal, companies would pay at least 4,000 Swiss francs for each new employee arriving from abroad. Self-employed people entering Switzerland would have to pay the amount themselves. Companies bringing in family members would also face charges of at least 2,000 francs for each family member over the age of 18.

The charge would apply only if Switzerland approved the new package of agreements with the European Union and then invoked the safeguard clause because immigration levels were too high.

The safeguard clause would allow Switzerland to set its own thresholds for net immigration from the EU, the number of cross-border workers, unemployment and the rate of reliance on social assistance. If the thresholds were exceeded, the Federal Council would have to decide whether to invoke the clause.

Possible dispute with the EU

The EU would have to agree to Switzerland invoking the safeguard clause. If it refused, an arbitration tribunal would decide the dispute.

Switzerland could still introduce the charge if it lost before the tribunal, but the EU would then have greater scope for countermeasures. These could affect agreements covering free movement, air transport, land transport or technical barriers to trade. Agriculture would be excluded. Any countermeasures would have to be proportionate, and Switzerland could ask an arbitration tribunal to review them.

Expected revenue

The charge is intended to make it more attractive for companies to recruit workers already living in Switzerland rather than bring in employees from abroad.

Based on last year’s immigration figures, incoming employees alone would have paid about 350 million francs. Family reunification charges would come on top of that. The money would be returned to the population, for example through health insurance premiums.

The Federal Council said in a report published in May that an immigration charge would be permitted under the safeguard clause. It said some exceptions might be necessary, including for charges on family members. The EU’s political response to the proposal remains unclear.