New EU treaties could give 570.000 people permanent residence in Switzerland

A report by research institute Ecoplan has predicted that, if Switzerland adopts the EU Citizens’ Directive as part of the new EU treaties, a total of 570.000 EU and EFTA citizens could receive permanent residence in Switzerland in the five years after implementation. 

EU and EFTA citizens could benefit from EU-Switzerland treaties

As part of the new EU package, Switzerland plans to adopt aspects of the EU Citizens’ Directive, which would make it easier for EU and EFTA citizens to acquire permanent residence in the alpine nation. 

In some other EU countries,  EU and EFTA (European Free Trade Association) citizens do not always need a job to obtain permanent residence. However, the Swiss government has included a “significant exception” to the Citizens’ Directive, meaning that both a job and five years of residence would be required to gain permanent residence in Switzerland.

A report commissioned by the federal government, and conducted by research institute Ecoplan, predicts that, with the EU Citizens' Directive, 570.00 people could obtain permanent residence in Switzerland in the five years after the policy's implementation. An extra 50.000 to 70.000 people will get permanent residence annually, reports Watson. 

The new EU treaties are currently undergoing consultation, after which they will be submitted to the Swiss Parliament and Swiss voters for approval.

EU/EFTA citizens will need a job to apply for permanent residence

Some EU/EFTA citizens currently living in Switzerland can apply for permanent residence after five continuous years of living in the country. This is limited to people from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, as well as EFTA countries. Citizens from newer EU countries, such as Romania and Poland, can apply for permanent residence after 10 years of living in Switzerland. 

Integration requirements also apply to EU/EFTA citizens when submitting an application for permanent residence, such as proving language proficiency and economic and social integration. EU applicants, however, are more likely than other applicants from other countries to be successful in obtaining permanent residence.

With the introduction of the EU Citizens' Directive, applications could become easier. For example, requirements would include five years of continuous residence and employment, which could include part-time work of 30 percent. 

The Federal Council believes that, following the numbers published in the Ecoplan report, the “scale [of increased immigration] is manageable,” reports Blick. Business organisations are in agreement that the “significant exception” to require permanent residence applicants to have a job will “minimise the possibility of direct immigration into the welfare state”, said Stefan Heini from the Swiss Employers’ Association.