Work force from third countries
The cantons and SEM issued 7,480 work permits to people from outside the EU/EFTA area.
848 of these permits were issued to UK nationals and 6,632 to people from other third countries.
Third countries are countries that are not members of the EU or EFTA. Since 1 February 2020 (Brexit) this also includes the United Kingdom (UK). However, work permits for UK nationals are handled separately.
More than half of these qualified specialists were employed in the IT sector, in business consultancy, in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry or in research.
People from a non-EU/EFTA country can only be gainfully employed in Switzerland if they are well qualified. Managers, specialists and people with a university degree and several years of professional experience are considered to be well qualified.
As in previous years, the quota approved by the Federal Council was not fully utilised.
The quotas for workers from third countries including the UK are determined annually by the Federal Council. Since 2020, there has been a separate quota for the UK, which has been added to the quota for third countries.