In its late-evening meeting of 28 November, the Swiss Federal Council formally adopted an amendment to the Ordinance on Admission, Residence and Gainful Activity (OASA) that freezes national work-permit ceilings for a further year. For 2026 Swiss employers will again have access to 8 500 authorisations for highly-skilled professionals from so-called third countries—4 500 B-residence permits for assignments longer than twelve months and 4 000 L-permits for stays of up to a year. The cabinet also rolled over the special envelopes that facilitate market access for EU/EFTA service-providers posted to Switzerland for more than 120 days (3 000 L and 500 B) and for UK nationals covered by the post-Brexit Services Mobility Agreement (1 400 L and 2 100 B).
Pressure to trim immigration quotas had mounted after net population inflows hit a 17-year high in 2025 and several parties warned that housing and infrastructure could struggle to cope. Yet business federations argued that capping permits would aggravate acute labour shortages in engineering, life-sciences and fintech clusters centred on Zurich, Basel and the Lake Geneva region. Government data show the technology sector alone has 120 000 vacancies—many of which cannot be filled locally—while the Swiss unemployment rate remains below 2.2 %.
![Swiss Federal Council Keeps 2026 Quotas for Non-EU/EFTA Workers and Service-Providers Unchanged]()
By leaving the ceilings untouched the Council offers multinationals rare policy certainty at budget-planning time. Global mobility managers can draw up 2026 staffing plans knowing that B- and L-permits will be available in roughly the same proportions as in the past three years, and HR teams do not need to adjust salary thresholds or assignment durations. Cantonal migration offices will issue allocation guidelines in December; historically Zurich and Geneva receive the largest shares.
Companies should nonetheless prepare early: more than half of the federal quota for third-country nationals had already been used by the end of September 2025, and many cantons exhausted their sub-quotas before year-end. Employers are advised to submit complete applications, emphasise the scarcity of the sought-after profile in the domestic market and align assignment letters with salary benchmarks published by the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM). Failure to do so may see requests refused or pushed into the following calendar year once a canton’s allocation is spent.
Looking ahead, observers expect the quota debate to intensify ahead of the October 2026 federal elections. The right-leaning SVP has announced a parliamentary initiative to cut the total by ten per cent and to re-introduce labour-market preference tests that were repealed in 2021. For now, however, the status quo prevails, giving employers another 12 months of predictable access to global talent.
Pressure to trim immigration quotas had mounted after net population inflows hit a 17-year high in 2025 and several parties warned that housing and infrastructure could struggle to cope. Yet business federations argued that capping permits would aggravate acute labour shortages in engineering, life-sciences and fintech clusters centred on Zurich, Basel and the Lake Geneva region. Government data show the technology sector alone has 120 000 vacancies—many of which cannot be filled locally—while the Swiss unemployment rate remains below 2.2 %.
By leaving the ceilings untouched the Council offers multinationals rare policy certainty at budget-planning time. Global mobility managers can draw up 2026 staffing plans knowing that B- and L-permits will be available in roughly the same proportions as in the past three years, and HR teams do not need to adjust salary thresholds or assignment durations. Cantonal migration offices will issue allocation guidelines in December; historically Zurich and Geneva receive the largest shares.
Companies should nonetheless prepare early: more than half of the federal quota for third-country nationals had already been used by the end of September 2025, and many cantons exhausted their sub-quotas before year-end. Employers are advised to submit complete applications, emphasise the scarcity of the sought-after profile in the domestic market and align assignment letters with salary benchmarks published by the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM). Failure to do so may see requests refused or pushed into the following calendar year once a canton’s allocation is spent.
Looking ahead, observers expect the quota debate to intensify ahead of the October 2026 federal elections. The right-leaning SVP has announced a parliamentary initiative to cut the total by ten per cent and to re-introduce labour-market preference tests that were repealed in 2021. For now, however, the status quo prevails, giving employers another 12 months of predictable access to global talent.
