Swiss employers that depend on specialist labour from outside the EU/EFTA woke up on 2 December to welcome continuity. In an overnight publication of the minutes of its 28 November meeting, the Federal Council confirmed that the headline quota for recruiting so-called “third-country” talent will remain frozen at 8 500 permits for the whole of 2026. That means 4 500 B-residence permits for assignments of more than a year and 4 000 L-permits for stays of up to 12 months will again be available.
The Swiss quota system caps how many non-EU/EFTA nationals companies may hire each year. Although designed as a safeguard for the domestic labour market, it has become a key workforce-planning constraint for multinationals that base European head-office or R&D functions in Zurich, Basel, Zug or Geneva. By leaving the numbers untouched, Bern gives HR, mobility and project-staffing teams almost 13 months of visibility, a luxury in a country where quota decisions often land only weeks before the new year begins.
![Swiss Government Keeps 2026 Work-Permit Quotas Unchanged, Offering Corporates Rare Planning Certainty]()
The ordinance also rolls over two special envelopes. First, EU/EFTA service-providers posted to Switzerland for more than 120 days continue to benefit from 3 000 L- and 500 B-permits. Second, UK nationals retain their bespoke post-Brexit “Services Mobility Agreement” package of 1 400 L- and 2 100 B-permits. Both carve-outs matter for sectors such as engineering, pharma and financial services, where cross-border project work is frequent.
Official statistics show that companies did not exhaust the 2025 quotas (74 % utilisation for third-country permits and just 50 % for posted-worker quotas). Nonetheless, cantonal migration offices in Zurich, Vaud and Basel regularly report year-end bottlenecks when popular categories run dry. The unchanged ceilings therefore offer breathing space but do not remove the onus on employers to file applications early and monitor utilisation weekly.
Practically, global mobility managers should: 1) map 2026 headcount plans against available quotas; 2) pre-collect documentation for January filings, when cantons open their new quota wallets; 3) brief business leaders that quota exhaustion remains a risk for late-year hires, especially in IT and biotech clusters.
The Swiss quota system caps how many non-EU/EFTA nationals companies may hire each year. Although designed as a safeguard for the domestic labour market, it has become a key workforce-planning constraint for multinationals that base European head-office or R&D functions in Zurich, Basel, Zug or Geneva. By leaving the numbers untouched, Bern gives HR, mobility and project-staffing teams almost 13 months of visibility, a luxury in a country where quota decisions often land only weeks before the new year begins.
The ordinance also rolls over two special envelopes. First, EU/EFTA service-providers posted to Switzerland for more than 120 days continue to benefit from 3 000 L- and 500 B-permits. Second, UK nationals retain their bespoke post-Brexit “Services Mobility Agreement” package of 1 400 L- and 2 100 B-permits. Both carve-outs matter for sectors such as engineering, pharma and financial services, where cross-border project work is frequent.
Official statistics show that companies did not exhaust the 2025 quotas (74 % utilisation for third-country permits and just 50 % for posted-worker quotas). Nonetheless, cantonal migration offices in Zurich, Vaud and Basel regularly report year-end bottlenecks when popular categories run dry. The unchanged ceilings therefore offer breathing space but do not remove the onus on employers to file applications early and monitor utilisation weekly.
Practically, global mobility managers should: 1) map 2026 headcount plans against available quotas; 2) pre-collect documentation for January filings, when cantons open their new quota wallets; 3) brief business leaders that quota exhaustion remains a risk for late-year hires, especially in IT and biotech clusters.
