The Swiss Federal Council has quietly confirmed that the headline quotas that govern how many third-country nationals, EU/EFTA service-providers and British citizens can be hired in Switzerland will remain unchanged for the whole of 2026.
Under the revised Ordinance on Admission, Residence and Gainful Activity (OASA), employers will again have access to 8 500 authorisations for highly-skilled professionals from outside the EU/EFTA—4 500 B residence permits for assignments of more than 12 months and 4 000 L short-term permits for stays of up to a year. In parallel, Bern rolled over two special envelopes that are vital for project-driven industries: 3 000 L- and 500 B-permits for EU/EFTA service-providers posted to Switzerland for more than 120 days, and a bespoke Brexit buffer of 1 400 L and 2 100 B permits reserved for UK nationals under the Services Mobility Agreement.
![Switzerland freezes 2026 work-permit quotas, giving employers rare planning certainty]()
Business immigration managers have welcomed the decision. Quota figures are often released only a few weeks before each new year, making workforce planning and project staffing a headache for multinationals based in Swiss hubs such as Zürich, Basel and Geneva. With the 2026 numbers published 13 months in advance, HR teams can now map head-count plans, launch early-January filings and brief line managers on residual quota-exhaustion risks in IT and biotech clusters.
Cantonal migration offices emphasise, however, that an unchanged national ceiling does not remove bottlenecks. In 2025 the countrywide utilisation rate for third-country quotas was only 74 %, yet popular categories in Zürich and Vaud still ran dry in late autumn. Experts therefore advise companies to pre-collect documentation, track real-time quota burn and file applications as soon as cantonal “wallets” reopen on 2 January.
For globally mobile staff, the announcement means that Switzerland’s highly selective but predictable permit system will remain stable for at least one more year—good news for specialist talent and their employers alike.
Under the revised Ordinance on Admission, Residence and Gainful Activity (OASA), employers will again have access to 8 500 authorisations for highly-skilled professionals from outside the EU/EFTA—4 500 B residence permits for assignments of more than 12 months and 4 000 L short-term permits for stays of up to a year. In parallel, Bern rolled over two special envelopes that are vital for project-driven industries: 3 000 L- and 500 B-permits for EU/EFTA service-providers posted to Switzerland for more than 120 days, and a bespoke Brexit buffer of 1 400 L and 2 100 B permits reserved for UK nationals under the Services Mobility Agreement.
Business immigration managers have welcomed the decision. Quota figures are often released only a few weeks before each new year, making workforce planning and project staffing a headache for multinationals based in Swiss hubs such as Zürich, Basel and Geneva. With the 2026 numbers published 13 months in advance, HR teams can now map head-count plans, launch early-January filings and brief line managers on residual quota-exhaustion risks in IT and biotech clusters.
Cantonal migration offices emphasise, however, that an unchanged national ceiling does not remove bottlenecks. In 2025 the countrywide utilisation rate for third-country quotas was only 74 %, yet popular categories in Zürich and Vaud still ran dry in late autumn. Experts therefore advise companies to pre-collect documentation, track real-time quota burn and file applications as soon as cantonal “wallets” reopen on 2 January.
For globally mobile staff, the announcement means that Switzerland’s highly selective but predictable permit system will remain stable for at least one more year—good news for specialist talent and their employers alike.
