Visa information

Switzerland offers three named routes in the 2026 guide: an employer-sponsored work permit (B) with quotas for non-EU citizens, free movement for EU/EFTA citizens, and lump-sum taxation residency for wealthy non-workers. The guide scores Switzerland just 42/100 for visa and bureaucracy — the lowest of its seven dimensions — and states plainly that there is no nomad visa, so non-EU movers should expect the permit to be tied to an employer and a quota.

The three routes the guide names

Work permit (B) via employer — the guide's first-listed route, with quotas for non-EU citizens. The permit runs through an employer, not as a standalone application.

EU/EFTA citizens have free movement — the guide states this as a separate, simpler position for EU/EFTA nationals.

Lump-sum taxation residency for wealthy non-workers — a residency route tied to the lump-sum (forfait) tax arrangement covered on the Tax & Legal page. The guide gives no wealth or income figure for it.

The guide also lists a fourth, retirement-specific position among its schemes: retiree residence for over-55s with ties and means (see the Retirement page).

Who can use which route — and the nomad gap

The guide draws one hard line by nationality: EU/EFTA citizens have free movement, while non-EU citizens face quotas on the employer-sponsored B permit. It publishes no quota numbers, no salary threshold for the B permit, and no list of eligible occupations, so none is stated here.

For remote workers the position is explicit: “No nomad visa; non-EU permits tied to employer quota.” The site data carries the same line and scores the nomad position at zero. If you are a non-EU remote worker without a Swiss employer, neither source describes a route for you — that is a limit of the sources, stated here rather than filled in.

At the guide's exchange rate of $1 ≈ CHF0.81, any franc figures you are quoted convert at roughly that rate for planning.

What the paperwork costs — plan budgets, not government fees

The guide does not list individual government permit fees. What it gives is a bundled “Visa, permits & translations” budget line in each move plan, described in the plans themselves as covering government fees, apostilles and translations — those bundled lines are the only sourced cost figures for the application itself:

• $1,250 — Affordable plan (you file yourself)
• $1,800 — Mid-range and Retirement plans
• $4,300 — Luxury plan (the plan notes the luxury tier adds an immigration lawyer)

The Retirement plan carries one further, separate line: $3,350 for “Retirement visa, lawyer & pension certification”, covering an immigration lawyer, apostilled pension letters, medicals and translations.

Application steps and timelines, by tier

The guide builds the application into each plan's timeline rather than printing a single step list. The common sequence across the plans and checklists is:

• Choose the route first and print its requirements; the Affordable checklist starts with “Visa route chosen and requirements printed.”
• Gather and legalise documents — apostilles and translations are named in every tier; the Retirement paperwork stage adds pension or income letters certified and apostilled, a police certificate, a medical, and birth and marriage certificates translated.
• Check your passport — the Affordable checklist requires a passport valid 18+ months.
• Arrange health insurance before you file (see the Hospitals page for the guide's first-year insurance budgets).
• File — yourself on the Affordable tier, or with a lawyer or agent on the Mid-range, Luxury and Retirement tiers.

Paperwork-stage durations in the guide: ~10 weeks filing yourself (Affordable), ~8 weeks with a lawyer or agent filing (Mid-range), ~6 weeks with a lawyer filing everything (Luxury), and ~14 weeks for the Retirement paperwork stage. After the move, the settle stage includes registering your address and opening a bank account.

Renewals and the path to residency — the honest limit of the guide

Neither the guide nor the site data gives renewal intervals for the B permit, the number of years to permanent residence or citizenship, absence limits, or the size of the non-EU quota, so this page states none of them. What is sourced is the shape of the system — an employer-tied permit with quotas for non-EU citizens, free movement for EU/EFTA citizens, and a lump-sum residency route for wealthy non-workers — and the timetable is something to confirm with an immigration lawyer or the canton before you rely on it. The guide's visa score of 42/100 is its own warning that this is the hardest part of a Swiss move.

Frequently asked questions