A Job Is Not Enough: Two Laws, a Quota and a Test of Whether You Could Commute
Working in Liechtenstein needs a permit from the first day, for everybody, however short the work. Which law decides is a question of nationality. An EEA or Swiss national applies under the Personenfreizügigkeitsgesetz and needs an employment contract of more than one year at an adequate level of employment, or the trade-law conditions for self-employment - and, in both cases, that commuting across the border is not reasonable. A third-country national applies under the Ausländergesetz, where the bar is higher in kind rather than in degree: the post must be in the economic interest of the country, the applicant must be a manager, a specialist or a qualified worker with a completed apprenticeship or long experience, a 50 or 80 per cent level of employment is required depending on the permit, no suitable worker may have been found on the permit-free labour market, and there must be a suitable dwelling. Both tracks run into a number: the government may cap residence permits for employment, and for EEA nationals half of the yearly increase is given out by lottery.
At a glance
- Permit needed from
- The first day of any gainful activity, whatever the length of stay
PFZG article 8(1)(a) for EEA and Swiss nationals; AuG article 10(1) for everyone else.
- Contract length that distinguishes the two EEA permits
- Up to one year gives a short-stay permit (L); more than one year or open-ended gives a residence permit (B)
PFZG articles 15(2)(a)(1) and 20(1)(a)(1). The residence permit itself runs up to five years under article 19(1).
- The commuting test
- A permit is granted only where cross-border commuting is not reasonable
PFZG articles 15(2)(b) and 20(1)(b). It applies to EEA and Swiss nationals and has no equivalent in the free-movement law of any other EEA state in this corpus.
- Level of employment required of a third-country national
- At least 50% for a short-stay permit, at least 80% for a residence permit
AuG article 13(1)(c).
- Who counts as the permit-free labour market
- Liechtenstein nationals, holders of a valid residence or settlement permit, and EEA or Swiss cross-border workers
AuG article 16(2). A third-country national is admitted only where no suitable worker is found among them.
- Cap on employment permits
- The government may limit the number; renewals are not counted against it
AuG article 18 for third-country nationals. For EEA nationals the limit comes from the EEA Agreement itself - see the record on the regional treaty.
- Permits drawn each year for EEA nationals in work
- 28as of 2026-09-01
Ausländer- und Passamt. The number is not in any instrument: PFZV article 26 leaves the quota to the government.
- Decision time
- Four weeks for a complete EEA or Swiss application, three months for a third-country applicationas of 2026-10-11
Stated by the Ausländer- und Passamt. PFZG article 34(2)(b) sets four weeks for applications other than those listed in letter a; the EEA Agreement’s Annex VIII section VI sets an outer limit of three months.
- Fee on a residence permit granted by the government
- CHF 1,060 in total; CHF 80 if the decision is negative
Ausländer- und Passamt. It is the sum of Ausl-GebV article 10(1)(a), 60 francs for the assurance, and article 10(1)(c)(2), 1,000 francs for a residence permit granted by the government.
- Cross-border work instead
- Notified, not authorised, for an EEA national - and the worker must go home every day
PFZG articles 32 and 33 make cross-border work a matter of notification within ten days. AuG article 22 requires a permit for a third-country cross-border worker and requires permanent residence in an EEA state or Switzerland.
Requirements
- EEA or Swiss nationals: an employment contract of more than one year with an adequate level of employment, or the professional and trade-law conditions for self-employment, and that cross-border commuting is not reasonable
- Third-country nationals: an application from a domestic employer, a post in the economic interest of the country, and status as a manager, specialist or qualified worker with a completed apprenticeship or long professional experience
- Third-country nationals: a level of employment of at least 50 per cent for a short-stay permit or 80 per cent for a residence permit
- Third-country nationals: proof that no suitable worker could be found on the permit-free labour market, pay and conditions that are customary for the place, occupation and sector, a suitable dwelling, no convictions for a crime or offence, and means enough not to need social assistance
- For a permit won in the EEA draw: the substantive conditions of PFZG article 20(1)(a) must still be met at the final draw
In detail
The question nobody else asks: could you commute?
Both the free-movement law and the aliens law refuse a residence permit where cross-border commuting is not unreasonable. In a country eleven kilometres wide with Austria and Switzerland on either side, that test does most of the rationing work on its own - it channels people into the cross-border worker status, which is notified rather than authorised for EEA nationals and sits outside the quota. The cost of that status is the daily return the EEA Agreement itself requires in section VII of the sectoral adaptations to Annex VIII.
And the one in the other direction
Article 20(2) of the free-movement act says a person holding a Liechtenstein residence permit for work may take a job in another EEA state or in Switzerland only after three years of work and uninterrupted residence, and must keep their residence in Liechtenstein and return as a rule daily or at least weekly. A permit granted because you work in Liechtenstein is, for three years, a permit to work in Liechtenstein.
Country-level policy
Everything quoted in Liechtenstein’s records comes from Lilex, the consolidated law database of the government’s legal service at gesetze.li. Lilex says what it is: the consolidated provisions serve information only and have no legal effect. The authoritative text is elsewhere, and the Publication Act says exactly where - only the version of a provision published in the Landesgesetzblatt and electronically signed is massgebend, and for treaties and decisions of international organisations it is the texts designated authentic in them. That is a third answer to a question this corpus has now asked of three neighbours: Switzerland’s consolidations are themselves authoritative, Iceland’s gazette prevails over its code, and Liechtenstein separates the two the way Iceland does while publishing both at the same address.
Exceptions by origin
EEA Nationals: a Different Statute, a Claim of Right, and a Test of Whether You Could Commute
A national of the Union or the wider Economic Area does not apply under the Aliens Act at all. The Personenfreizügigkeitsgesetz governs instead, and article 19(2) gives a claim of right to the permit - but a claim under the special arrangement for Liechtenstein in Annexes VIII and V of the EEA Agreement, not under free movement as the rest of the Area knows it. Article 20(1) sets what has to be shown: a contract of more than a year or an open-ended one with an adequate level of employment, or the trade and business conditions for self-employment - and, in its own lettered paragraph, that commuting across the border is not reasonable. That last condition has no counterpart for anyone else and it is the one most likely to decide the case, because Liechtenstein is small enough that living in Austria or Switzerland and crossing daily is reasonable for most jobs. What the Aliens Act asks of a third-country national - economic interest, a labour-market test, a suitable dwelling, a government cap - does not apply here.
What the law says
«Einer Bewilligung zum Aufenthalt in Liechtenstein bedarf, wer: a) unabhängig von der Aufenthaltsdauer eine Erwerbstätigkeit ausüben will; oder b) einen Aufenthalt ohne Erwerbstätigkeit von mehr als drei Monaten innerhalb von sechs Monaten beabsichtigt. 2) Vorbehalten bleibt die Bewilligungspflicht für die grenzüberschreitende Dienstleistungserbringung nach Art. 31.»Our translation - not official
A permit for residence in Liechtenstein is required by anyone who: a) wishes to pursue a gainful activity, irrespective of the length of the stay; or b) intends a stay without gainful activity of more than three months within six months. 2) The permit requirement for cross-border service provision under article 31 is reserved.
About this source
The Rechtsdienst der Regierung's consolidated law database for Liechtenstein, covering national law and treaty law (Staatsvertragsrecht) under LR numbers, and reached at gesetze.li. It is tagesaktuell by its own account - 'Hier finden Sie tagesaktuell das geltende Landes- und Staatsvertragsrecht in konsolidierter (bereinigter) Form' - and it carries the EEA Agreement and its annexes as Liechtenstein treaty law, which is how the sectoral adaptations limiting free movement can be read here at all. The quotable text is at /konso/html/<LGBlId>, where LGBlId is the year plus the three-digit LGBl number plus 000: /konso/<LGBlId> alone is a shell with an iframe. Search works only with the whole parameter set, /konso/suche?search_text=&search_loc=text&lrnr=<LR>&lgblid_von=&observe_date=DD.MM.YYYY; omitting any one of them returns the help page with no results.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It is informative only and must never be cited as the authentic text. Its own Rechtshinweis says 'Konsolidierte Rechtsvorschriften dienen ausschliesslich der Information und entfalten keine Rechtswirkung', and article 7(1) of the Kundmachungsgesetz says only the signed electronic version published in the Landesgesetzblatt is massgebend. For a treaty it is the texts designated authentic in the treaty that govern, under article 7(2). It also cannot be cited for Swiss law applied in Liechtenstein: it lists which Swiss instruments apply but publishes none of their text, which lives on fedlex.admin.ch. Fetch it with Firecrawl rather than the direct route: the direct extractor does not decode named HTML entities and stores 'ü' as the five characters of its entity.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Eine Aufenthaltsbewilligung zur Ausübung einer Erwerbstätigkeit kann erteilt werden, wenn: a) die ausländische Person: 1\. einen mehr als einjährigen oder unbefristeten Arbeitsvertrag und einen angemessenen Beschäftigungsgrad nachweist; oder 2\. die berufs- und wirtschaftsrechtlichen Voraussetzungen für die beabsichtigte, mit der Wohnsitznahme verbundene selbständige Tätigkeit erfüllt; und b) die Grenzgängertätigkeit nicht zumutbar ist.»Our translation - not official
A residence permit for pursuing a gainful activity may be granted where: a) the foreign national: 1. proves an employment contract of more than one year or of indefinite duration and an adequate level of employment; or 2. meets the professional and trade-law conditions for the intended self-employed activity connected with taking up residence; and b) cross-border commuting is not reasonable.
The commuting test in letter b is the clause that keeps the quota small: if you could commute, you are expected to.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Rechtsdienst der Regierung's consolidated law database for Liechtenstein, covering national law and treaty law (Staatsvertragsrecht) under LR numbers, and reached at gesetze.li. It is tagesaktuell by its own account - 'Hier finden Sie tagesaktuell das geltende Landes- und Staatsvertragsrecht in konsolidierter (bereinigter) Form' - and it carries the EEA Agreement and its annexes as Liechtenstein treaty law, which is how the sectoral adaptations limiting free movement can be read here at all. The quotable text is at /konso/html/<LGBlId>, where LGBlId is the year plus the three-digit LGBl number plus 000: /konso/<LGBlId> alone is a shell with an iframe. Search works only with the whole parameter set, /konso/suche?search_text=&search_loc=text&lrnr=<LR>&lgblid_von=&observe_date=DD.MM.YYYY; omitting any one of them returns the help page with no results.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It is informative only and must never be cited as the authentic text. Its own Rechtshinweis says 'Konsolidierte Rechtsvorschriften dienen ausschliesslich der Information und entfalten keine Rechtswirkung', and article 7(1) of the Kundmachungsgesetz says only the signed electronic version published in the Landesgesetzblatt is massgebend. For a treaty it is the texts designated authentic in the treaty that govern, under article 7(2). It also cannot be cited for Swiss law applied in Liechtenstein: it lists which Swiss instruments apply but publishes none of their text, which lives on fedlex.admin.ch. Fetch it with Firecrawl rather than the direct route: the direct extractor does not decode named HTML entities and stores 'ü' as the five characters of its entity.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Eine Kurzaufenthaltsbewilligung zur Ausübung einer Erwerbstätigkeit kann für befristete und unmittelbar aneinander gereihte Aufenthalte insgesamt bis zu einem Jahr erteilt werden. 2) Sie kann nur erteilt werden, wenn: a) die ausländische Person: 1\. einen höchstens einjährigen Arbeitsvertrag und einen angemessenen Beschäftigungsgrad nachweist; oder 2\. die berufs- und wirtschaftsrechtlichen Voraussetzungen für die beabsichtigte, mit der Wohnsitznahme verbundene selbständige Tätigkeit erfüllt; und b) die Grenzgängertätigkeit nicht zumutbar ist.»Our translation - not official
A short-stay permit for pursuing a gainful activity may be granted for limited and immediately consecutive stays totalling up to one year. 2) It may be granted only where: a) the foreign national: 1. proves an employment contract of at most one year and an adequate level of employment; or 2. meets the professional and trade-law conditions for the intended self-employed activity connected with taking up residence; and b) cross-border commuting is not reasonable.
The short-stay permit is capped at a year in total and cannot be reissued until six months after departure (article 15(5)).
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Rechtsdienst der Regierung's consolidated law database for Liechtenstein, covering national law and treaty law (Staatsvertragsrecht) under LR numbers, and reached at gesetze.li. It is tagesaktuell by its own account - 'Hier finden Sie tagesaktuell das geltende Landes- und Staatsvertragsrecht in konsolidierter (bereinigter) Form' - and it carries the EEA Agreement and its annexes as Liechtenstein treaty law, which is how the sectoral adaptations limiting free movement can be read here at all. The quotable text is at /konso/html/<LGBlId>, where LGBlId is the year plus the three-digit LGBl number plus 000: /konso/<LGBlId> alone is a shell with an iframe. Search works only with the whole parameter set, /konso/suche?search_text=&search_loc=text&lrnr=<LR>&lgblid_von=&observe_date=DD.MM.YYYY; omitting any one of them returns the help page with no results.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It is informative only and must never be cited as the authentic text. Its own Rechtshinweis says 'Konsolidierte Rechtsvorschriften dienen ausschliesslich der Information und entfalten keine Rechtswirkung', and article 7(1) of the Kundmachungsgesetz says only the signed electronic version published in the Landesgesetzblatt is massgebend. For a treaty it is the texts designated authentic in the treaty that govern, under article 7(2). It also cannot be cited for Swiss law applied in Liechtenstein: it lists which Swiss instruments apply but publishes none of their text, which lives on fedlex.admin.ch. Fetch it with Firecrawl rather than the direct route: the direct extractor does not decode named HTML entities and stores 'ü' as the five characters of its entity.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Nach drei Jahren Erwerbstätigkeit und ununterbrochenem Aufenthalt in Liechtenstein kann eine Erwerbstätigkeit in einem anderen EWR-Mitgliedstaat oder in der Schweiz aufgenommen werden, sofern der Wohnsitz in Liechtenstein beibehalten und in der Regel jeden Tag oder mindestens einmal in der Woche dorthin zurückgekehrt wird.»Our translation - not official
After three years of gainful activity and uninterrupted residence in Liechtenstein, a gainful activity may be taken up in another EEA member state or in Switzerland, provided residence in Liechtenstein is retained and there is a return there as a rule every day or at least once a week.
The mirror image of the commuting rule: a resident of Liechtenstein may only take work elsewhere in the EEA after three years, and must keep coming back.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Rechtsdienst der Regierung's consolidated law database for Liechtenstein, covering national law and treaty law (Staatsvertragsrecht) under LR numbers, and reached at gesetze.li. It is tagesaktuell by its own account - 'Hier finden Sie tagesaktuell das geltende Landes- und Staatsvertragsrecht in konsolidierter (bereinigter) Form' - and it carries the EEA Agreement and its annexes as Liechtenstein treaty law, which is how the sectoral adaptations limiting free movement can be read here at all. The quotable text is at /konso/html/<LGBlId>, where LGBlId is the year plus the three-digit LGBl number plus 000: /konso/<LGBlId> alone is a shell with an iframe. Search works only with the whole parameter set, /konso/suche?search_text=&search_loc=text&lrnr=<LR>&lgblid_von=&observe_date=DD.MM.YYYY; omitting any one of them returns the help page with no results.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It is informative only and must never be cited as the authentic text. Its own Rechtshinweis says 'Konsolidierte Rechtsvorschriften dienen ausschliesslich der Information und entfalten keine Rechtswirkung', and article 7(1) of the Kundmachungsgesetz says only the signed electronic version published in the Landesgesetzblatt is massgebend. For a treaty it is the texts designated authentic in the treaty that govern, under article 7(2). It also cannot be cited for Swiss law applied in Liechtenstein: it lists which Swiss instruments apply but publishes none of their text, which lives on fedlex.admin.ch. Fetch it with Firecrawl rather than the direct route: the direct extractor does not decode named HTML entities and stores 'ü' as the five characters of its entity.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Ausländern kann eine Kurzaufenthalts- oder Aufenthaltsbewilligung zur Ausübung einer unselbständigen Erwerbstätigkeit nur erteilt werden, wenn: a) dies dem volkswirtschaftlichen Interesse entspricht; b) das Gesuch eines inländischen Arbeitgebers vorliegt; c) der Beschäftigungsgrad mindestens 50 % bei einem Gesuch um Erteilung einer Kurzaufenthaltsbewilligung oder 80 % bei einem Gesuch um Erteilung einer Aufenthaltsbewilligung beträgt; d) keine Vorstrafen wegen eines Verbrechens oder Vergehens bestehen; e) die berufliche Qualifikation, die berufliche und soziale Anpassungsfähigkeit, die Sprachkenntnisse und das Alter eine nachhaltige Integration in die Arbeitswelt und die Gesellschaft erwarten lassen; f) genügend finanzielle Mittel vorhanden sind, sodass keine Sozialhilfe in Anspruch genommen werden muss; g) die Voraussetzungen nach Art. 14 bis 18 erfüllt sind; und h) die Grenzgängertätigkeit nicht zumutbar ist.»Our translation - not official
A short-stay or residence permit for pursuing an employed activity may be granted to foreign nationals only where: a) this corresponds to the economic interest; b) an application from a domestic employer is present; c) the level of employment is at least 50 % for an application for a short-stay permit or 80 % for an application for a residence permit; d) there are no previous convictions for a crime or offence; e) professional qualification, professional and social adaptability, language skills and age give reason to expect lasting integration into working life and society; f) sufficient financial means are available so that no social assistance has to be drawn; g) the conditions of articles 14 to 18 are met; and h) cross-border commuting is not reasonable.
Eight conditions, cumulative, for a third-country national in employment. Letter h is the same commuting test the EEA track applies.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Rechtsdienst der Regierung's consolidated law database for Liechtenstein, covering national law and treaty law (Staatsvertragsrecht) under LR numbers, and reached at gesetze.li. It is tagesaktuell by its own account - 'Hier finden Sie tagesaktuell das geltende Landes- und Staatsvertragsrecht in konsolidierter (bereinigter) Form' - and it carries the EEA Agreement and its annexes as Liechtenstein treaty law, which is how the sectoral adaptations limiting free movement can be read here at all. The quotable text is at /konso/html/<LGBlId>, where LGBlId is the year plus the three-digit LGBl number plus 000: /konso/<LGBlId> alone is a shell with an iframe. Search works only with the whole parameter set, /konso/suche?search_text=&search_loc=text&lrnr=<LR>&lgblid_von=&observe_date=DD.MM.YYYY; omitting any one of them returns the help page with no results.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It is informative only and must never be cited as the authentic text. Its own Rechtshinweis says 'Konsolidierte Rechtsvorschriften dienen ausschliesslich der Information und entfalten keine Rechtswirkung', and article 7(1) of the Kundmachungsgesetz says only the signed electronic version published in the Landesgesetzblatt is massgebend. For a treaty it is the texts designated authentic in the treaty that govern, under article 7(2). It also cannot be cited for Swiss law applied in Liechtenstein: it lists which Swiss instruments apply but publishes none of their text, which lives on fedlex.admin.ch. Fetch it with Firecrawl rather than the direct route: the direct extractor does not decode named HTML entities and stores 'ü' as the five characters of its entity.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Eine Kurzaufenthalts- oder Aufenthaltsbewilligung zur Ausübung einer unselbständigen Erwerbstätigkeit kann nur an Führungskräfte, Spezialisten und andere qualifizierte Arbeitnehmer mit abgeschlossener Berufslehre oder langjähriger Berufserfahrung erteilt werden.»Our translation - not official
A short-stay or residence permit for pursuing an employed activity may be granted only to managers, specialists and other qualified workers with a completed apprenticeship or long professional experience.
About this source
The Rechtsdienst der Regierung's consolidated law database for Liechtenstein, covering national law and treaty law (Staatsvertragsrecht) under LR numbers, and reached at gesetze.li. It is tagesaktuell by its own account - 'Hier finden Sie tagesaktuell das geltende Landes- und Staatsvertragsrecht in konsolidierter (bereinigter) Form' - and it carries the EEA Agreement and its annexes as Liechtenstein treaty law, which is how the sectoral adaptations limiting free movement can be read here at all. The quotable text is at /konso/html/<LGBlId>, where LGBlId is the year plus the three-digit LGBl number plus 000: /konso/<LGBlId> alone is a shell with an iframe. Search works only with the whole parameter set, /konso/suche?search_text=&search_loc=text&lrnr=<LR>&lgblid_von=&observe_date=DD.MM.YYYY; omitting any one of them returns the help page with no results.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It is informative only and must never be cited as the authentic text. Its own Rechtshinweis says 'Konsolidierte Rechtsvorschriften dienen ausschliesslich der Information und entfalten keine Rechtswirkung', and article 7(1) of the Kundmachungsgesetz says only the signed electronic version published in the Landesgesetzblatt is massgebend. For a treaty it is the texts designated authentic in the treaty that govern, under article 7(2). It also cannot be cited for Swiss law applied in Liechtenstein: it lists which Swiss instruments apply but publishes none of their text, which lives on fedlex.admin.ch. Fetch it with Firecrawl rather than the direct route: the direct extractor does not decode named HTML entities and stores 'ü' as the five characters of its entity.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Ausländer können zur Ausübung einer unselbständigen Erwerbstätigkeit in Liechtenstein nur zugelassen werden, wenn nachgewiesen wird, dass auf dem bewilligungsfreien Arbeitsmarkt keine geeigneten Arbeitnehmerinnen oder Arbeitnehmer gefunden werden können. 2) Zum bewilligungsfreien Arbeitsmarkt gehören: a) liechtensteinische Staatsangehörige; b) Personen mit einer gültigen Aufenthalts- oder Niederlassungsbewilligung; und c) Grenzgänger mit einer Staatsangehörigkeit eines EWR-Mitgliedstaats oder der Schweiz.»Our translation - not official
Foreign nationals may be admitted to pursue an employed activity in Liechtenstein only where it is shown that no suitable workers can be found on the permit-free labour market. 2) The permit-free labour market comprises: a) Liechtenstein nationals; b) persons with a valid residence or settlement permit; and c) cross-border workers with the nationality of an EEA member state or of Switzerland.
Note letter c: an EEA cross-border worker counts as part of the domestic labour market a third-country applicant must be tested against.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Rechtsdienst der Regierung's consolidated law database for Liechtenstein, covering national law and treaty law (Staatsvertragsrecht) under LR numbers, and reached at gesetze.li. It is tagesaktuell by its own account - 'Hier finden Sie tagesaktuell das geltende Landes- und Staatsvertragsrecht in konsolidierter (bereinigter) Form' - and it carries the EEA Agreement and its annexes as Liechtenstein treaty law, which is how the sectoral adaptations limiting free movement can be read here at all. The quotable text is at /konso/html/<LGBlId>, where LGBlId is the year plus the three-digit LGBl number plus 000: /konso/<LGBlId> alone is a shell with an iframe. Search works only with the whole parameter set, /konso/suche?search_text=&search_loc=text&lrnr=<LR>&lgblid_von=&observe_date=DD.MM.YYYY; omitting any one of them returns the help page with no results.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It is informative only and must never be cited as the authentic text. Its own Rechtshinweis says 'Konsolidierte Rechtsvorschriften dienen ausschliesslich der Information und entfalten keine Rechtswirkung', and article 7(1) of the Kundmachungsgesetz says only the signed electronic version published in the Landesgesetzblatt is massgebend. For a treaty it is the texts designated authentic in the treaty that govern, under article 7(2). It also cannot be cited for Swiss law applied in Liechtenstein: it lists which Swiss instruments apply but publishes none of their text, which lives on fedlex.admin.ch. Fetch it with Firecrawl rather than the direct route: the direct extractor does not decode named HTML entities and stores 'ü' as the five characters of its entity.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Die Regierung kann die Zahl der Kurzaufenthalts- und Aufenthaltsbewilligungen zur Ausübung einer unselbständigen Erwerbstätigkeit begrenzen. 2) Die Höchstzahlen finden auf Verlängerungsgesuche keine Anwendung.»Our translation - not official
The government may limit the number of short-stay and residence permits for pursuing an employed activity. 2) The maximum numbers do not apply to renewal applications.
About this source
The Rechtsdienst der Regierung's consolidated law database for Liechtenstein, covering national law and treaty law (Staatsvertragsrecht) under LR numbers, and reached at gesetze.li. It is tagesaktuell by its own account - 'Hier finden Sie tagesaktuell das geltende Landes- und Staatsvertragsrecht in konsolidierter (bereinigter) Form' - and it carries the EEA Agreement and its annexes as Liechtenstein treaty law, which is how the sectoral adaptations limiting free movement can be read here at all. The quotable text is at /konso/html/<LGBlId>, where LGBlId is the year plus the three-digit LGBl number plus 000: /konso/<LGBlId> alone is a shell with an iframe. Search works only with the whole parameter set, /konso/suche?search_text=&search_loc=text&lrnr=<LR>&lgblid_von=&observe_date=DD.MM.YYYY; omitting any one of them returns the help page with no results.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It is informative only and must never be cited as the authentic text. Its own Rechtshinweis says 'Konsolidierte Rechtsvorschriften dienen ausschliesslich der Information und entfalten keine Rechtswirkung', and article 7(1) of the Kundmachungsgesetz says only the signed electronic version published in the Landesgesetzblatt is massgebend. For a treaty it is the texts designated authentic in the treaty that govern, under article 7(2). It also cannot be cited for Swiss law applied in Liechtenstein: it lists which Swiss instruments apply but publishes none of their text, which lives on fedlex.admin.ch. Fetch it with Firecrawl rather than the direct route: the direct extractor does not decode named HTML entities and stores 'ü' as the five characters of its entity.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Ausländer können zur Ausübung einer unselbständigen Erwerbstätigkeit nur zugelassen werden, wenn sie über eine bedarfsgerechte Wohnung verfügen.»Our translation - not official
Foreign nationals may be admitted to pursue an employed activity only where they have a suitable dwelling.
A housing condition on a work permit, which is rare in this corpus.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Rechtsdienst der Regierung's consolidated law database for Liechtenstein, covering national law and treaty law (Staatsvertragsrecht) under LR numbers, and reached at gesetze.li. It is tagesaktuell by its own account - 'Hier finden Sie tagesaktuell das geltende Landes- und Staatsvertragsrecht in konsolidierter (bereinigter) Form' - and it carries the EEA Agreement and its annexes as Liechtenstein treaty law, which is how the sectoral adaptations limiting free movement can be read here at all. The quotable text is at /konso/html/<LGBlId>, where LGBlId is the year plus the three-digit LGBl number plus 000: /konso/<LGBlId> alone is a shell with an iframe. Search works only with the whole parameter set, /konso/suche?search_text=&search_loc=text&lrnr=<LR>&lgblid_von=&observe_date=DD.MM.YYYY; omitting any one of them returns the help page with no results.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It is informative only and must never be cited as the authentic text. Its own Rechtshinweis says 'Konsolidierte Rechtsvorschriften dienen ausschliesslich der Information und entfalten keine Rechtswirkung', and article 7(1) of the Kundmachungsgesetz says only the signed electronic version published in the Landesgesetzblatt is massgebend. For a treaty it is the texts designated authentic in the treaty that govern, under article 7(2). It also cannot be cited for Swiss law applied in Liechtenstein: it lists which Swiss instruments apply but publishes none of their text, which lives on fedlex.admin.ch. Fetch it with Firecrawl rather than the direct route: the direct extractor does not decode named HTML entities and stores 'ü' as the five characters of its entity.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The agency page on allocation of the B permit cites the Aliens Act as "LGBl. 2008 Nr. 11". The Act is LGBl. 2008 Nr. 311; the page links to the right text.
The total fee of CHF 1,060 is the agency’s own addition of two items in the fee ordinance, and the arithmetic checks out against the ordinance as we read it.
This record rests on the PFZG, the AuG, the ZAV, the fee ordinance and two pages of the Ausländer- und Passamt. We did not read the Arbeitsvermittlungsgesetz or the Entsendeverordnung, which govern hiring-out of staff and posted workers.
- consolidatesPersonenfreizügigkeitsgesetz (PFZG), LGBl. 2009 Nr. 348
Lilex - Gesetzesdatenbank des Fürstentums Liechtenstein · consolidated to 2026-01-01
About this source
The Rechtsdienst der Regierung's consolidated law database for Liechtenstein, covering national law and treaty law (Staatsvertragsrecht) under LR numbers, and reached at gesetze.li. It is tagesaktuell by its own account - 'Hier finden Sie tagesaktuell das geltende Landes- und Staatsvertragsrecht in konsolidierter (bereinigter) Form' - and it carries the EEA Agreement and its annexes as Liechtenstein treaty law, which is how the sectoral adaptations limiting free movement can be read here at all. The quotable text is at /konso/html/<LGBlId>, where LGBlId is the year plus the three-digit LGBl number plus 000: /konso/<LGBlId> alone is a shell with an iframe. Search works only with the whole parameter set, /konso/suche?search_text=&search_loc=text&lrnr=<LR>&lgblid_von=&observe_date=DD.MM.YYYY; omitting any one of them returns the help page with no results.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It is informative only and must never be cited as the authentic text. Its own Rechtshinweis says 'Konsolidierte Rechtsvorschriften dienen ausschliesslich der Information und entfalten keine Rechtswirkung', and article 7(1) of the Kundmachungsgesetz says only the signed electronic version published in the Landesgesetzblatt is massgebend. For a treaty it is the texts designated authentic in the treaty that govern, under article 7(2). It also cannot be cited for Swiss law applied in Liechtenstein: it lists which Swiss instruments apply but publishes none of their text, which lives on fedlex.admin.ch. Fetch it with Firecrawl rather than the direct route: the direct extractor does not decode named HTML entities and stores 'ü' as the five characters of its entity.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- consolidatesAusländergesetz (AuG), LGBl. 2008 Nr. 311
Lilex - Gesetzesdatenbank des Fürstentums Liechtenstein · consolidated to 2026-06-12
About this source
The Rechtsdienst der Regierung's consolidated law database for Liechtenstein, covering national law and treaty law (Staatsvertragsrecht) under LR numbers, and reached at gesetze.li. It is tagesaktuell by its own account - 'Hier finden Sie tagesaktuell das geltende Landes- und Staatsvertragsrecht in konsolidierter (bereinigter) Form' - and it carries the EEA Agreement and its annexes as Liechtenstein treaty law, which is how the sectoral adaptations limiting free movement can be read here at all. The quotable text is at /konso/html/<LGBlId>, where LGBlId is the year plus the three-digit LGBl number plus 000: /konso/<LGBlId> alone is a shell with an iframe. Search works only with the whole parameter set, /konso/suche?search_text=&search_loc=text&lrnr=<LR>&lgblid_von=&observe_date=DD.MM.YYYY; omitting any one of them returns the help page with no results.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It is informative only and must never be cited as the authentic text. Its own Rechtshinweis says 'Konsolidierte Rechtsvorschriften dienen ausschliesslich der Information und entfalten keine Rechtswirkung', and article 7(1) of the Kundmachungsgesetz says only the signed electronic version published in the Landesgesetzblatt is massgebend. For a treaty it is the texts designated authentic in the treaty that govern, under article 7(2). It also cannot be cited for Swiss law applied in Liechtenstein: it lists which Swiss instruments apply but publishes none of their text, which lives on fedlex.admin.ch. Fetch it with Firecrawl rather than the direct route: the direct extractor does not decode named HTML entities and stores 'ü' as the five characters of its entity.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- consolidatesVerordnung über die Zulassung und den Aufenthalt von Ausländern (ZAV), LGBl. 2008 Nr. 350
Lilex - Gesetzesdatenbank des Fürstentums Liechtenstein · consolidated to 2026-06-12
About this source
The Rechtsdienst der Regierung's consolidated law database for Liechtenstein, covering national law and treaty law (Staatsvertragsrecht) under LR numbers, and reached at gesetze.li. It is tagesaktuell by its own account - 'Hier finden Sie tagesaktuell das geltende Landes- und Staatsvertragsrecht in konsolidierter (bereinigter) Form' - and it carries the EEA Agreement and its annexes as Liechtenstein treaty law, which is how the sectoral adaptations limiting free movement can be read here at all. The quotable text is at /konso/html/<LGBlId>, where LGBlId is the year plus the three-digit LGBl number plus 000: /konso/<LGBlId> alone is a shell with an iframe. Search works only with the whole parameter set, /konso/suche?search_text=&search_loc=text&lrnr=<LR>&lgblid_von=&observe_date=DD.MM.YYYY; omitting any one of them returns the help page with no results.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It is informative only and must never be cited as the authentic text. Its own Rechtshinweis says 'Konsolidierte Rechtsvorschriften dienen ausschliesslich der Information und entfalten keine Rechtswirkung', and article 7(1) of the Kundmachungsgesetz says only the signed electronic version published in the Landesgesetzblatt is massgebend. For a treaty it is the texts designated authentic in the treaty that govern, under article 7(2). It also cannot be cited for Swiss law applied in Liechtenstein: it lists which Swiss instruments apply but publishes none of their text, which lives on fedlex.admin.ch. Fetch it with Firecrawl rather than the direct route: the direct extractor does not decode named HTML entities and stores 'ü' as the five characters of its entity.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- consolidatesAusländerrecht-Gebührenverordnung (Ausl-GebV), LGBl. 2011 Nr. 440
Lilex - Gesetzesdatenbank des Fürstentums Liechtenstein · consolidated to 2026-01-01
About this source
The Rechtsdienst der Regierung's consolidated law database for Liechtenstein, covering national law and treaty law (Staatsvertragsrecht) under LR numbers, and reached at gesetze.li. It is tagesaktuell by its own account - 'Hier finden Sie tagesaktuell das geltende Landes- und Staatsvertragsrecht in konsolidierter (bereinigter) Form' - and it carries the EEA Agreement and its annexes as Liechtenstein treaty law, which is how the sectoral adaptations limiting free movement can be read here at all. The quotable text is at /konso/html/<LGBlId>, where LGBlId is the year plus the three-digit LGBl number plus 000: /konso/<LGBlId> alone is a shell with an iframe. Search works only with the whole parameter set, /konso/suche?search_text=&search_loc=text&lrnr=<LR>&lgblid_von=&observe_date=DD.MM.YYYY; omitting any one of them returns the help page with no results.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It is informative only and must never be cited as the authentic text. Its own Rechtshinweis says 'Konsolidierte Rechtsvorschriften dienen ausschliesslich der Information und entfalten keine Rechtswirkung', and article 7(1) of the Kundmachungsgesetz says only the signed electronic version published in the Landesgesetzblatt is massgebend. For a treaty it is the texts designated authentic in the treaty that govern, under article 7(2). It also cannot be cited for Swiss law applied in Liechtenstein: it lists which Swiss instruments apply but publishes none of their text, which lives on fedlex.admin.ch. Fetch it with Firecrawl rather than the direct route: the direct extractor does not decode named HTML entities and stores 'ü' as the five characters of its entity.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- administersVergabe Aufenthaltsbewilligung (B) - qualification requirement for third-country nationals
Ausländer- und Passamt, Liechtensteinische Landesverwaltung
About this source
The portal of the Liechtenstein national administration, including the Ausländer- und Passamt, which administers permits, the residence-permit draw, passports and asylum, and the Steuerverwaltung. Its pages carry the figures no instrument states: the number of residence permits drawn each year for economically active EEA nationals and for non-active ones, the draw cadence, the documents required and the total fee charged on a permit granted by the government. Each page prints its own last-updated date.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It is the agency describing the law it applies, not the law. Where a page and an instrument disagree the instrument governs, and a figure on a page that is not in an instrument is recorded as the agency's statement. It also mis-cites: the page on allocation of the B permit gives the Ausländergesetz as LGBl. 2008 Nr. 11 when it is Nr. 311. It is behind a Cloudflare challenge, so a plain fetch gets a 403 'Just a moment' page; Firecrawl passes.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- administersVergabe Aufenthaltsbewilligung (B) - fees
Ausländer- und Passamt, Liechtensteinische Landesverwaltung
About this source
The portal of the Liechtenstein national administration, including the Ausländer- und Passamt, which administers permits, the residence-permit draw, passports and asylum, and the Steuerverwaltung. Its pages carry the figures no instrument states: the number of residence permits drawn each year for economically active EEA nationals and for non-active ones, the draw cadence, the documents required and the total fee charged on a permit granted by the government. Each page prints its own last-updated date.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It is the agency describing the law it applies, not the law. Where a page and an instrument disagree the instrument governs, and a figure on a page that is not in an instrument is recorded as the agency's statement. It also mis-cites: the page on allocation of the B permit gives the Ausländergesetz as LGBl. 2008 Nr. 11 when it is Nr. 311. It is behind a Cloudflare challenge, so a plain fetch gets a 403 'Just a moment' page; Firecrawl passes.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source