Free Movement Reaches Switzerland by Treaty, Not by Membership
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Dominican Republic on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
195 exceptions recorded across 74 countries · none match Dominican Republic to Switzerland · Residency under a regional treaty
Switzerland is in neither the European Union nor the European Economic Area, and a citizen of a member state still moves there as of right. The right comes from one bilateral instrument, the Agreement of 21 June 1999 on the free movement of persons (SR 0.142.112.681), and it is written as a treaty between two parties rather than as a chapter of Union law. The Agreement gives entry on a valid identity card or passport with no entry visa, a residence permit of at least five years to an employee with a contract of a year or more, no permit at all for work of three months or less, up to six months to look for work, and a permit of at least five years to a person who works at all, provided they have means enough not to need social assistance and sickness insurance covering every risk. The Foreign Nationals Act then stands back: by its own article 2 paragraph 2 the Act applies to a Union national only so far as the Agreement has no diverging provision or the Act is the more favourable of the two.
At a glance
- The instrument
- Agreement of 21 June 1999 between the Swiss Confederation and the European Community and its member states on the free movement of persons (SR 0.142.112.681)
In force since 1 June 2002. The text read here is the consolidated version as at 15 December 2020.
- Permit for an employee on a contract of at least one year
- At least five years, renewed automatically for at least five more
Annex I article 6(1). The first renewal may be shortened where the holder has been involuntarily unemployed for more than twelve consecutive months, but not below one year.
- Permit for an employee on a contract between three months and a year
- The length of the contract
Annex I article 6(2), first sentence.
- Work of three months or less
- No residence permit required
Annex I article 6(2), second sentence.
- Time allowed to look for work
- A reasonable period of up to six months
Annex I article 2(1), second subparagraph. A job seeker may be excluded from social assistance for that time.
- Permit for a person not in work
- At least five years, on proof of sufficient means and sickness insurance covering all risks
Annex I article 24(1). The parties may require a renewal after the first two years.
- What the permit may cost
- Free, or no more than the fee charged to nationals for an identity card
Annex I article 2(3). The ceiling is set by what the host state charges its own citizens, so it moves with that fee and not with any figure in the Agreement.
- Services without a permit
- Up to 90 working days per calendar year
Article 5(1) of the Agreement, for a service provider established in the other party.
Requirements
- Nationality of a member state of the European Union, or of an EFTA state under the parallel EFTA Convention
- A valid identity card or passport - no entry visa may be required
- For an employee: an employment relationship with an employer in Switzerland
- For a self-employed person: proof to the cantonal authority of being established, or about to be established, in that capacity
- For a person not in work: sufficient financial means to avoid social assistance, and sickness insurance covering all risks
- A permit applied for from the cantonal authority of the intended place of residence or work
Country-level policy
Swiss federal law is published simultaneously in German, French and Italian, and for enactments the three versions are binding in the same way. No version prevails, which is the opposite of the arrangement in Malta, where the Constitution makes the Maltese text prevail over the English. That decides what this site quotes and how: any one of the three is the law, so the quotations in these records are in German, and the French and Italian versions of the same articles say the same thing with equal force. The second question the publication Act settles is the status of the platform. Article 1a says publication happens centrally through one publicly accessible online platform; article 15 then says the version published in the official compilation is authoritative for federal enactments, and that the version published on the publication platform is authoritative. Swiss consolidated texts are therefore not unofficial in the way Austria's RIS consolidations are, where the authentic text is only the one in the federal gazette.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Dominican Republic
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«Einräumung eines Rechts auf Einreise, Aufenthalt, Zugang zu einer unselbstständigen Erwerbstätigkeit und Niederlassung als Selbstständiger sowie des Rechts auf Verbleib im Hoheitsgebiet der Vertragsparteien;»Our translation - not official
Granting of a right of entry, of residence, of access to employed work and of establishment as a self-employed person, and of the right to remain in the territory of the contracting parties;
The object of the Agreement, stated as a right rather than as a policy. It is a right conferred by treaty on the nationals of the parties, which is why it does not depend on Switzerland being a member of anything.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Switzerland's single publication platform for federal law, carrying the Amtliche Sammlung (AS), the Systematische Sammlung (SR) and the Bundesblatt. It is the platform article 1a of the Publikationsgesetz (SR 170.512) requires, and article 15 of that Act makes the version published on it massgebend - so unlike most consolidations in this corpus, Fedlex's text is authoritative rather than a convenience copy. Article 14(1) of the same Act requires simultaneous publication in German, French and Italian and makes all three versions of an enactment binding in the same way. The reader-facing address `https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<lang>` is an Angular shell containing no text: every such address returns the same 77,151-byte page. The text lives in the filestore, at `https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/filestore/fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<YYYYMMDD>/<lang>/html/...html`, where YYYYMMDD is the consolidation's date of applicability and cannot be guessed. The way to resolve an SR number to that address is the SPARQL endpoint at https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/sparqlendpoint, matching jolux:classifiedByTaxonomyEntry/skos:notation against the SR number and taking the jolux:Consolidation whose jolux:dateApplicability is the latest one not after today.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for cantonal or communal law, which is the half of Swiss migration practice a resident actually meets: permits are granted by the cantons under article 40 of the AIG, the naturalisation residence requirement is set by each canton between two and five years under article 18 of the BüG, cantonal and communal income tax is outside the DBG entirely, and health insurance premium reductions are cantonal. Twenty-six cantons publish separately and none of them is here. It carries no case law - the Federal Supreme Court publishes at bger.ch - and no administrative guidance, which matters concretely: the list of states whose driving licences exchange without a control drive is a Federal Roads Office document issued under article 150(5)(e) of the VZV and is not in the classified compilation. Two traps in the platform itself. Fedlex serves consolidations that are not yet in force - SR 142.20 carried texts dated 2026-11-01 and 2027-01-01 alongside the one in force on 2026-10-11 - so taking the newest row returns a text that is not the law. And English translations published under article 13a(1)(d) of the Publikationsgesetz are translations of official publications and are not among the three binding versions, so nothing may be quoted from them as law.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Ein Einreisevisum oder ein gleichwertiger Nachweis darf nicht verlangt werden, ausser im Fall von Familienangehörigen und entsandten Arbeitnehmern im Sinne des Artikels 17 dieses Anhangs, die nicht die Staatsangehörigkeit einer Vertragspartei besitzen.»Our translation - not official
An entry visa or equivalent document may not be required, except in the case of family members and posted workers within the meaning of article 17 of this Annex who do not hold the nationality of a contracting party.
Entry is on a valid identity card or passport. The exception is for family members and posted workers who are not themselves nationals of a party - they may need a visa, and the state must give them every facility in obtaining one.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Switzerland's single publication platform for federal law, carrying the Amtliche Sammlung (AS), the Systematische Sammlung (SR) and the Bundesblatt. It is the platform article 1a of the Publikationsgesetz (SR 170.512) requires, and article 15 of that Act makes the version published on it massgebend - so unlike most consolidations in this corpus, Fedlex's text is authoritative rather than a convenience copy. Article 14(1) of the same Act requires simultaneous publication in German, French and Italian and makes all three versions of an enactment binding in the same way. The reader-facing address `https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<lang>` is an Angular shell containing no text: every such address returns the same 77,151-byte page. The text lives in the filestore, at `https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/filestore/fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<YYYYMMDD>/<lang>/html/...html`, where YYYYMMDD is the consolidation's date of applicability and cannot be guessed. The way to resolve an SR number to that address is the SPARQL endpoint at https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/sparqlendpoint, matching jolux:classifiedByTaxonomyEntry/skos:notation against the SR number and taking the jolux:Consolidation whose jolux:dateApplicability is the latest one not after today.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for cantonal or communal law, which is the half of Swiss migration practice a resident actually meets: permits are granted by the cantons under article 40 of the AIG, the naturalisation residence requirement is set by each canton between two and five years under article 18 of the BüG, cantonal and communal income tax is outside the DBG entirely, and health insurance premium reductions are cantonal. Twenty-six cantons publish separately and none of them is here. It carries no case law - the Federal Supreme Court publishes at bger.ch - and no administrative guidance, which matters concretely: the list of states whose driving licences exchange without a control drive is a Federal Roads Office document issued under article 150(5)(e) of the VZV and is not in the classified compilation. Two traps in the platform itself. Fedlex serves consolidations that are not yet in force - SR 142.20 carried texts dated 2026-11-01 and 2027-01-01 alongside the one in force on 2026-10-11 - so taking the newest row returns a text that is not the law. And English translations published under article 13a(1)(d) of the Publikationsgesetz are translations of official publications and are not among the three binding versions, so nothing may be quoted from them as law.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«und sich während eines angemessenen Zeitraums von bis zu sechs Monaten dort aufzuhalten»Our translation - not official
and to stay there for a reasonable period of up to six months
The job-seeking stay. The same paragraph says a job seeker may be excluded from social assistance for its duration, and gives them the same help from the employment offices as the state's own nationals.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Switzerland's single publication platform for federal law, carrying the Amtliche Sammlung (AS), the Systematische Sammlung (SR) and the Bundesblatt. It is the platform article 1a of the Publikationsgesetz (SR 170.512) requires, and article 15 of that Act makes the version published on it massgebend - so unlike most consolidations in this corpus, Fedlex's text is authoritative rather than a convenience copy. Article 14(1) of the same Act requires simultaneous publication in German, French and Italian and makes all three versions of an enactment binding in the same way. The reader-facing address `https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<lang>` is an Angular shell containing no text: every such address returns the same 77,151-byte page. The text lives in the filestore, at `https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/filestore/fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<YYYYMMDD>/<lang>/html/...html`, where YYYYMMDD is the consolidation's date of applicability and cannot be guessed. The way to resolve an SR number to that address is the SPARQL endpoint at https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/sparqlendpoint, matching jolux:classifiedByTaxonomyEntry/skos:notation against the SR number and taking the jolux:Consolidation whose jolux:dateApplicability is the latest one not after today.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for cantonal or communal law, which is the half of Swiss migration practice a resident actually meets: permits are granted by the cantons under article 40 of the AIG, the naturalisation residence requirement is set by each canton between two and five years under article 18 of the BüG, cantonal and communal income tax is outside the DBG entirely, and health insurance premium reductions are cantonal. Twenty-six cantons publish separately and none of them is here. It carries no case law - the Federal Supreme Court publishes at bger.ch - and no administrative guidance, which matters concretely: the list of states whose driving licences exchange without a control drive is a Federal Roads Office document issued under article 150(5)(e) of the VZV and is not in the classified compilation. Two traps in the platform itself. Fedlex serves consolidations that are not yet in force - SR 142.20 carried texts dated 2026-11-01 and 2027-01-01 alongside the one in force on 2026-10-11 - so taking the newest row returns a text that is not the law. And English translations published under article 13a(1)(d) of the Publikationsgesetz are translations of official publications and are not among the three binding versions, so nothing may be quoted from them as law.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Die Erteilung und Verlängerung der Aufenthaltserlaubnis oder Sonderbescheinigung für die Staatsangehörigen der Vertragsparteien erfolgen kostenlos oder gegen Entrichtung eines Betrags, der die Ausstellungsgebühr für Personalausweise von Inländern nicht übersteigen darf.»Our translation - not official
The issue and renewal of the residence permit or special certificate for nationals of the contracting parties shall be free of charge or on payment of an amount which may not exceed the fee for issuing identity cards to nationals.
A fee ceiling written as a comparison rather than as a number. It is the only provision in this record whose amount can change without the Agreement changing.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Switzerland's single publication platform for federal law, carrying the Amtliche Sammlung (AS), the Systematische Sammlung (SR) and the Bundesblatt. It is the platform article 1a of the Publikationsgesetz (SR 170.512) requires, and article 15 of that Act makes the version published on it massgebend - so unlike most consolidations in this corpus, Fedlex's text is authoritative rather than a convenience copy. Article 14(1) of the same Act requires simultaneous publication in German, French and Italian and makes all three versions of an enactment binding in the same way. The reader-facing address `https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<lang>` is an Angular shell containing no text: every such address returns the same 77,151-byte page. The text lives in the filestore, at `https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/filestore/fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<YYYYMMDD>/<lang>/html/...html`, where YYYYMMDD is the consolidation's date of applicability and cannot be guessed. The way to resolve an SR number to that address is the SPARQL endpoint at https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/sparqlendpoint, matching jolux:classifiedByTaxonomyEntry/skos:notation against the SR number and taking the jolux:Consolidation whose jolux:dateApplicability is the latest one not after today.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for cantonal or communal law, which is the half of Swiss migration practice a resident actually meets: permits are granted by the cantons under article 40 of the AIG, the naturalisation residence requirement is set by each canton between two and five years under article 18 of the BüG, cantonal and communal income tax is outside the DBG entirely, and health insurance premium reductions are cantonal. Twenty-six cantons publish separately and none of them is here. It carries no case law - the Federal Supreme Court publishes at bger.ch - and no administrative guidance, which matters concretely: the list of states whose driving licences exchange without a control drive is a Federal Roads Office document issued under article 150(5)(e) of the VZV and is not in the classified compilation. Two traps in the platform itself. Fedlex serves consolidations that are not yet in force - SR 142.20 carried texts dated 2026-11-01 and 2027-01-01 alongside the one in force on 2026-10-11 - so taking the newest row returns a text that is not the law. And English translations published under article 13a(1)(d) of the Publikationsgesetz are translations of official publications and are not among the three binding versions, so nothing may be quoted from them as law.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«erhält eine Aufenthaltserlaubnis mit einer Gültigkeitsdauer von mindestens fünf Jahren, gerechnet ab dem Zeitpunkt der Erteilung der Erlaubnis. Diese wird automatisch um mindestens fünf Jahre verlängert.»Our translation - not official
shall receive a residence permit valid for at least five years from the date of its issue. It shall be renewed automatically for at least five years.
The employee's permit. The condition in the part of the sentence before this one is an employment relationship of at least one year with an employer in the host state.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Switzerland's single publication platform for federal law, carrying the Amtliche Sammlung (AS), the Systematische Sammlung (SR) and the Bundesblatt. It is the platform article 1a of the Publikationsgesetz (SR 170.512) requires, and article 15 of that Act makes the version published on it massgebend - so unlike most consolidations in this corpus, Fedlex's text is authoritative rather than a convenience copy. Article 14(1) of the same Act requires simultaneous publication in German, French and Italian and makes all three versions of an enactment binding in the same way. The reader-facing address `https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<lang>` is an Angular shell containing no text: every such address returns the same 77,151-byte page. The text lives in the filestore, at `https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/filestore/fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<YYYYMMDD>/<lang>/html/...html`, where YYYYMMDD is the consolidation's date of applicability and cannot be guessed. The way to resolve an SR number to that address is the SPARQL endpoint at https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/sparqlendpoint, matching jolux:classifiedByTaxonomyEntry/skos:notation against the SR number and taking the jolux:Consolidation whose jolux:dateApplicability is the latest one not after today.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for cantonal or communal law, which is the half of Swiss migration practice a resident actually meets: permits are granted by the cantons under article 40 of the AIG, the naturalisation residence requirement is set by each canton between two and five years under article 18 of the BüG, cantonal and communal income tax is outside the DBG entirely, and health insurance premium reductions are cantonal. Twenty-six cantons publish separately and none of them is here. It carries no case law - the Federal Supreme Court publishes at bger.ch - and no administrative guidance, which matters concretely: the list of states whose driving licences exchange without a control drive is a Federal Roads Office document issued under article 150(5)(e) of the VZV and is not in the classified compilation. Two traps in the platform itself. Fedlex serves consolidations that are not yet in force - SR 142.20 carried texts dated 2026-11-01 and 2027-01-01 alongside the one in force on 2026-10-11 - so taking the newest row returns a text that is not the law. And English translations published under article 13a(1)(d) of the Publikationsgesetz are translations of official publications and are not among the three binding versions, so nothing may be quoted from them as law.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Ein Arbeitnehmer, der ein Arbeitsverhältnis mit einer Dauer von höchstens drei Monaten hat, benötigt keine Aufenthaltserlaubnis.»Our translation - not official
A worker whose employment relationship lasts no more than three months does not need a residence permit.
Three months of work with no permit at all. This is not the same as the permit-free stay in article 10 of the Foreign Nationals Act, which is three months without work.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Switzerland's single publication platform for federal law, carrying the Amtliche Sammlung (AS), the Systematische Sammlung (SR) and the Bundesblatt. It is the platform article 1a of the Publikationsgesetz (SR 170.512) requires, and article 15 of that Act makes the version published on it massgebend - so unlike most consolidations in this corpus, Fedlex's text is authoritative rather than a convenience copy. Article 14(1) of the same Act requires simultaneous publication in German, French and Italian and makes all three versions of an enactment binding in the same way. The reader-facing address `https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<lang>` is an Angular shell containing no text: every such address returns the same 77,151-byte page. The text lives in the filestore, at `https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/filestore/fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<YYYYMMDD>/<lang>/html/...html`, where YYYYMMDD is the consolidation's date of applicability and cannot be guessed. The way to resolve an SR number to that address is the SPARQL endpoint at https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/sparqlendpoint, matching jolux:classifiedByTaxonomyEntry/skos:notation against the SR number and taking the jolux:Consolidation whose jolux:dateApplicability is the latest one not after today.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for cantonal or communal law, which is the half of Swiss migration practice a resident actually meets: permits are granted by the cantons under article 40 of the AIG, the naturalisation residence requirement is set by each canton between two and five years under article 18 of the BüG, cantonal and communal income tax is outside the DBG entirely, and health insurance premium reductions are cantonal. Twenty-six cantons publish separately and none of them is here. It carries no case law - the Federal Supreme Court publishes at bger.ch - and no administrative guidance, which matters concretely: the list of states whose driving licences exchange without a control drive is a Federal Roads Office document issued under article 150(5)(e) of the VZV and is not in the classified compilation. Two traps in the platform itself. Fedlex serves consolidations that are not yet in force - SR 142.20 carried texts dated 2026-11-01 and 2027-01-01 alongside the one in force on 2026-10-11 - so taking the newest row returns a text that is not the law. And English translations published under article 13a(1)(d) of the Publikationsgesetz are translations of official publications and are not among the three binding versions, so nothing may be quoted from them as law.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Eine Person, die die Staatsangehörigkeit einer Vertragspartei besitzt und keine Erwerbstätigkeit im Aufenthaltsstaat ausübt und dort kein Aufenthaltsrecht auf Grund anderer Bestimmungen dieses Abkommens hat, erhält eine Aufenthaltserlaubnis mit einer Gültigkeitsdauer von mindestens fünf Jahren»Our translation - not official
A person holding the nationality of a contracting party who does not pursue an economic activity in the state of residence and has no right of residence there under other provisions of this Agreement shall receive a residence permit valid for at least five years
The route for a person living on their own money. The conditions that follow in the same paragraph are sufficient financial means so that neither they nor their family need social assistance, and sickness insurance covering all risks.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Switzerland's single publication platform for federal law, carrying the Amtliche Sammlung (AS), the Systematische Sammlung (SR) and the Bundesblatt. It is the platform article 1a of the Publikationsgesetz (SR 170.512) requires, and article 15 of that Act makes the version published on it massgebend - so unlike most consolidations in this corpus, Fedlex's text is authoritative rather than a convenience copy. Article 14(1) of the same Act requires simultaneous publication in German, French and Italian and makes all three versions of an enactment binding in the same way. The reader-facing address `https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<lang>` is an Angular shell containing no text: every such address returns the same 77,151-byte page. The text lives in the filestore, at `https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/filestore/fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<YYYYMMDD>/<lang>/html/...html`, where YYYYMMDD is the consolidation's date of applicability and cannot be guessed. The way to resolve an SR number to that address is the SPARQL endpoint at https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/sparqlendpoint, matching jolux:classifiedByTaxonomyEntry/skos:notation against the SR number and taking the jolux:Consolidation whose jolux:dateApplicability is the latest one not after today.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for cantonal or communal law, which is the half of Swiss migration practice a resident actually meets: permits are granted by the cantons under article 40 of the AIG, the naturalisation residence requirement is set by each canton between two and five years under article 18 of the BüG, cantonal and communal income tax is outside the DBG entirely, and health insurance premium reductions are cantonal. Twenty-six cantons publish separately and none of them is here. It carries no case law - the Federal Supreme Court publishes at bger.ch - and no administrative guidance, which matters concretely: the list of states whose driving licences exchange without a control drive is a Federal Roads Office document issued under article 150(5)(e) of the VZV and is not in the classified compilation. Two traps in the platform itself. Fedlex serves consolidations that are not yet in force - SR 142.20 carried texts dated 2026-11-01 and 2027-01-01 alongside the one in force on 2026-10-11 - so taking the newest row returns a text that is not the law. And English translations published under article 13a(1)(d) of the Publikationsgesetz are translations of official publications and are not among the three binding versions, so nothing may be quoted from them as law.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Die finanziellen Mittel gelten als ausreichend, wenn sie den Betrag übersteigen, unterhalb dessen die eigenen Staatsangehörigen auf Grund ihrer persönlichen Situation und gegebenenfalls derjenigen ihrer Familienangehörigen Anspruch auf Fürsorgeleistungen haben.»Our translation - not official
Financial means are deemed sufficient if they exceed the amount below which the state's own nationals become entitled to social assistance on account of their personal situation and, where applicable, that of their family members.
The test is relative, not absolute. The Agreement sets no figure and names no currency: it points at the host state's own social assistance threshold, which in Switzerland is a cantonal matter.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Switzerland's single publication platform for federal law, carrying the Amtliche Sammlung (AS), the Systematische Sammlung (SR) and the Bundesblatt. It is the platform article 1a of the Publikationsgesetz (SR 170.512) requires, and article 15 of that Act makes the version published on it massgebend - so unlike most consolidations in this corpus, Fedlex's text is authoritative rather than a convenience copy. Article 14(1) of the same Act requires simultaneous publication in German, French and Italian and makes all three versions of an enactment binding in the same way. The reader-facing address `https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<lang>` is an Angular shell containing no text: every such address returns the same 77,151-byte page. The text lives in the filestore, at `https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/filestore/fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<YYYYMMDD>/<lang>/html/...html`, where YYYYMMDD is the consolidation's date of applicability and cannot be guessed. The way to resolve an SR number to that address is the SPARQL endpoint at https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/sparqlendpoint, matching jolux:classifiedByTaxonomyEntry/skos:notation against the SR number and taking the jolux:Consolidation whose jolux:dateApplicability is the latest one not after today.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for cantonal or communal law, which is the half of Swiss migration practice a resident actually meets: permits are granted by the cantons under article 40 of the AIG, the naturalisation residence requirement is set by each canton between two and five years under article 18 of the BüG, cantonal and communal income tax is outside the DBG entirely, and health insurance premium reductions are cantonal. Twenty-six cantons publish separately and none of them is here. It carries no case law - the Federal Supreme Court publishes at bger.ch - and no administrative guidance, which matters concretely: the list of states whose driving licences exchange without a control drive is a Federal Roads Office document issued under article 150(5)(e) of the VZV and is not in the classified compilation. Two traps in the platform itself. Fedlex serves consolidations that are not yet in force - SR 142.20 carried texts dated 2026-11-01 and 2027-01-01 alongside the one in force on 2026-10-11 - so taking the newest row returns a text that is not the law. And English translations published under article 13a(1)(d) of the Publikationsgesetz are translations of official publications and are not among the three binding versions, so nothing may be quoted from them as law.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Für Staatsangehörige der Mitgliedstaaten der Europäischen Gemeinschaft (EG), ihre Familienangehörigen sowie für in die Schweiz entsandte Arbeitnehmerinnen und Arbeitnehmer von Arbeitgebern, die in einem dieser Staaten ihren Wohnsitz oder Sitz haben, gilt dieses Gesetz nur so weit, als das Abkommen vom 21. Juni 1999»Our translation - not official
For nationals of the member states of the European Community (EC), their family members and workers posted to Switzerland by employers resident or established in one of those states, this Act applies only so far as the Agreement of 21 June 1999
The sentence continues: the Act applies only so far as the Agreement contains no diverging provisions or the Act provides more favourable ones. Paragraph 3 does the same for EFTA nationals through the amended EFTA Convention of 21 June 2001 (SR 0.632.31).
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Switzerland's single publication platform for federal law, carrying the Amtliche Sammlung (AS), the Systematische Sammlung (SR) and the Bundesblatt. It is the platform article 1a of the Publikationsgesetz (SR 170.512) requires, and article 15 of that Act makes the version published on it massgebend - so unlike most consolidations in this corpus, Fedlex's text is authoritative rather than a convenience copy. Article 14(1) of the same Act requires simultaneous publication in German, French and Italian and makes all three versions of an enactment binding in the same way. The reader-facing address `https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<lang>` is an Angular shell containing no text: every such address returns the same 77,151-byte page. The text lives in the filestore, at `https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/filestore/fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<YYYYMMDD>/<lang>/html/...html`, where YYYYMMDD is the consolidation's date of applicability and cannot be guessed. The way to resolve an SR number to that address is the SPARQL endpoint at https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/sparqlendpoint, matching jolux:classifiedByTaxonomyEntry/skos:notation against the SR number and taking the jolux:Consolidation whose jolux:dateApplicability is the latest one not after today.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for cantonal or communal law, which is the half of Swiss migration practice a resident actually meets: permits are granted by the cantons under article 40 of the AIG, the naturalisation residence requirement is set by each canton between two and five years under article 18 of the BüG, cantonal and communal income tax is outside the DBG entirely, and health insurance premium reductions are cantonal. Twenty-six cantons publish separately and none of them is here. It carries no case law - the Federal Supreme Court publishes at bger.ch - and no administrative guidance, which matters concretely: the list of states whose driving licences exchange without a control drive is a Federal Roads Office document issued under article 150(5)(e) of the VZV and is not in the classified compilation. Two traps in the platform itself. Fedlex serves consolidations that are not yet in force - SR 142.20 carried texts dated 2026-11-01 and 2027-01-01 alongside the one in force on 2026-10-11 - so taking the newest row returns a text that is not the law. And English translations published under article 13a(1)(d) of the Publikationsgesetz are translations of official publications and are not among the three binding versions, so nothing may be quoted from them as law.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
Practical notes
A Swiss passport is inside the free-movement rule and outside every list of Union and Economic Area states, because the rule reaches Switzerland through this Agreement rather than through membership. The same is true in reverse: a Union national living in Switzerland holds rights under this treaty, not the rights of Union citizenship.
The Agreement sets the right; the canton issues the paper. Article 40 of the Foreign Nationals Act gives the permit decision to the cantons, and a Union national applies to the cantonal migration office of the place they intend to live or work, not to a federal body.
The EFTA states - Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein - are not covered by this Agreement. Their nationals come under the amended EFTA Convention of 21 June 2001, which article 2 paragraph 3 of the Foreign Nationals Act treats in exactly the same way. That convention has not been read for this record.
The permit is evidence of a right, not its source. Annex I article 2(1) says a permit is issued "zum Nachweis dieses Rechts" - to prove the right - which is why Annex I article 24(8) can say the right of residence lasts as long as the conditions are met rather than as long as the card is valid.
- consolidatesAbkommen über die Freizügigkeit (FZA), SR 0.142.112.681, consolidated text as at 15 December 2020
Fedlex, Bundeskanzlei der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft · consolidated to 2020-12-15
Known to be out of date. The text prints its own cut-off as "(Stand am 15. Dezember 2020)" and the party list it carries still names das Vereinigte Königreich Grossbritannien und Nordirland. The Agreement no longer governs British nationals: article 19b of the admission ordinance names the Agreement of 25 February 2019 between Switzerland and the United Kingdom on citizens' rights following the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union and the lapse of the free movement agreement, and sets a separate quota for British nationals outside it. That 2019 agreement has not been read here, so nothing on this record describes a British national's position.
About this source
Switzerland's single publication platform for federal law, carrying the Amtliche Sammlung (AS), the Systematische Sammlung (SR) and the Bundesblatt. It is the platform article 1a of the Publikationsgesetz (SR 170.512) requires, and article 15 of that Act makes the version published on it massgebend - so unlike most consolidations in this corpus, Fedlex's text is authoritative rather than a convenience copy. Article 14(1) of the same Act requires simultaneous publication in German, French and Italian and makes all three versions of an enactment binding in the same way. The reader-facing address `https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<lang>` is an Angular shell containing no text: every such address returns the same 77,151-byte page. The text lives in the filestore, at `https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/filestore/fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<YYYYMMDD>/<lang>/html/...html`, where YYYYMMDD is the consolidation's date of applicability and cannot be guessed. The way to resolve an SR number to that address is the SPARQL endpoint at https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/sparqlendpoint, matching jolux:classifiedByTaxonomyEntry/skos:notation against the SR number and taking the jolux:Consolidation whose jolux:dateApplicability is the latest one not after today.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for cantonal or communal law, which is the half of Swiss migration practice a resident actually meets: permits are granted by the cantons under article 40 of the AIG, the naturalisation residence requirement is set by each canton between two and five years under article 18 of the BüG, cantonal and communal income tax is outside the DBG entirely, and health insurance premium reductions are cantonal. Twenty-six cantons publish separately and none of them is here. It carries no case law - the Federal Supreme Court publishes at bger.ch - and no administrative guidance, which matters concretely: the list of states whose driving licences exchange without a control drive is a Federal Roads Office document issued under article 150(5)(e) of the VZV and is not in the classified compilation. Two traps in the platform itself. Fedlex serves consolidations that are not yet in force - SR 142.20 carried texts dated 2026-11-01 and 2027-01-01 alongside the one in force on 2026-10-11 - so taking the newest row returns a text that is not the law. And English translations published under article 13a(1)(d) of the Publikationsgesetz are translations of official publications and are not among the three binding versions, so nothing may be quoted from them as law.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- consolidatesAusländer- und Integrationsgesetz (AIG), SR 142.20, consolidated text in force from 12 June 2026
Fedlex, Bundeskanzlei der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft · consolidated to 2026-06-12
About this source
Switzerland's single publication platform for federal law, carrying the Amtliche Sammlung (AS), the Systematische Sammlung (SR) and the Bundesblatt. It is the platform article 1a of the Publikationsgesetz (SR 170.512) requires, and article 15 of that Act makes the version published on it massgebend - so unlike most consolidations in this corpus, Fedlex's text is authoritative rather than a convenience copy. Article 14(1) of the same Act requires simultaneous publication in German, French and Italian and makes all three versions of an enactment binding in the same way. The reader-facing address `https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<lang>` is an Angular shell containing no text: every such address returns the same 77,151-byte page. The text lives in the filestore, at `https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/filestore/fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/cc/<a>/<b>/<YYYYMMDD>/<lang>/html/...html`, where YYYYMMDD is the consolidation's date of applicability and cannot be guessed. The way to resolve an SR number to that address is the SPARQL endpoint at https://fedlex.data.admin.ch/sparqlendpoint, matching jolux:classifiedByTaxonomyEntry/skos:notation against the SR number and taking the jolux:Consolidation whose jolux:dateApplicability is the latest one not after today.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for cantonal or communal law, which is the half of Swiss migration practice a resident actually meets: permits are granted by the cantons under article 40 of the AIG, the naturalisation residence requirement is set by each canton between two and five years under article 18 of the BüG, cantonal and communal income tax is outside the DBG entirely, and health insurance premium reductions are cantonal. Twenty-six cantons publish separately and none of them is here. It carries no case law - the Federal Supreme Court publishes at bger.ch - and no administrative guidance, which matters concretely: the list of states whose driving licences exchange without a control drive is a Federal Roads Office document issued under article 150(5)(e) of the VZV and is not in the classified compilation. Two traps in the platform itself. Fedlex serves consolidations that are not yet in force - SR 142.20 carried texts dated 2026-11-01 and 2027-01-01 alongside the one in force on 2026-10-11 - so taking the newest row returns a text that is not the law. And English translations published under article 13a(1)(d) of the Publikationsgesetz are translations of official publications and are not among the three binding versions, so nothing may be quoted from them as law.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source