Switzerland and the United Kingdom have secured an agreement on services.  The Service Mobility Agreement (SMA), which was signed on December 14, 2020 and entered into force from January 1, 2021, will be valid initially for two years.

It allows service suppliers, such as management consultants, IT experts or engineers, to continue travelling freely between Switzerland and the UK and work for up to 90 days per year, without the need for visas, economic interest tests, work permits, evidence of language skills or lengthy processing times.

In concrete terms, this means that Switzerland will continue to offer the 90-day notification procedure in the following situations:

  • Persons seconded by companies based in the UK, irrespective of their nationality. For third-country nationals and EU/EFTA nationals who are posted to Switzerland from the UK for the purpose of cross-border services, the notification procedure is only applicable if they were already permanently (i.e. for at least 12 months) admitted to the regular UK labour market before their secondment to Switzerland.
  • Self-employed cross-border service providers with company headquarters in the UK who are UK citizens. EU/EFTA nationals who are registered as self-employed workers in the UK should therefore normally no longer benefit from the 90-day notification procedure.

The existing Swiss 8-day exemption rule for sending companies based in the EU/EFTA will continue to apply. Applicants employed outside Switzerland who will be working in Switzerland for up to eight days per calendar year per company or per self-employed worker may not need to obtain work permits or complete a 90-day notification.

Please note that this is general information only and not intended as advice on a specific matter. Please feel free to contact Fakhoury Global Immigration directly with questions exclusive to your situation. This news alert may have been prepared using information from Peregrine Immigration Management, which is licensed to Fakhoury Global Immigration.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.