Relatively few UK citizens take up work permits in Switzerland
Even though thousands of post-Brexit permits are made available each year for British nationals to work in Switzerland, very few are snapped up.
Among the reasons for this shortfall, according to experts, is that Britons are not fulfilling the needs of the Swiss labour market and have no experience in multilingual working environments.
However, they are eligible to work in Switzerland under the terms of the ‘Mobility for Service Providers’ agreement (SMA), which allows third-country nationals to take up a temporary (up to 90 days) assignment.
READ ALSO: Why are so few Brits taking up work permits in Switzerland?
The number of rich expatriates settling in Zurich’s the Pfnüselküste is growing
Despite exorbitant property prices that few in Switzerland can afford — upwards of 5 million francs — an increasing number of wealthy foreigners are flocking to the Pfnüselküste area, located on the left bank of Lake Zurich.
Real estate experts attribute this phenomenon to the convenient public transport and the motorway connection to to the rest of Zurich, as well as to nearby cantons of Zug and Schwyz, where many of these high-earners work.
Another reason is as proximity of the Zurich International School campuses.
READ ALSO: Why wealthy foreign residents are flocking to this Zurich neighbourhood
Advertisement
Drivers in some cantons overpay for official vehicle services
Some cantonal automobile offices have been found to charge excessive administrative fees for services such as friving tests, vehicle inspections, and others.
That is the case with Ticino and Geneva, where administrative fees are 59 and 47 percent, respectively, over the national average.
Next are Graubünden (42 percent), Thurgau (41), Basel-Country (37), Appenzell Innerrhoden (35), Aargau (31), Bern and Appenzell Ausserrhoden (27), St. Gallen (23), Lucerne and Glarus (16).
READ ALSO: Does your Swiss canton overcharge for driving-related services?
Swiss government will try to recover unpaid traffic violations incurred by foreign tourists
Unpaid fines by foreign visitors represent a significant loss of revenue for Swiss municipalities where the parking or speeding tickets were issued — in Interlaken’s case the amount is 400,000 francs — and the parliament wants to remedy this situation.
A motion filed by a deputy to that effect is asking the Federal Council to investigate possible options for collecting fines abroad, especially from law breakers in non-Schengen countries, where enforcing collection procedures is “extremely difficult,” she said.
It is not yet known when the Federal Council will examine his issue.
READ ALSO: Switzerland to crack down on foreign tourists who evade traffic fines
Advertisement
Zurich refuses to allow assisted dying help in private health facilities
On February 7th, Zurich’s cantonal government rejected a move by right-to-die organisations to allow assisted dying in private nursing homes, along with all other medical facilities.
As is the case in several other cantons, Zurich already gives its municipalities the right to offer this practice in public nursing facilities, at patients’ own expense.
However, it refused to force privately-owned care institutions to follow suit.
To date, only Geneva, Vaud, Neuchâtel, and Valais have legislation stating that nursing homes, as well as other care facilities and hospitals, can’t fail to comply with patients’ wishes to end their lives, or prevent assisted dying organisations from making this possible.
And unlike Zurich, these four cantons extend this right to patients in both public and private institutions.
READ ALSO: Which Swiss cantons allow assisted dying in care homes?
