More wealthy foreigners ‘buy’ their way into Swiss residency, and flying to the US is getting cheaper — these are among the news that The Local reported this week. You can catch up on everything in this weekly roundup.
Number of foreigners who ‘buy’ their way into Switzerland is up
Swiss law enables some people from third countries to settle in Switzerland — if they are very rich.
In 2024, 496 such permits were handed out — 92 more than during the previous year.
Russian citizens top this very exclusive list — 94 of them benefited from a golden visa,
Next are Chinese nationals (51), British (49), and US (38).
How much they had paid for the privilege of living in Switzerland depends on where they settled: the most expensive canton is Zurich, where a minimum lump sum is 1 million francs.
READ MORE: How many wealthy foreigners get one of Switzerland’s golden visas?
Plane tickets to the United States are getting cheaper
With fewer people planning to travel to the United States in the coming months, air ticket prices are falling sharply in Switzerland.
While 60,883 tourists from Switzerland arrived in the United States between January 1st and March 31, 2024, this year the number dropped to 48,712.
Therefore, due to what Swiss media calls the ‘Trump slump’, the national airline, SWISS, is launching special, lower-priced flights to the US this summer to fill its planes.
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Increasing number of US citizens buy properties in a Swiss village
In the past several months, the community of Andermatt in the Swiss Alps has become increasingly popular with wealthy people from the United States.
Blame it on Donald Trump’s “aggressive policies”— as evidenced by the import tariffs — as well as his unpredictable style, which are causing uncertainty within the population (and wealthy Americans as well) about the evolution of the US economy.
As a result, since Trump’s inauguration, billions of dollars are believed to have flowed from the United States into Switzerland — not only into its banks, but also into the property market like Andermatt.
READ ALSO: Why are Americans suddenly buying up property in a Swiss Alps village?
United Nations employees in Geneva demonstrate against funding and job cuts
Hundreds of UN staff rallied in Geneva over funding cuts, especially from key donor the United States, which have led to mass-layoffs and threatened life-saving services around the world.
As elsewhere in the world, humanitarian organisations in Geneva, have also been suffering since President Trump returned to office in January, pushing an anti-refugee and anti-migrant agenda, and immediately freezing most US foreign aid funding.
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Switzerland to face shortage of eggs — this is how it will deal with it
People in Switzerland are eating more and more eggs, and domestic chickens can’t keep up with the demand.
Between 2023 and 2024 alone, 198 eggs per year were consumed in the country per capita — an increase of almost 5 percent over previous years.
At the same time, Swiss egg production has increased by only 2.8 percent — not enough to satisfy the growing consumer demand.
That is why from June 1st, 2025 and until the end of the year, the government is green-lighting the import of up to 10,000 additional tonnes of eggs at reduced customs duties.
READ ALSO: How Switzerland is trying to crack its egg shortage this spring
