The agreement was signed in Bern on Monday by the state secretary in the Swiss justice ministry, Mario Gattiker, and the British parliamentary secretary in the Department for Exiting the European Union, Christopher Heaton-Harris.
It guarantees the rights obtained under the free movement of people accord between Switzerland and the EU, which came into force in 2002. The accord also regulates social security claims and the recognition of professional qualifications, the State Secretariat for Migration saidExternal link.
The Swiss government approved the accord last December. It is expected to be applied from the beginning of 2021 following a transition period starting provisionally from March 30. It will come into immediate effect if the UK leaves the EU without a deal on March 29.
At the end of 2017, there were about 43,000 British nationals living in Switzerland, and about 34,500 Swiss residents in Britain.
Research and export industry
The Swiss government says it wishes to “ensure that the existing mutual rights and obligations in its relationship with the United Kingdom will continue to apply as far as possible”. As part of its policy it plans to extend the rights in certain areas.
Both Switzerland’s engineering industry and the research community are concerned they might suffer important setbacks if no deals can be struck with Britain in the post-Brexit era.
Britain is among the top five markets for Swiss exports.
Earlier this month, the Swiss government decided to set a maximum annual quota of 3,500 for new British immigrants wishing to work in Switzerland.
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.