Following its decision last week to impose a quota on residence permits for citizens of eight European Union countries, the Swiss government has finalised the details.

The cabinet approved the necessary changes to the regulations on Wednesday, limiting the number of permits to 2,180 for the 12-month period starting May 1.

The controversial residence permit restrictions will apply to people from Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia as well as the three Baltic republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Seasonal workers are not affected by the change.

In the last 12 months 6,568 people from these eight EU states received a Swiss “B” residence permit.

The measure was invoked under a safeguard clause of a bilateral treaty between the EU and Switzerland for the free movement of people.

Before the end of April 2013, the government will evaluate the situation and decide whether the limits should be kept in place for another year.

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