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.
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swissinfo.ch
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 peoplefrom 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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Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga said the move was part of a package of long-term measures to control the flow of people entering Switzerland amid pressure from political parties to limit immigration. Under the decision taken on Wednesday, B resident permits for people from Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia as well as the three…
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The clause, included in the accord on the free movement of people which enables Swiss and EU citizens to work freely in each other’s countries, can be invoked if the number of people arriving in any one year is more than ten per cent up on the average for the previous three. One group that…
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