		Chamber Identifies Swiss Investment Irritants

		Taxing stock options - position

		Issue of U.S. visa-delayss

		Discriminatory Geneva residence requirement

		Estate tax treaty - request for revision

		Swiss alien policy - Chamber objectives

		Amcham on Savings Tax Agreement

		Taxing employee stock options - request (pdf file)

Swiss Alien Policy

In 2002, the Federal Council has submitted the draft for a new alien law to the Parliament.

In its ongoing efforts to facilitate the Swiss business environment for internationally operating companies, the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce is pursuing the following objectives with regard to Switzerland's alien policy:

Chamber Objectives

Intracompany transferees, regardless of their nationality, shall neither be subject to a quota nor to the "local worker priority" rule.
Aliens should be free in choosing their canton of residence, irrespective of their work place.
Graduates from top schools, regardless of the lack of professional experience and regardless of nationality, shall qualify for work and residence permits since both U.S. and Swiss multinational firms depend on the recruitment of young talents to be trained at the site of their headquarters.
Ensure easy procedures for re-entry for international companies' employees who are transferred in and out of Switzerland. Remove C-permit obstacles for such employees (e.g. uninterrupted stay, keeping of permit in case of temporary transfer abroad beyond two years).
Spouses, accompanying transferees, shall be allowed to take up self-employment, and not only to become employed.
Partners of unmarried couples shall obtain a residence and work permit. The requirement of 4 years cohabitation shall be reduced to one or two years.
Swiss alien policy shall recognize that "integration into Swiss society" shall not be the guiding principle for international companies' work force. The law should recognize that part of the alien business community plans to stay in Switzerland temporarily only rather than permanently.
The Federal Office for Alien Affairs shall dispose of a separate quota of short term and year-round permits to take care of any particular situation.
Intracompany transfers of executives or highly skilled employees who are non-European citizens shall be subject to an efficient and speedy application procedure.

May 2002