Before you start

An employment contract with a Swiss employer
For third-country nationals: employer sponsorship, a quota place and a labour-market test
An address in the canton
Passport or national identity card

Step-by-step

1
Employer checks the SECO job-registration duty
Occupations with a nationwide unemployment rate of 5% or more are subject to the Stellenmeldepflicht and must be advertised to the public employment service first. SECO publishes a check-up tool that tells you whether the specific role is caught.
Via employerWho: Your employer
2
Employer files with the Amt für Wirtschaft at least eight weeks ahead
The application goes to the Amt für Wirtschaft (AWI), Arbeitsmarktaufsicht, Laupenstrasse 22, 3008 Bern, one per employee, with a justification letter, your CV, diplomas, the signed contract, a passport copy and documented evidence of the recruitment search in Switzerland and the EU-27/EFTA.
Via employerWho: Your employerAt least 8 weeks before the intended start date
3
Wait for BOTH approvals before starting work
The AWI work authorisation and the migration authority's consent must both be in hand before the first working day. One without the other is not permission to start.
Via employerWho: Your employer and the canton
4
Obtain an entry visa if required
Third-country nationals generally need a national D visa from a Swiss representation abroad once authorisation is granted. EU/EFTA nationals do not.
In personWho: You
5
Register within 14 days of arrival
Swiss and EU/EFTA nationals can register the move online through the eUmzugCH portal. Third-country nationals register through the cantonal migration service. Either way the clock is 14 days and the date starts your health-insurance and driving-licence deadlines.
OnlineWho: YouWithin 14 days of arrival
6
Re-register every time you move, including within the agglomeration
Moving from the city to Köniz, Ostermundigen or Muri is a change of commune with a different tax multiplier and possibly a different health-premium region. It is not an address change, it is a deregistration and a registration.
OnlineWho: YouWithin 14 days of moving

Documents you’ll need

Passport or EU/EFTA identity card
Employment contract
CV and diplomas, for the third-country application
Tenancy agreement or proof of address
Passport photographs

Things most newcomers don’t know

Canton Bern does not publish its permit allocation, and Zurich does.

Zurich tells applicants plainly that it starts the year with 250 residence and 399 short-stay quota places out of the national 4,500 and 4,000, with federal supplementary quota available for special needs. Canton Bern publishes no equivalent figure anywhere in its business pages, so neither you nor your employer can check how much room is left before filing. Ask the AWI directly rather than assuming there is space.

Source: Canton of Zurich — Kontingente 2026; Canton of Bern — Amt für Wirtschaft

The eight-week lead time is the canton's own number, and it is not padding.

The Amt für Wirtschaft asks for the application at least eight weeks before the intended start date, and both its authorisation and the migration service's consent must exist before day one. Negotiating a four-week notice period with a foreign employer and a start date in Bern is how people end up unable to start the job they moved for.

Source: Canton of Bern — hiring workers from third countries

The labour-market test is evidential, not a formality.

The file must contain documented proof of the search in Switzerland and across the EU-27/EFTA — not an assertion that no candidate was found. Employers who have never hired a third-country national frequently discover this at the point of filing, and reconstructing a recruitment paper trail after the fact is slow.

Source: Canton of Bern — hiring workers from third countries

Bern has Geneva's two-track system, in miniature.

The Universal Postal Union has been headquartered here since 1874, and the diplomatic missions accredited to Switzerland sit in Bern rather than Geneva. Their international staff hold FDFA legitimation cards outside the permit quota entirely. It is a far smaller population than Geneva's, but it means 'how did they get here' has two completely different answers in the same city.

Source: Universal Postal Union — about the UPU

A permit is not the barrier to a federal job that people assume it is.

Article 23 of the Bundespersonalverordnung permits access to be limited to Swiss citizens only where a sovereign task requires it, and enumerates the cases: policing and prosecution under the justice department, national defence and the intelligence service under the defence department, staff posted abroad under the foreign ministry, the Border Guard Corps under the finance department, and staff representing Switzerland in international negotiations. Paragraph 2 requires any such restriction to be stated in the job advertisement — so in Bern, the city where this matters most, the ad itself tells you whether you are eligible.

Source: Bundespersonalverordnung (SR 172.220.111.3), art. 23, version in force 1 January 2026

Common mistakes to avoid

Agreeing a start date before the employer has filed with the Amt für Wirtschaft, against its own eight-week lead time.
Starting work on the AWI authorisation alone, without the migration authority's consent.
Assuming the labour-market test is satisfied by a statement rather than documented search evidence.
Assuming quota is available because the national exhaustion rate is low — the canton's own share is not published.
Moving to a neighbouring commune without re-registering, which changes your tax authority and can change your health premium.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.