A provocative proposal to reshape Switzerland’s business-immigration landscape is gaining airtime after Alfred Gantner, co-founder of Zug-based private-equity giant Partners Group, told the weekend paper “Schweiz am Wochenende” that firms should be charged an ‘immigration tax’ every time they recruit an EU national. Speaking to Bloomberg in a follow-up interview published on October 19, 2026, Gantner argued that labour mobility under the EU–Switzerland Free-Movement Agreement has tilted the playing field against local talent. His idea is simple but controversial: companies would pay between 1 % and 5 % of the foreign employee’s gross salary for five years, with the proceeds redistributed to Swiss residents. A mid-career hire on CHF 81,000, for example, would trigger roughly CHF 20,000 in tax. Gantner says the scheme could raise CHF 1.35 billion annually—enough to hand a four-person Swiss household roughly CHF 4,000 a year if the money is focused on the lowest income brackets. The entrepreneur has created “Kompass Europa”, a lobby group opposed to closer EU integration, to promote the plan ahead of next year’s federal elections. Immigration lawyers warn the idea would represent a de-facto financial quota that conflicts with bilateral treaties and WTO rules. The Swiss Employers’ Association cautioned that extra hiring costs would hurt start-ups already struggling with the strong franc, while labour unions fear companies will simply shift recruitment to cheaper near-shoring locations rather than invest in Swiss up-skilling. For global-mobility managers the takeaway is clear: although still only a proposal, the debate signals a tougher political climate for foreign specialists in Switzerland. HR teams should monitor parliamentary traction and be prepared to model higher total cost of employment scenarios for EU assignees in 2027 and beyond.
Source: SWI swissinfo.ch / Bloomberg
