Switzerland · Residency by investment
Residence Permit B on grounds of important cantonal fiscal interest (Art. 30(1)(b) AIG / Art. 32(1)(c) VZAE)
This is NOT an investment programme and Switzerland does not market it as one. It is a discretionary exemption from the ordinary admission rules, granted by a canton and requiring final approval from the federal State Secretariat for Migration (SEM). There is no published price, no application portal, and no entitlement.
This is the honest answer to 'how does a non-EU billionaire move to Switzerland'. It is not a golden visa — it is a favour, granted at cantonal discretion for fiscal reasons and vetoed federally. Cantons that abolished lump-sum taxation have no fiscal interest to assert, which is why the route effectively only exists in the 21 cantons that kept it.
Qualifying routes
No statutory price. In practice the canton expects a lump-sum tax ruling; Uri's official 2026 Merkblatt states that where a permit is secured on cantonal fiscal interest grounds the minimum assessment base is 'significantly higher' than the ordinary figure under federal requirements. Practitioners commonly report cantons seeking annual tax of roughly CHF 400,000–1,000,000+, but we could not verify a published figure.
The facts
- Minimum investment
- 435k CHF
- Total landed cost
- Unverifiable by design — each canton negotiates privately. Expect the lump-sum tax bill (materially above the ordinary minimum) plus legal and tax advisory fees typically in the CHF 50,000–150,000 range for the ruling and permit work.
- Timeline
- 6–18 months — Cantonal negotiation followed by SEM approval; SEM can and does refuse after a canton has agreed
- Physical presence
- Genuine residence required. B permits are renewed annually and the canton verifies you actually live there.
- Family
- spousechildren under 18
- Permanent residency
- C permit generally after 10 years
- Citizenship
- 10 years' residence, but naturalisation ends the lump-sum regime
- Language test
- B1 spoken / A2 written in a national language
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- third-country (non-EU/EFTA) nationalclose pre-existing ties to the specific cantonno gainful employment in Switzerland or abroad, beyond administering your own assetsa lump-sum tax ruling representing a substantial fiscal interest for the cantonfinal SEM approval
- Discretionary at two levels: the canton must want you, and SEM must then agree. Neither is appealable in any practical sense.
- Art. 32(1)(c) VZAE requires pre-existing close ties to the canton — a cold approach with a chequebook is routinely refused.
- You may not be employed anywhere, in Switzerland or abroad, apart from managing your own assets. This is stricter than the lump-sum tax rule alone.
- Cantons ration these permits informally and several essentially do not grant them. Availability is not published.
- The permit is annual. A canton changing its policy — or abolishing lump-sum taxation by referendum — undermines the basis on which it was issued.
- Advisers who present this as a priced, rules-based 'Swiss golden visa' are misrepresenting it.