Dear all,

I have a question regarding the specific requirement for the B permit application as a non-Eu resident. Among other things, in the law, it is clearly stated that the applicant is allowed to work if their work is of high academic or economic interest.

My question is: what does that mean? How do you judge if it is of economic interest or not? Are there any examples of one or the other? Maybe this is one of the vague statements they intentionally make so they could use it for reasoning rejections.

Another important question is: is there any way to prove it? Can a company issue a document stating that the job function is of economic interest?

Thank you!

Well. A waiter job is not of any economic interest. A blue-collar worker job is generally also not. There's ample supply of both in the country and they don't generate much tax revenue.
A position for somebody with comparatively rare skills commanding a correspondingly large salary or, better yet, for an executive of a large-ish company are certainly of an economic interest.
A full professorship at a federal university is certainly of scientific interest.

Kind of, but no.
It's a federal law. Whatever is considered of economic interest may vary a lot between cantons, and it may also change in time. The Swiss federal laws aren't usually polluted with such minutiae.
It would be nice if the cantonal job market authorities published a list of what jobs they considered of such and such importance, but unfortunately they don't.

The company can state whatever they want but it doesn't mean that the authorities will agree with that.

Economic interest also has to be read as "can't find anybody in Switzerland or the EU to do the job", and if there would be shortage of waiters that cannot be filled from within CH or the EU than waiters also qualify as persons of economical interest.

What I have seen so far -

- the employer has to apply for the permit
- then the authority (AWA) will ask for additional clarification on
--- why the job is important for the employer (Business Justification)
--- Proof that the job is so special that there is nobody good enough in the EU (evidence : job portal publication etc)
- after the employer has furnished necessary information, the AWA may ask for further clarification

Thank you guys! One more thing.
So, in the law, this article 21 states:

Paragraph 1: Foreign nationals may be permitted to work only if it is proven that no suitable domestic employee can be found for the job.

Foreign nationals with a Swiss university degree may be admitted in derogation from paragraph 1 if their work is of high academic or economic interest. They shall be temporarily admitted for a period of six months following completion of their education or training in Switzerland in order to find suitable work.

There are two sentences. One is that a Swiss diploma helps, as you dont need to prove that EU candidates were not found. The other sentence states that you can stay 6 moths after PhD to search for work. The question is: Does the exemption from the paragraph 1 works only during the 6 months after PhD or it is not time-limited? It then further confusing, as the economic interest is linked to proving that EU candidates were not chosen.