No idea what they're going to do yet, but it's more likely to be future immigrants than those already here.

I would have been eligible to vote, having been married to a Swiss for nearly 40 years.
I chose not to because I can see both points of view.
On a personal front, because my husband is now 87, and l'm English, i'm worried that I might lose a great ,deal of money when I sell the apartment I bought, for my husband's sake, should he die and I want to return to London.
This is something I can ill afford. Not making money yes, losing money no.
But that's purely personal.

I generally find if I have an Auslander Aus poster on my car when I return from shopping in Germany I don't get asked how much meat I have with me

Your biggest risk is the £ getting very much stronger over the next 5 years , 2.CHF : £1 is not impossible. Add a potential 30 % fall in Swiss real estate, property ownership is not all it's cracked up to be.

Totally understand that- but not sure what it has to do with this vote Ceppych? Surely, however, the exchange rate will ensure that any possible loss on the apartment will be made up by the strong CHF against the low £?

Fatmansfilm- just give it a break with your constant doom and gloom with property in CH (:

Many thanks.
So we don't know much yet, but can only predict how it goes when the Swiss government obeys the will of the people and tries to open new negotiations with the EU.

So, to reiterate my concern: does this new law apply to people who want to immigrate to CH only, or will the quotas affect people who are already settled, integrated, and who assumed their B permit would automatically transfer to a C permit? We were about to buy a property, should we reconsider?

I met in Berlin a fantastic 91 woman, Inge Deutschkron, a Jew who survived in Berlin from 1933 to 1945. The word "quota" still horrifies her.

Are they going to have enough movement to implement it knowing the results are so tight? It's basically half the population against the other half...

The official position of the Federal Government?
http://www.news.admin.ch/dokumentati...n&msg-id=51948

It does not say: check my link to the full text above.

It says the legislature is responsible to work out the details. They have three years to do so, and I shouldn't imagine they'll be able to make it in much under that.

Incidentally there is no guarantee that existing C permits will be unaffected either. Bottom line, wait and see what details emerge.

Just wondering how this is going to play out in relation to employees of various international organizations based in Switzerland (e.g., UN, WHO, ILO etc).

I know that at present all such non-EU workers are employed without quota limitations. This is owing to the previously signed Swiss-UN international accord. However, the constitutional amendment approved today explicitly states that employment of all foreigners will be subject to quotas, and no exceptions for any international staff are mentioned. Moreover, it's mentioned that all laws in violation of this clause will be cancelled. Given that the Constitution has precedence over any treaty, am I right in assuming that the new quotas will apply to the employees of UN agencies as well?

Just to be clear, I am talking about not those already present in Switzerland, but about those who plan to work there.

The SVP website has a document where it explains each part in detail -> http://www.masseneinwanderung.ch

My doom & gloom is not just with CH property, just any country that did not experience a 30% correction after 2007 is in for a shock.

Well the £ has been getting stronger for some time, the UK is out of recession when Europe is still very much in one. No reason for the CHF to be strong now tied to the euro, the £ is up nearly 30% from its low v CHF, as you have not noticed it's clearly got a lot further to run !

As you did not buy your house in CH as an investment, why are you so bothered ?

Not bothered- just gets on my *its

A stronger £ would be very nice for us on UK pensions, I can tell you (and no more tax as we would of course spend it on house renovations )...
Still very low compared to 5 years ago though!

The text actually says practically nothing - I could make a big leap and say that most people who voted "yes" had not actually read the text but that might be construed as unfair

Then you will have to pay more tax , win some you loose some

How can existing C permits be affected? For example: Do you mean that if someone is unemployed for a certain period that they C permit would be revoked?


If some owns a Swiss AG company and pays himslef a salary and has a C permit than they should be OK?

Employees of international organisations are not affected. I dont know if they are counted as immigrants by the BFS, but for sure they dont count as being part of the Swiss labour market.

They do not require Swiss work permits, registration with the gemeinde / control des habitants is optional.