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. A canton grants it, but final approval rests with the federal State Secretariat for Migration (SEM). There is no published price, no application portal, and no entitlement.
This is the honest answer to the question of how a non-EU billionaire moves to Switzerland. It is not a golden visa. It is a favour, granted at cantonal discretion for fiscal reasons, and subject to a federal veto. Cantons that abolished lump-sum taxation have no fiscal interest to assert, which is why this route effectively exists only in the 21 cantons that kept it.
Qualifying routes
There is 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 runs 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 no published figure confirms it.
The facts
- Minimum investment
- 435k CHF
- Total landed cost
- This is 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.
- Route type
- Residency by investment
- Timeline
- 6–18 months (Cantonal negotiation comes first, followed by SEM approval. SEM can, and does, refuse even after a canton has agreed.)
- Physical presence
- Genuine residence is required. B permits are renewed annually, and the canton verifies that you actually live there.
- Family
- SpouseChildren under 18
- Permanent residency
- C permit generally after 10 years
- Citizenship
- 10 years of residence, but naturalisation ends the lump-sum regime
- Language test
- B1 spoken and 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
- This is discretionary at two levels. The canton must want you, and SEM must then agree. In practical terms, neither decision can be appealed.
- Art. 32(1)(c) VZAE requires pre-existing close ties to the canton. A cold approach backed only by 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 on its own.
- Cantons ration these permits informally, and several essentially do not grant them at all. Availability is never published.
- The permit is issued annually. If a canton changes its policy, or abolishes lump-sum taxation by referendum, the basis on which the permit was issued no longer holds.
- Advisers who present this as a priced, rules-based Swiss golden visa are misrepresenting it.