I work for a multinational company which has a branch in Zurich. They allow employees to transfer to Zurich through either B or L work permits. Assuming the visa process works out and I am able to start working from Zurich, I have some questions around what am I allowed to do:
1. Can I work from home in Zurich? To clarify, that means both my house and office will be in Zurich but due to personal reasons, I will work from my house and I would not attend the office. Ever since covid happened, we have all been working from home anyway and my company is supportive of remote work or working from home. My manager wouldn't care if I went to the office or not as long as I got my work done. But will the Swiss government have concerns with me not "badging" into work regularly?
2. As a holder of a B or L permit, I am allowed to enter a Schengen country like Germany upto period of 90 days, is that correct?
3. Even though other Schengen countries would let me in, could I be violating any Swiss immigration laws if I work remotely (for let's say a month per year) from another country like Germany when I visit my extended family there?
4. Adding onto question 3, could I violating any laws of Germany by working from there with my Swiss B or L permit? Apologies if this question has nothing to do with Switzerland.
1.The Swiss government does not care if you work from home or the office.
2."
5.1 Do third-country nationals (non EU/EFTA) with a Swiss residence permit require a visa for the other Schengen states and/or for the United Kingdom, Ireland, Bulgaria, Romania, Cyprus and Croatia?
Third-country nationals (non EU/EFTA) in possession of a Swiss permit B, C, L and Ci may visit the Schengen area for up to 90 days in any 180-day period without a visa, provided they have a residence permit and a valid travel document.
To travel to the United Kingdom, Ireland, Bulgaria, Romania, Cyprus and Croatia, which are not members of Schengen, you should check with the representation of the country concerned for information on entry requirements:"
If there is no need for you to attend the office and you can work from home, the obvious question is how a company will be able to justify the need for your permit as a third country citizen.
This is the current situation with covid but don't take it for granted in the medium or long term. As suddenly as we went to work from home, the return to the office will be the same or faster. So careful when signing an apartment rental 1 year contract. It would be a shame if you rent in a nice place far from the office only to find out 2 months later you have to commute 1+ hour one-way every single day.
Back to your question, NO. Your presence in the office is not monitored by the Swiss government.
This is a grey area. You're not strictly violating any Swiss immigration laws if you stay a few weeks with the family and work from there. A lot of people from EU countries is doing this.
However, be careful and be knowledgeable of the things you're getting into. To begin with, your employer has to agree. Don't know the data policies of your employer, sometimes you cannot connect to the company data storage if you're not within CH borders. Sometimes doesn't matter at all.
Finally, be discrete in Germany. Nosy neighbors may have the idea of denouncing an illegal immigrant. So, always tell the story about vacations with the family.
Interesting. All the replies here indicate that the Swiss government doesn't care about work visa holders physically attending the office, but there is a guideline shared by our company for those seeking to work remotely that it may not be allowed for expats in certain countries due to visa rules and they name Switzerland as an example. I will be able to personally ask the the immigration team but only when I am actually in the process of applying for a transfer.
True, but only if they specifically ask this in the application. If they do ask this, then the only justification would be timezone overlap.
Not remotely true. The company needs to specifically demonstrate that you are needed in Switzerland and not only that but there is no one in the EU/EEA/CH available to take up the job.
So it would be impossible for a company to get someone on a B or L permit if the employee will end up working from home within Switzerland?
The only remaining acceptable reason I can think of is data security issues which require the employee to stay within Switzerland (even if working from home). But this is not true for most multinational companies with a distributed workforce including mine.