Switzerland limits access to its labor market for Romanians and Bulgarians after less than a year

Switzerland will limit the access to its labor market for Bulgarian and Romanian citizens for the next 12 months. The Swiss Government announced on Wednesday the activation of a safeguard clause in its bilateral agreements with the European Union (EU), which allows it to temporarily introduce restrictions on the labor market if the number of immigrants exceeds certain levels. In June 2016, Switzerland raised the restrictions for Romanian and Bulgarian citizens on its labor market, which had been in place since the two countries joined the EU, in January 2007. The Swiss Government now decided to cap at 996 the number of five-year "B" residence permits for Romanians and Bulgarians saying that the threshold of workers from those countries taking largely seasonal jobs had been exceeded between June 2016 and May 2017, according to Reuters. Switzerland is not a EU member, but is part of the European Economic Area and Schengen area. Number of Romanian and Bulgarian workers in Switzerland goes up ten times editor@romania-insider.com