Heidi › Cross-border workers
G permit: conditions, going home and changing employer
You get the G permit with a Swiss contract and a home in the EU or EFTA. It lasts 5 years for a contract of a year or more, and the length of the contract below that.
There is only one presence rule: go home at least once a week. And to change employer, there is no new application to make — but you must notify the canton.
Be careful not to mix up two different rules. The permit asks for a weekly return. The cross-border worker status for tax purposes assumes you go home every day, with at most 45 nights a year spent outside France. You can keep your permit and lose your tax regime.
How long the permit lasts
For an open-ended contract or one of 12 months or more.
The return home required
That is the permit rule. The tax authorities ask for more.
The conditions
- Be employed by a company based in Switzerland, with a contract or at least a declaration of employment.
- Live in an EU or EFTA state, France for example.
- Go back to your main home at least once a week. Moving to Switzerland comes under a different permit.
For nationals of third countries, outside the EU and EFTA, the conditions are much stricter: you must already live in the border zone of the neighbouring country, and the job must be inside that zone. The details come under the State Secretariat for Migration.
How long it lasts, depending on your contract
| Your contract | Validity of the permit |
|---|---|
| Open-ended, or a contract of 12 months or more | 5 years, renewable |
| Contract of 3 to 12 months | The length of the contract, extendable if it is renewed |
| Under 3 months | No G permit: the employer uses an online notification procedure |
The documents to provide
- a certificate of residence abroad, less than three months old;
- the cantonal application form, filled in and signed;
- a certificate from your employer or a recent copy of your employment contract.
You file the application with the cantonal authority of the canton where you work. The exact documents, the deadlines and the fees vary from one canton to another.
Changing employer
Good news: you do not need a new permit. As an EU or EFTA national, you have professional and geographical mobility.
Three things must be reported to the cantonal authority: a change of employer, the end of the employment relationship, and any change of address abroad.
The deadlines vary from canton to canton, and this is the kind of thing you only notice at renewal — when you have to piece several years back together.
The two presence rules, not to be mixed up
| The G permit | Cross-border worker status for tax | |
|---|---|---|
| What it requires | Going home at least once a week | Going home as a general rule every day |
| The limit | No count of nights | At most 45 nights a year outside France, for a full-time job |
| What you lose by going over | The right to the cross-border permit | Your tax regime, which switches |
Someone who sleeps in Switzerland from Monday to Thursday and goes home at the weekend meets the permit rule, but goes well over the 45 nights. Their permit stays valid, their tax status does not. This is the most expensive mix-up on the subject.
And if you lose your job?
The G permit is tied to working in Switzerland. The end of the contract must be reported to the canton, and it is in your country of residence that you register as unemployed, not in Switzerland — even if you paid into Swiss unemployment insurance for years.
Keep a copy of every contract, every employer's certificate and every permit, year by year. At renewal, and above all the day you claim anything linked to your Swiss career — unemployment, pension, buying into a pension fund — you are the one who will have to prove your record.
The three most common mistakes
- Mixing up the permit rule and the tax rule. Once a week is enough for the permit, not for the tax status.
- Not reporting a change. New employer, end of contract, moving house: everything is reported, and the deadlines are cantonal.
- Registering as unemployed in Switzerland. A cross-border worker registers in their country of residence, whatever their years of Swiss contributions.
Which documents, which deadline and which authority for your canton?
Heidi's cross-border mode builds the list with you.
The questionnaire, the regime that applies, the thresholds and the deadlines are free. The figures — net pay, the full cascade, the cost of commuting — are in Heidi Plus.
Read next
- Retirement as a cross-border worker: AVS, the second pillar and the second right to choose
- Family allowances for cross-border workers: Switzerland or France?
- What happens to my second pillar when I leave my Swiss job?
- Unemployment as a cross-border worker: where to register, who pays and how much?
- Who gets my taxes as a cross-border worker: France or Switzerland?
- How many days of remote work can I do without losing my cross-border worker status?
- How much do you take home in Switzerland as a cross-border worker?
Sources
- Frontaliers Grand Est — The G permit: conditions, duration and procedures
- Frontaliers Grand Est — Cross-border worker status for tax and the 45-night limit
- ch.ch — Swiss residence permits
Page written by the Heidi team and updated on 13 November 2026. The documents required, the notification deadlines and the fees vary from one canton to another: the decision rests with the competent cantonal authority.