Parliament opens its autumn session, and much of it is about who gets to stay.

The week

The autumn session opens with the EU package at its centre

Parliament sits from 14 September to 2 October. The Council of States takes up the new package of agreements with the EU from 28 September, including wage protection, free movement safeguards and whether the cantons must also approve it in a vote. Army funding and the Mercosur trade deal are also on the agenda.

Source: SWI swissinfo.ch

The immigration levy: what is actually proposed

The levy would only switch on under the safeguard clause of the EU agreements. As proposed, employers would pay at least CHF 4,000 for each worker recruited abroad, and CHF 2,000 would apply to family members arriving through reunification. The employers' association opposes it on cost and bureaucracy, and the EU could contest it. Watch it, without treating it as decided.

Source: Le News

The National Council tightens asylum and citizenship rules

On 17 September the larger chamber voted to allow Swiss citizenship to be withdrawn from dual nationals convicted of serious crimes, to end the 2023 practice of granting asylum to Afghan women and girls, and to add visa sanctions for countries that refuse returns. It rejected residence permits for provisionally admitted people after ten years. The Council of States decides next.

Source: 20 Minuten

Federal economists raise the growth forecast for 2026

The government's expert group now expects the economy to grow 1.7 percent this year, up from 0.9 percent in June, and 1.6 percent in 2027. It sees inflation at 0.6 percent in both years and unemployment around 3 percent. The risks it names are the Middle East, energy prices and US trade policy.

Source: SECO

More homes are being built, but the shortage eases only slightly

A study for the Federal Office for Housing expects about 45,000 new homes in 2026 and 50,000 in 2027, up from around 39,000 in 2025, the lowest since 2009. Most of the growth is outside the big cities, which stay under pressure. If you are flat-hunting in Zurich, Geneva or Lausanne, plan for competition rather than relief.

Source: cash.ch

This week if you're arriving

• If you are flat-hunting, have your dossier ready before the first viewing: ID or permit, a debt collection extract (Betreibungsauszug), and proof of income.
• Register at your commune within 14 days of arrival, then arrange basic health insurance within three months. Cover backdates to the day you arrived.
• Political news this month is loud and mostly unfinished. Read the date on a proposal before you read the headline.

City in focus: Geneva

• International Geneva has lost about 2,800 jobs since early 2025, mostly at UN agencies, according to federal figures released on 14 September.
• The canton's draft budget for 2027 shows a deficit of CHF 546.2 million.
• Only about 18 percent of residents own their home, the lowest share in Switzerland. On 27 September voters decide whether some tenants may buy the flat they rent.
• The city is small and the canton borders France on almost every side, which makes the commute a choice about countries as much as about trams.

A quiet note

When a parliament talks about who belongs, people who arrived recently tend to hear every word as a verdict. It helps to remember how slowly this country moves: two chambers, committees, often a referendum, then years before anything is applied. Your life here is happening at a different speed, in a tram, at a desk, in a queue at the Gemeinde. Live at that speed. Read the politics on Sunday, with coffee, and let the week be yours.