In 2021 only 80% of the contingent of permits for non EU/EFTA workers was used up in all of Switzerland. In the canton of Lucerne, one such permit was given out. The reason? In general the pandemic has made companies more cautious about employing new staff from abroad but also the conditions that need to be met are very strict. Companies have to prove that no Swiss person, nor person from any EU/EFTA countries have been found to do the job. Basically this leaves very specialised jobs or people being moved within a company from abroad to Switzerland.
Last week the government announced that it wanted to extend the current Covid restrictions until end of March. They sent the proposal out for consultation to the cantons and will be announcing the results later this week. It seems that in general the cantons are happy to have the restrictions extended but, either only until end of February or with the possibility of cancelling them should the situation improve.
Epidimiologists are forecasting that the next 10 days are when most of the population will be getting infected with the Omicron variant.
Meanwhile the refresh button on the Covid certificate app is being disabled meaning that the certificate will automatically show whether it is still valid or not.
Over 100 000 spectators came to view the LiLu Festival in Lucerne. Downtown Lucerne had not seen such a crowd in quite a long time, and restaurants and bars benefited from the event. Next year’s festival is already being planned.
