Universität zu Köln

Alvarado, Mariana ORCID: 0000-0002-7197-6698, Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik, Paula ORCID: 0000-0003-4784-0421, Lavenex, Sandra and Lutz, Philipp ORCID: 0000-0003-2373-0180 (2025). Business migration between labour and trade: evidence from Switzerland. Comparative Migration Studies, 13 (1). pp. 1-21. Springer Nature. ISSN 2214-594X

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Abstract

[Artikel-Nr.: 60] Largely unnoticed by the migration literature, business migration has established itself as a form of labour migration that is substantial in terms of numbers and receives preferential treatment in international and national migration law. Intra-corporate transferees, contractual service suppliers and business visitors all fall within this category and benefit from facilitated admission procedures agreed under trade agreements and corresponding provisions in national legislation. Assigned for temporary stays and retaining their work contract in the home country, these business migrants represent a “market model” of migration policy exploiting the economic benefits of human movement while avoiding migrants’ integration into the host countries’ labour market and society. This article conceptualizes business migration at the nexus of trade law, international labour markets and migration research and uses a mix of legal analysis, population register and other statistical data as well as survey data from Switzerland to demonstrate the scale and importance of this under-investigated yet significant type of economic migration. Amounting to nearly half of the regulated labour immigration into Switzerland, business migration is strongly associated with trade and investment ties as well as the presence of multinational companies. In contrast, trade agreements facilitating this type of labour mobility have no systematic effect.

Item Type:	Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Alvarado, Mariana UNSPECIFIED https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7197-6698 UNSPECIFIED Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik, Paula UNSPECIFIED https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4784-0421 UNSPECIFIED Lavenex, Sandra UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Lutz, Philipp UNSPECIFIED https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2373-0180 UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-801936
Identification Number:	10.1186/s40878-025-00483-7
Journal or Publication Title:	Comparative Migration Studies
Volume:	13
Number:	1
Page Range:	pp. 1-21
Number of Pages:	21
Date:	11 August 2025
Publisher:	Springer Nature
ISSN:	2214-594X
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Management, Economy and Social Sciences
Divisions:	Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Political Science > Cologne Center for Comparative Politics
Subjects:	Social sciences Political science
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language Business migration ; Labour migration ; Mobility ; Immigration policy ; Intra-corporate transfers ; Contractual service suppliers ; Trade ; Multinational companies ; Switzerland English
['eprint_fieldname_oa_funders' not defined]:	Publikationsfonds UzK
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/80193