Free · no account
Can you sit on a board there?
Pick a market. You get the residency test, the nationality test, the work-authorisation position, the appointment steps in order, and the frictions that actually delay appointments — each cited to the instrument that creates it.
Choose a market
SingaporeHong Kong SARJapanMalaysiaAustraliaIndiaSouth KoreaTaiwanThailandIndonesiaPhilippinesVietnamNew ZealandUnited KingdomGermanyNetherlandsIrelandSwitzerlandFranceItalySpainBelgiumAustriaPolandSwedenNorwayDenmarkFinlandUnited StatesCanadaBrazilUnited Arab EmiratesSaudi ArabiaSouth AfricaIsraelQatarKuwaitBahrainOmanNigeriaKenyaMoroccoEgyptLuxembourgJerseyGuernseyCayman IslandsMauritius
Board-level residency testCH
No nationality test applies to a director. The company must be capable of being represented by someone domiciled in Switzerland, which an officer can satisfy — it does not have to be you or any other director.
- Residency test
- At least one person domiciled in Switzerland must have signing authority for the company (CO Art. 718(4)).
- Nationality test
- None.
- Work authorisation
- A non-executive director attending board meetings does not require a residence permit. Executive roles do, and non-EU/EFTA nationals face a quota system.
- Board language
- Board papers at larger issuers are in English; statutory documents are in German or French.
- Tenure limit once appointed
- No statutory cap. The Swiss Code of Best Practice asks boards to consider tenure in assessing independence and to disclose their reasoning.
- Time commitment
- Typically 6–10 board meetings a year plus committees and a strategy retreat; SMI boards carry a heavier load than the headline count suggests.
- What a seat pays
- CHF 200,000 – 400,000 a year for a board member of an SMI-listed company — among the highest non-executive fees in the world — with mid-caps materially lower.
- Tax on your fees
- Board fees paid by a Swiss company to a non-resident director are subject to Swiss withholding tax at source, with treaty relief claimed afterwards.
The appointment steps, in order
- 1Individual election by the general meeting, for a one-year term
- 2Entry in the cantonal commercial register, with signing authority recorded
- 3For a FINMA-supervised institution, notification and fit-and-proper assessment before the appointment takes effect
- 4Confirm the company retains Swiss-domiciled representation after any board change
What actually gets in the way
- Annual individual re-election means every director stands for their seat each year, and proxy advisers publish recommendations on each name
- Board and committee papers at larger issuers are usually in English, but German or French governs the statutory documents
- Social-security treatment of Swiss board fees for non-residents is an area where advice is genuinely required before accepting
The instruments behind these answers
- Swiss Code of Obligations Art. 698(2) — The general meeting elects the members of the board of directors individually and annually, and separately elects the chair and the members of the compensation committee. (Swiss Confederation)
- Swiss Code of Obligations Art. 735 — Shareholders of a listed company vote bindingly on the aggregate compensation of the board of directors and of executive management. (Swiss Confederation)
- Swiss Code of Obligations Art. 734f — Listed companies above defined size thresholds should have at least 30% of each gender on the board of directors and at least 20% on the executive board, explaining in the remuneration report where they do not, with transition periods. (Swiss Confederation)
- Swiss Code of Obligations Art. 718(4) — The company must be able to be represented by at least one person domiciled in Switzerland — a director or an officer with signing authority. (Swiss Confederation)
- SIX Directive on Information relating to Corporate Governance — Prescribes the corporate-governance disclosure a SIX-listed issuer must publish, including board composition, independence and cross-involvement. (SIX Exchange Regulation)
Reviewed against primary sources in August 2026. This is governance decision-support, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and transitional provisions frequently apply — verify against the primary instrument before you rely on it.
Eligibility is only the first question
Being allowed to sit on a board there is not the same as being read for one.
The mobility index answers the second question: whether your record is legible to a board in that market, whether you hold what it is currently short of, and whether you can do the job in the language its board works in.