Rayan Houdrouge

Walder Wyss Ltd

Geneva www.walderwyss.com

rayan.houdrouge@walderwyss.com Tel: +41 58 658 30 90

Biography

Rayan Houdrouge is a partner at Walder Wyss. He advises and represents Swiss and multinational companies as well as international organisations on all employment law matters. He has extensive experience in executive transfers, compensation packages, work regulations, internal audits and collective procedures, including business transfers and collective dismissals. He also is an accredited labour law and social security expert (Swiss federal certificates) and assists clients in social security and pension fund matters, including contentious aspects.

I wanted to better understand how our society functions and use this to be able to have an impact and improve things. I also believe that it is fundamental to a democratic society that, no matter the context, all persons have access to legal representation.

What did you find most challenging about entering immigration law?

The extent to which political considerations may influence the authorities’ approach, which often means having to adapt to new situations depending on the current political context.

How has the market changed since you first started practising?

Immigration policies have become more restrictive and enforcement based, both in Switzerland and globally. Also, in Switzerland, the signing of the free movement agreements with the European Union marked a huge change to our immigration policy. There now are essentially two sets of immigration rules – one for EU citizens and one for everyone else.

What challenges do you think an increasingly remote workforce will pose to clients when it comes to immigration issues? What challenges and opportunities have you noticed?

Before, the typical situation was that a company would want to apply for a work permit on behalf of someone it wanted to employ in Switzerland on a long-term basis. Today, there are many more types of situations that may arise.

For instance, we see companies that need to bring over individuals for several days or weeks in order for them to attend business meetings, conferences, etc., which means more requests for more people, but for shorter periods of time.

We also see more movement in general related to people feeling that remote work makes it easier to work from anywhere in the world and, of course, there can be immigration consequences when employees decide to move to a new country or work remotely during their holidays.

Also, we are seeing more employee turnover, as individuals may feel less connected to their employer, which also can result in needing to apply for more work permits for shorter periods of time.

That said, one opportunity that comes from working remotely is that it makes it possible for companies to work with more people around the world, without necessarily having to bring them to Switzerland and deal with the related administrative requirements.

If you could introduce one reform to immigration law in the EU or Switzerland, what would it be and why?

To have more flexibility in the system, especially when it comes to allowing people to stay in Switzerland if they have strong ties with the country and could be an asset. For instance, we spend a lot of resources educating university students, but then make it quite difficult, almost impossible in some cases, for non-EU foreign students to stay and contribute to the Swiss economy.

What do you think will be the greatest challenge facing the next generation of immigration lawyers?

Migration law traditionally is based on territoriality. However, the increasing digitalisation and virtualisation of the world means that the idea of territoriality has lost some of its significance in the field of corporate immigration. This has led, and will continue to lead, to profound changes in the interpretation and application of current immigration rules with regard to the on-the-ground reality.

That said, global economic and climate crises and escalating global and regional conflicts likely will lead to increased mass migration, which could impact how the authorities apply all immigration rules and regulations.

Looking back over your career, what is the most interesting case you have been a part of and why?

I would say that the immigration questions that arose during the covid-19 pandemic were some of the most interesting with which I have dealt. We were plunged into an extraordinary situation that was susceptible to change from one day to another. Additionally, sometimes there were not a clear response as to whether an exception would be granted, as it might depend on oral discussions with the border guard in charge.

At the same time, the pandemic showed the immense capacity of our institutions and authorities to adapt rapidly to an unprecedented situation, despite enormous amounts of pressure.

What is the best piece of career advice you’ve ever received?

Always multiply by two the amount of time you think it will take to do something and even that is not always enough – which goes to show the amount of time it takes to do things well.