Employment law

Registering a sans-papiers worker in your household: what's allowed, what isn't

Your cleaner or nanny lives in Switzerland but has no residence permit. Can you still register her with the AHV (state pension)? Yes, you must. Does the migration office find out? Under federal law, no. Does that make the employment legal? No. Here is how these three answers fit together, what they mean for you and for her, and how registering with Clino actually works.

Updated: 21 September 2026·Reading time: 9 minutes

Answer in 30 seconds

AHV duty does not depend on residence status: anyone who works in Switzerland is insured (Art. 1a AHVG). So you can and must register your household help with the compensation office, even without a permit. The compensation office is not on the list of authorities that must report to the migration office. That still does not make the employment legal: Art. 117 AIG still applies.

AHV, accident insurance and source tax work just as for any other employee. Every month counts towards her pension.
No systematic data exchange between social insurance bodies and migration authorities, confirmed by the Federal Council in 2020. A 2025 motion wants to change that, but it isn't law yet.
Your risk stays immigration law: up to 1 year's imprisonment or a fine if intentional, a fine of up to CHF 20'000 if negligent.

This applies when

your household help lives in Switzerland and has neither a permit nor a pending application. If she has an application running, choose "None yet (applied for)" in Clino.

How it works with Clino

Two laws, two answers

Is she allowed to work for you without a permit?

Art. 117 AIG

Anyone who knowingly employs someone who is not allowed to work in Switzerland commits an offence. The Foreign Nationals Act makes no exception for private households.

Must you register her with the AHV?

Yes

Art. 1a AHVG

Anyone who works in Switzerland is insured. Full stop. Residence status isn't in the law. The Federal Council confirms it: sans-papiers are insured and liable to contribute "by operation of law".

The two laws don't talk to each other. That's exactly the point of this article: AHV registration doesn't make the employment legal, and the missing permit doesn't exempt you from your AHV duty.

Why this is not a niche issue

The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) estimates that around 76'000 people without a residence permit live in Switzerland, and one in two of them works in a private household: cleaning, looking after children, caring for relatives. Most households didn't set out to find someone without papers. The recommendation came from neighbours, the person was reliable, and the question about her ID never came up, or came too late.

What typically happens next: out of fear of the migration office, nothing gets registered at all. That adds undeclared work to the immigration-law question, with everything that comes with it: no accident insurance, no AHV contributions, no payslip. And that is exactly the case where the authorities are allowed to exchange data, more on that shortly.

76'000

people without a residence permit in Switzerland (SEM estimate)

1 in 2

works in a private household

2'390

regularised in Geneva (Opération Papyrus, 2017 to 2018)

Sources: SEM study 2015, Federal Council report on sans-papiers of 21.12.2020, Canton of Geneva Bilan Papyrus 2020.

Who reports what to the migration office?

The fear behind not registering is always the same: "If I register her with the AHV, the migration office will find out." Federal law sets out exactly which authorities must report to the migration office unprompted (Art. 97 AIG, Art. 82 to 82f VZAE). The list is exhaustive:

Your household

Compensation office (AHV)

Not on the reporting list

Accident insurer (UVG)

Not on the reporting list

Health insurer

Only with her written consent

No data flow out of AHV registration

NO SYSTEMATIC EXCHANGE

Reporting duty (Art. 82 ff. VZAE)

Police, courts, criminal prosecution
Civil registry offices
Social assistance, supplementary benefits
Unemployment insurance fund, schools, KESB (child and adult protection authority)

report unprompted

Migration office

Federal Council, report of 21.12.2020

Compensation offices, accident insurers and tax authorities are not on this list. The Federal Council explicitly wanted it that way in 2020: it stated there is "no systematic data exchange between the implementing bodies in social insurance and the migration authorities", so that sans-papiers don't forgo registration out of fear. It rejected an automatic data match.

One important exception sits in the Undeclared Work Act (Art. 12 BGSA): if a social insurance body finds during an inspection that no contributions were paid for someone and their residence status is not obviously in order, it reports that to the migration authorities. So the trigger isn't registration, it's the opposite: the missing registration, uncovered during an inspection.

What could change

In March 2025, parliament passed motion 24.3059. It calls on the Federal Council to systematise data exchange on people without a right of residence, explicitly including with the AHV and health insurers. As of September 2026 that hasn't been implemented, the law is unchanged. As soon as that changes, we'll update this page. For the tax authorities, the picture varies by canton: under federal law they are not on the reporting list, but counselling centres warn that some cantons do pass on tax data. Ask the counselling centre in your canton before relying on any statement.

What she gains from registration

For you, registration is a duty. For her, it's the only form of protection she can get without a permit. Four things that only exist with registration:

AHV years that belong to her

Every month that's processed is a contribution-year share on her account. If she's regularised later, all of it counts. If she returns to her home country, depending on the country, there's a pension or a refund.

What happens to the AHV when you return home

Accident insurance from day one

Occupational accidents are compulsorily insured for everyone employed in Switzerland (Art. 1a UVG), even without a permit. Without registration, you pay for an accident yourself.

How UVG works in a household

Payslips as proof

Regularisation runs on case files. Geneva required work and financial independence under Papyrus, Neuchâtel has required an employer's work confirmation and payslips since September 2026. Without registration, there's neither.

What belongs on a correct payslip

The path to health insurance

Anyone who lives in Switzerland must, and may, take out health insurance (Art. 3 KVG), regardless of status. Health insurers may only pass on her data with her written consent.

The hardship case (Art. 30 para. 1 lit. b AIG) is the only ordinary route to a permit. Cantons assess, among other things, financial circumstances, length of stay and integration, which includes participation in economic life. A payslip every month over the years is the case file that answers those questions.

"Working sans-papiers do not come into contact with the compensation office themselves, only through the employer, who must register them with the AHV and account for their contributions."

Federal Council, report on sans-papiers, 21 December 2020

What you risk, honestly

AHV registration does not erase the immigration-law risk. But it cleanly separates the two offences: without registration you commit undeclared work and employ someone without a permit. With registration, only the second one remains. The two columns show what that means in practice.

Remains

Employment without a permit (Art. 117 AIG)

• Intentional: imprisonment of up to one year or a fine. In serious cases and on repetition within five years, up to three years.
• Negligent: a fine of up to CHF 20'000.
• You bear uncovered costs for living expenses, accident, illness and return travel (Art. 122 AIG).

Falls away

Undeclared work (AHVG, UVG, BGSA)

• No back payment of AHV contributions for up to five years, because they're paid on an ongoing basis.
• No recourse claim from the accident insurer, because the premiums are paid.
• No report under Art. 12 BGSA, because nothing is missing at an inspection.

For her, the mirror image applies: unlawful residence and unauthorised employment remain offences (Art. 115 AIG). Registration changes nothing about that, but it doesn't make her situation worse either, because registration creates no data flow to the migration office.

Source tax: yes, it applies

Anyone who works in Switzerland without a settlement permit is liable for source tax (Art. 83 DBG). Under the simplified procedure, up to CHF 22'680 in annual salary, that's a flat 5 %, processed through the compensation office, with no direct contact with the tax administration. Above that, the cantonal rate applies. Clino withholds source tax by default whenever there's no permit.

In practice

How registration works with Clino

Clino treats an employee without a permit like any other: the same AHV registration, the same payslip, the same accident insurance. The only difference is the honest answer in the permit field.

1
Permit: choose "No permit (sans-papiers)"
The field has accepted this answer since September 2026. No made-up ID, no blank field that silently sets source tax to zero.
2
AHV number via the compensation office
If she doesn't have one yet, leave the field blank. Clino prepares the registration with your cantonal compensation office, and the number comes from there. No residence status is checked for this.
3
Take out accident insurance
Clino prepares the UVG application, you take out the policy. From eight hours a week, non-occupational accidents are covered too.
4
Payslip every month
Gross, deductions, source tax, net. She gets every payslip as a PDF: her proof of contributions and employment.
5
Year end: salary certificate
The salary certificate documents the whole year. For a later hardship-case application, it's the most important document.

What Clino doesn't do

• No report and no application to the migration office: there's no procedure for an employment without a permit that we could trigger.
• No legal advice on residence status. That's what the counselling centres further down are for, free and confidential.
• No guarantee against the immigration-law risk. It stays yours, and we'd rather tell you here than later.

The conversation with her

The biggest hurdle is rarely the compensation office, it's the conversation. Many affected people have learned to avoid every authority. Say clearly what you're planning, what data moves and what doesn't, and give her time. Here's what that could look like:

Example: announcing the registration

Ana

online

Hi Ana, I'd like to register you officially with the AHV. It's my duty as your employer, and it's good for you too: every month counts towards your pension.