Yes - in general, all activities with a Swiss employer that last longer than 90 days or 3 months in a calendar year require a permit.
Cross-border commuters from EU/EFTA countries can register as cross-border commuters with the local authority of the place of work before taking up employment. The competent cantonal authority of the place of work issues the cross-border commuter permit G.
The permit for cross-border commuters from the EU/EFTA is valid for five years, provided that there is an employment contract that is valid for an unlimited period or for longer than one year. If the employment contract was concluded for a period of validity of less than one year but longer than three months, the period of validity of this permit is based on the period of validity of the employment contract. For a period of employment of less than three months, the registration procedure applies.
For non-EU/EFTA citizens, a cross-border commuter permit can only be issued if they have a permanent right of residence in a neighboring country of Switzerland and have been resident in the border zone for at least six months. Border zones are regions that are precisely defined in the respective cross-border commuter agreements (between Switzerland and the respective neighboring state).
It should be noted that non-EU/EFTA citizens require a work permit and, in the case of third-country nationals, the priority of nationals generally applies and quotas for permits are thus applied.
EU-27 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
EFTA countries: Principality of Liechtenstein, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland.
(Source: State Secretariat for Migration SEM, July 2021)