Anyone in the Canton of Graubünden who wants to start sex work and searches for the relevant form will search for a long time. There is no cantonal permit for sex work, no register, no reporting office where you would register as a sex worker. That sounds like freedom and is often described that way. In practice, it means something different: the decision about where work is permitted is still made – but in a procedure that has nothing to do with sex work on paper. It’s called a building permit, more precisely: a change of use. And it is displayed publicly for twenty days.
This article breaks down exactly this process: the building application as the actual permit, the additional permits attached to it, and the immigration, social security, and tax law obligations that run alongside it. It does not replace legal advice – the information from the responsible municipality or cantonal authority is always binding.
What Graubünden Does Not Have – and Why That Is Not a Relief
The Criminal Code leaves it to the cantons in Art. 199 StGB to regulate the location, time, and manner of exercising prostitution; anyone who violates such cantonal regulations is fined. Graubünden has made no use of this competence at the cantonal level. There is no law on sex work, no cantonal permit requirement for salons, no registration requirement for individual workers.
There are also no figures. In response to a question from Grand Councilor Rutishauser concerning the situation of prostitution in the Canton of Graubünden – submitted in the June session 2025, answered by the government on August 12, 2025, and discussed in the October session 2025 – the government stated that no systematic and complete data on the number of sex workers are collected. The question noted that hundreds of advertisements from the canton are continuously active on relevant platforms and asked about data collection, police statistics, and a specialized contact point. No such cantonal contact point exists; the government referred to regional social services and victim assistance counseling. The questioner was not satisfied with the answer.
The gap at the cantonal level does not disappear – it migrates downward, into the 100 municipalities and 11 regions. How pronounced it feels when you cross the cantonal border is described in more detail elsewhere: the same activity, the same person, a different set of rules.
The Permit That Actually Exists: the Change of Use
The decisive sentence is in the Spatial Planning Act for the Canton of Graubünden (KRG, BR 801.100). According to Art. 86 KRG, buildings and installations may only be erected, modified, demolished, or have their use changed with written building permission from the municipal building authority. Changes of use require permission if significant effects on the land use plan are to be expected – and the change from residential use to commercial use is the textbook example of this.
Translated: an apartment in which work is regularly conducted commercially is no longer a residential building under building law. Whether the advertisement refers to a „studio,Sex work is gainful employment, and social insurance and tax obligations apply regardless of whether the canton regulates the industry. Those who are self-employed register with the SVA Graubünden; the compensation fund checks whether the status as self-employed economic activity is recognized at all. For 2026, the AHV/IV/EO contributions for self-employed persons are 5.371 to 10.0 percent of earned income, with the full rate of 10.0 percent applying from CHF 60,500. The minimum contribution is CHF 530 per year, plus administrative costs of up to 5 percent of contributions. Contributions are collected on account and settled after the final tax return — refunds therefore come with a delay.
For tax purposes, income counts as taxable income and must be declared. In short-stay and registration procedure situations, withholding tax may apply; self-employed income is assessed separately. For value-added tax, the general turnover threshold applies. Information is available from the tax administration of the Canton of Graubünden.
Who helps if something happens
A specialized cantonal department for sex work does not exist in Graubünden. What does exist: Aids-Hilfe Graubünden at Lürlibadstrasse 15 in Chur with outreach prevention and testing services, adebar for questions about sexual health and family planning, regional social services, and cantonal victim assistance, whose counseling is available regardless of whether a report is filed.
Regarding human trafficking, the government has already explained in response to an inquiry from 2021 that the cantonal police, the Office for Migration and Civil Law, the Office for Industry, Trade and Labor, and the Social Office work together and the situation is analyzed through observations and inspections in hotels, studios, on the streets, on construction sites, and in restaurants. The picture described at that time — predominantly sex workers from China and Thailand in studios and hotels, women from Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary on the streets — is the status as of 2021; no more current cantonal survey is available.
The fact that a canton manages without its own department and counseling effectively comes from outside is not a unique Graubünden case; the same structure is evident in the Canton of Schaffhausen. Those who turn to services in St. Gallen or Zurich should clarify in advance whether these also serve people with workplaces outside their own canton — several specialist offices are financed by the canton and accordingly tied to jurisdiction.
What that means in practice
- Check the address first, not the profession. Zone and municipal building law decide. Inquire with the building administration of the municipality where the workplace is located, before signing the lease.
- Take change of use seriously. Converting residential space to commercial use requires approval under Art. 86 KRG; outside building zones it is always required and goes through the cantonal Office for Spatial Development.
- Plan for 20 days of public display — including publication and opportunity to object. Anonymity is not provided for in this procedure.
- Apply for a hospitality license separately, at least one month in advance, with the municipality.
- Clarify alien law separately: Office for Migration and Civil Law, 90 days in the registration procedure for self-employed EU/EFTA nationals.
- Register with SVA Graubünden for AHV, wait for status review, factor in advance contributions.
- In Chur also observe the police law if street prostitution is involved.
Where binding inquiries are made
For zone and building questions: the building administration of the municipality where the workplace is located, in Chur the building inspectorate. For projects outside the building zone: the Office for Spatial Development Graubünden. For hospitality licenses: also the municipality where the workplace is located. For residence and registration procedures: the Office for Migration and Civil Law Graubünden. For contributions: SVA Graubünden. For taxes: the cantonal tax administration.
The absence of a sex work law in Graubünden does not mean that no one decides. It means that the decision is made in a procedure that does not ask about sex work at all — and that it can turn out differently a hundred times over in a hundred municipalities. Those who think this through early negotiate with the building administration instead of facing a building suspension order.