Transnational skills partnerships are a new instrument of foreign migration policy. The differently organised partnerships between countries of origin and destination countries are intended to facilitate the recruitment of skilled workers without brain drain effects and open up legal access routes for countries with high migration pressure. In this way, they should contribute to solving the labour shortage, combating illegal migration and development policy in the education sector. Numerous projects are currently being launched at international, European, national and member state level. Initial findings on success and failure factors are available. The research project recognises the results to date and, in exchange with potential stakeholders in Switzerland, examines whether and how the instrument can be implemented in Swiss foreign migration policy.