Excellent info with sound details. Thanks a lot. May I ask you about your permits during the stay. Had you spent all your 5 years on B permit or had been also on L for 2 years. I checked in Gemeinde but they were not clear on this details. According to them 5 years to be spend on B permit as an eligibility. Please shed some light on this darkness.

Secondly, does moving to a different Gemeinde or Kanton affect this process of applying to C permit.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to provide any valuable information on the issue of L vs B permit and continuous stay restriction. All I can tell is that my 5 year stay was on B permit and I have been living in the same Gemeinde.

However, the documents I have read so far, I did not encounter any such restrictions of continuous stay or L vs B issues.

AFAIK, such restrictions do apply when applying for Swiss citizenship (after 12 years of continuous stay). e.g Zurich has the following rules*:

- Last 2 years in the same Gemeinde
- Last 5 years in Zurich Kanton

*These rules vary from Kanton to Kanton.

http://www.gaz.zh.ch/internet/justiz...rdernisse.html

Hope it helps.

Thanks, it makes me clear. One has to spend 5 years on B permit, irrespective of the 2 years of L permit.

On moving to different Kantons, I will check it back with the Gemeinde.

excellent post....was looking for info to check if time spent with L is counted towards C or not...this is first post which clearly answers this question

Is there any condition that I have to be in same city for last 5 years

Hello all,

As this topic seems to be one of the most popular ones, I will try to ask here and would be grateful for any comment.

Assume that I am a non-EU, married to non-EU and lived in Switzerland for 5 years, 4 on carte de legitimation and 1 year on B. The last year was in the canton ZH, first four in GE. My spouse lived with me for 2 years (1 on CL, 1 with B). She doesn't know German at all. The question is: am I entitled to apply for an early C-permit if I know German?

The early C-permit application rules say that the integration level is checked for all the family members (from http://www.ma.zh.ch/internet/sicherh...ewilligung.pdf , clause 5.1):

Bei der Prüfung des Gesuchs um vorzeitige Erteilung der Niederlassungsbewilligung wird der Integrationsgrad der Familienangehörigen berücksichtigt, die älter als zwölf Jahre sind (Art. 62 Abs. 2 VZAE, Art. 3 VIntA). Bei Familien (Ehepaare oder Eltern mit minderjährigen Kin- dern) wird das Gesuch nur bewilligt, wenn alle Familienangehörigen die Voraussetzungen für die vorzeitige Erteilung der Niederlassungsbewilligung erfüllen (VGr, 23. Februar 2011, VB. 2010.00530).

If my spouse doesn't qualify for the integration - am I allowed to submit an application for myself only?

Thank you in advance!

The law is set at the Federal Level (5 years uninterrupted residency with gainful activity, with no specific mention whether all 5 years should be spent on a B). The implementation, however, is at the Cantonal level, and they can ammend requirements at their discretion which can be based on their particular interpretation of federal law (hence they could require all 5 years on a B Permit if they so wish). I know of rejections due to 1 or 2 years being spent on an L. In my case, I spent 2 of my 5 years on an L before getting a C.

My belief is that certain Cantons (e.g., Suisse Romande) are more lenient in interpreting federal migration law, whilst others are not.

Hi all!

Update on my VINTA C permit application.
FAIL

It is almost my 6th year in CH with B permit.. Migrationsamt rejected my VINTA application because my first 3 years in CH was on a "limited" workpermit. Meaning that I was only allowed to work for one employer. As of 2010, I received my unlimited work permit which allows me to work for anyone.

Migrationsamt claims that, they only start counting 5 years of continuious stay in CH AS OF UNLIMITED WORK PERMIT DATE in 2010! So in their eyes, i have been integrating into CH only about since 2 years.. on the other hand, I meet and exceed every requirement VINTA has for early C Permit. Although within VINTA, there is no such explanation towards counting years and how it depends on your work permit type. I assume this is how migration office in Zurich interprets VINTA

Obviously it is ridiculous i know.. changing work permit from limited to unlimited has nothing to do with how integrated I am. I have been living in Switzerland and among Swiss since the first day I got here.. even though my work permit was limited, I still had B permit and I still worked at a swiss company with swiss collegues..

I just sent my reaction in written to Migrationsamt claiming that their rejection has no logical ground and that is unfair compared to EU nationalss who anyway receive automatic C permits after 5 years, only because of the country issued their passports! ..

Hi Baris,

What you mean is not really VINTA, its called: Vorzeitige Erteilung der Niederlassungsbewilligung auf Grund erfolgreicher Integration.

VINTA is:
Verordnung über die Integration von Ausländerinnen und Ausländer

anyway...i get the point...I checked the documents here:

http://www.ma.zh.ch/internet/sicherh...ewilligung.pdf

(sorry its in German)

Important points:

"Die Niederlassungsbewilligung kann nach einem ununterbrochenen Aufenthalt mit Aufenthaltsbewilligung während den letzten fünf Jahren erteilt werden, wenn eine erfolgreiche Integration vorliegt, namentlich wenn die betroffene Person über gute Kenntnisse einer Lan-
dessprache verfügt (Art. 34 Abs. 4 AuG)."

Important documents to submit:

Erforderliche Dokumente
Strafregisterauszug (kann über www.strafregister.admin.ch oder über eine Poststelle
bestellt werden).
Aktueller Betreibungsregisterauszug der Wohngemeinden der letzten drei Jahre.
Nachweis, dass der Gesuchsteller in den letzten fünf Jahren in der Schweiz durchge-
hend einer Erwerbstätigkeit nachgegangen ist.
Zertifikat, das dem Gesuchsteller bescheinigt, die deutsche Sprache in Niveau B1
(schriftlich und mündlich) zu beherrschen.
Nachweis, dass der Gesuchsteller während der gesamten Dauer des Aufenthaltes in
der Schweiz nie von der Sozialhilfe unterstützt werden musste.


So in short, did you submit all these documents? bear in mind the german level required in ZH is B1, not A2.


The law clearly states that you have to have an aufenthaltsbewilligung in this 5 years, which you had, its not mentioned that your work permi must be open, the papers they ask you to submit say that you had to employed in this time.

so get some lawyers... ->http://www.sgierpartner.ch/ they have a hotline (not free, but still cheap compared with the hourly rate of a lawyer)where you can tell them quickly your case send the docs and will get an answer.

hope this helps.

Chris

Nope, they can not.

Given the above unfortunate case of 'baris' in which he could not make it by himself, regardless of the fact that all his requirements were satisfied, would it make sense to hire a lawyer in this case? My conjecture is that the decision makers at the Gemeinde will take it more seriously.

I would agree with you in theory. In practice I would disagree.

I have seen several US and Canadian citizens who secured a C permit in 5 years without a language test in some cantons, whilst others with a language test in other Cantons. Some cantons also require 5 years on a B, others require 5 years since date of entry (regardless of Ls).

From my observation, French-speaking cantons tend to be more lenient when interpreting Federal Immigration Law.

The problem is both theory and practice disagree with you. There is no defined federal language requirement test for US and Canadian citizens...there is only a requirement for ascertaining "integration" - as they are going through the "normal" delivery process of a C permit. The cantons can therefore interpret "integration" as they like. Some will require a language test, some other not. Also for the normal delivery, there is no difference between L and B permits, so date of entry is what matters.

This has nothing to do with the early delivery of a C permit where there's no interpretation left to the cantons, the language test is mandatory, and L permits are excluded.

Your experience with US and Canadian citizens is irrelevant in this context.

The requirements weren't satisfied. Early delivery of a C permit requires 5 years on a B permit (aufenthaltbewilligung). Normal delivery requires 10 years either on a B or on a L (kurzaufenthaltbewilligung).

Note the legal distinction is very clear between the two.

Hi,

why not? he claims to have been almost 6 years on a B permit. AFAIK B permit == Aufenthaltsbewilligung.

Well, I have a B permit since September 2008 with an "Aufenthaltbewilligung" written on it, but this is apparently a STUDENT B permit (I as a PhD student, though was receiving a very descent salary for being employed as a research\teaching associate during all this period). So do you think it would be taken into the 5 years early delivery period for non-EU to get a C permit?


However, I am about to get a job in some investment company, so probably it will be changed to L permit, and thus I won;t be able to exploit this law. By the way, does the investment company decide for what type of permit (B or L) the work permit application is for, or the immigration office internally determines it?

"Limited" permit = kurzaufenthaltsbewilligung. Art 32 AuG. Can also carry the B letter...

I should have rephrased my answer to "an unrestricted B permit" to be 100% accurate.

Hi,

Could you please tell us what happened to your case? What was the reaction of Migrationsamt to your letter?

Thanks indeed,

Thanks
What if I have been partially on L permit, example: 3 on B, 2 on L, another 2 on B afterwards?

If I understood it correctly, the only count your B work permit years, and not any L permit or student visa.

But check more, I might be wrong.