Hello,

I am moving to Switzerland next week where I will be a university professor. People at the university told me that both me and my wife will get C permits within a few weeks upon our arrival.

This sounds a little unrealistic though... (having read all those posts on how hard it is to get residence permits in Switzerland). I am a Russian citizen and a US green card holder (i guess the latter does not matter much). We have never lived in Switzerland before.
Any ideas?

Thanks!

Privet, Darius!

I am still not in Switzerland, but from what I read, apparently the academics are well accepted and they usually get their permits, so don't worry that much.

Good luck in Switzerland!

Most likely a B and not a C permit.
C permit is like permanent residency and is given to people who have lived in Switzerland for at least 5 years depending on the canton and of course if they are EU or non-EU.

There are exceptions, especially for leading members of academia.

All holders of chairs in Swiss universities are automatically given C permits upon arrival. I think I mentioned it once before.

Agreed, If you have an open ended (permanent) academic appointment then you may apply for a 5 year B permit (if your institution has not managed to do this for you already) saving you the hassle of having to renew it every year.

If you are on a short term contract apppointment do not expect anything other than a B permit renewable annually for the duration of your stay, regardless of any academic prowess or appointment status.

Hello : This is wrong! Professor= C Permit, automatically.

I stand corrected....

I follow your postings avidly and you are indeed exceptionally knowledgeable on these matters. However, one needs to define the appointment.

In the swiss system Professors are graded. Basically a C4 Prof. will be a divisional head and indeed if it is a foreign appointment will qualify for C- permit. However there are also C1-C3 professors that work under divisional heads and in these cases the contract appointment is the determinant.

A low graded professor may often find themselves in a 5 year contract appointment (the Uni's are moving away from permanent appointments to inject new blood on a cyclical basis).

So a Professor as i think we would know it is not the same in CHF... surprise

PS: If Darius had been appointed a C4 Prof. hats off to him. This means he is an exceptional academic internationally and/or comes to CHF with a very big research grant.

Where's CHF?

CHF is short hand for Switzerland...taken from the currency denomination maybe or is it CH.... dunno have seen both used frequently

http://www.englishforum.ch

Where have you frequently seen CHF as short hand for Switzerland?

I again notice that you tend to be rather feudal when it comes to my postings.... should we rather not focus on maximising the advice we may be able to offer on the Darius posting, this all seems rather like childish bickering does it not?

.....or should we draw our wands and cast dark magic spells at each other

PS: In house personal communications seem to have the CHF thing... but then again this could just be our Secretary... like i posted ... dunno which one is the standard

I beg to differ. Any professor (ordinary, extraordinary, assistant) receives a C permit. This is public information published by the universities and supported by the law.

Surprise indeed.

I don't wish to tell you that you are wrong because I do not know anything about the professorial grades - what I can tell you is that from a legal standpoint they are completly irrelevant.

I can further tell you that according to The ANAG Weisungen issued in Bern May 2006, it states on Page 65 §343.3 "that according to established practise ordinary and exceptional Professors, that teach at a university, an ETH or an IUHEI will be immediately given a C permit." translated from

Nach ständiger Praxis wird ordentlichen und ausserordentlichen Professorinnen und Professoren

The professorial grades do not matter when the university applies for a permit.

The actual process is described here in full detail (albeit in French). Lausanne seems to agree (surprise) as well.

I don't mean to be feudal, but one can't expect to receive much credence without at least getting the country name right.

Just queried this with the Secretariat at my research institute and a new level of complexity arises. Apparently there are cantonal differences so academic institutions in the French part will have subtle differences to the German part on academic appointments (one of them being higher salaries in Zürich).

So if Darius had been advised (by his new institution and not hearsay) that he is entitled to a C permit then this is the case.

At institutions in Zürich this C permit is only awarded to Professors with a permanent appointment an not to those employed on a contractual basis (normally a minimal 5 year tenure at respective research institutes). After a successful tenure that has been extended one may then apply for C-permit but approval is at the discretion of the Immigration authorities on a case by case basis.

But this is hearsay from me (from the secretary) cannot predict any outcome unless we all know what appointment Darius is to take up and which part of CH it is in.

I beg to differ on two points above. One that there is a difference between parts of Switzerland as to how this is dealt with and 2 that institutions in Zürich make differences. Where you could be right is with respect to visiting professors. They are not entitled to a C permit as they are not paid by the institution they are visiting.

The reason why I dispute your points is quite simple. The law is not cantonal but state and as such the C permit is issued by the state and not the canton ie the canton does not have a say. You cannot therefore have cantonal differences.

Recent appointment (in house) of a Japanese professor as a full professor, at a research institute operated by the University of Zürich, with a 5 year contract. Issued the 5 year B-permit.

am looking forward to you three shortening my afternoon ....