Hello,

I am a U.S. and Romanian citizen living in the U.S. Currently I work for a company in the US that has an office in Ch. My employer would like to transfer me to the Ch office starting early 2012 (February?).

This is a fairly new development with and an aggressive timeline, and my manager probably did not take into consideration the work permit application process. As of today, my employer has not yet applied for a work permit.

I am trying to research the process, and after reading the forums I think it might be easier and faster if I would apply for a work permit as a Romanian citizen instead of a US citizen, even if Romanians (and Bulgarians) still have work permit quotas. Is this the case?

To make things more interesting, because I am an ethnic Hungarian, I could apply and receive the Hungarian citizenship in about 5 months. And since mid 2011 Hungarians fall under the same rules as old-EU this might be the best option for the long run.

What is a realistic time frame to receive a B work permit as an EU (Romanian) citizen? How about US citizen?
Would I receive the L work permit faster than the B permit?
Can I start work before I have the permit approved?

Thanks in advance for the help!

You can not start work until you have your permit.

I can't say which is easier though. Hopefully someone else will come along shortly and answer that for you.

Welcome.

Welcome to the forum!
Deci
The easiest would be to wait for the hungarian citizenship because it would be no problem to get a permit.
The second option would be to apply as a Romanian but that would mean to go through the law of priority which does not mean that you get a permit. Your company needs to show the swiss government why you and not a swiss or a EU person (but not a romanian or a bulgarian)
Getting a L or B really depends on the type of the contract and other things and it is not your main concern. The quota is renewed every year. In February it could be tight because some say it is renewed in July some say in September. Either way...could be that there are no permits left. There are certainly more Ls than Bs...
And...there is no way you can start working before you get the permit...

For me (romanian) the process took 4 months and got an L. Good luck!

Thank you all for the help!!!

4 months to the get the work permit sounds like a long time.

Applying for the Hungarian citizenship might be my best and fastest bet. That is about 4-5 months too, but it is fairly predictable.

So as a Romanian, for all practical purposes, my application will be treated as a non-EU application?

I thought that we (Romanians and Bulgarians) get some sort of priority over non-EU applications and hopefully we are not coming out of the same permit pool as non-EU citizens. I am just speculating. Anyone?

We do get priority that is why applying as an american would be your third option...
4 months is not a rule...could be less...could be actually more for you it should not be a problem because it is your company that wants you here. If you would just apply for a job maybe they would not wait so long. Sometimes they cannot afford waiting. Just make sure you tell your company what to expect...
Good luck you americanoromaniangoingtobehungarian person

Just a slight correction. You can start working before you physically have a permit in hand. Once they approve you, you could start to work even though there is a lag between the approval and the time it takes to send a permit. (although maybe its faster with the credit card format) I was approved in November, started work after new year and had my permit by March.

There were some difficulties with this method because typically u have to show your permit to get a bank account, apartment, halbtax, etc.

There is no priority for EU-2 nationals, merely a separate set of permit numbers.

Yes. Except domestic workers.

TS, there is other solution. Restrictions lifted on self employed for EU-2.


Voraussetzungen für die Aufnahme einer selbstständigen Erwerbstätigkeit.
http://www.bfm.admin.ch/content/dam/...fs-bg-ro-d.pdf


The only risk can be this.
Changes are coming for self employed


But if your company split your duty between two contractors, then you will be on a safe side.

At least to begin this way, for a year, then when you arrange Hungarian passport, you can close it down and continue as employed. Note that applications for Hungarian citizenship taking more that half year to approve, in reality it can take up to a year having a passport in your hands.

Source please.

Sorry, probably I confuse it with old preference quotas for EU-8. Nothing is different except providing service up to 90 working days in the general service industry.

But it was useful to search. May be there is also other solution for TS.

Huba. Where in CH your company office based? Page 14

http://www.bfm.admin.ch/content/dam/...igration-e.pdf

There is no quotas for G permits. Also note this - Urgent cases

But as far as I know company must have a number of B,C permit employed to get one G permit.

kiwiguy08, EU-2 can’t start working before receiving permit.

How is a G permit going to help? The OP lives in the US.

Any EU citizen can rent in neighboring countries, so if company in a border zone, then quota matter will be avoided.

Szia!
For practical permt purposes your Romanian and US citizenships are equal. The benefit of the US application is that it's easier to justify coming from the US as a US local needed in Switzerland.

Justifying a Romanian in Switzerland for a US Company.....gets confusing, leads to more checks. (You may need Romanian documents not easily gotten in the US).

I agree you should get your Hungarian citizenship. A justification is your impending residence in EU/EEA/EFTA (as Hungary is covered by the EU-Bilateral). Good luck on becoming magyar!

Once you have it and are hopefully already here, you can easily change your permit from a 1 year Non-EU to a 5 year EU permit once you have your Hungarian ID or Passport/Igazolvàny vagy Ütlevél.

Jo' utàt!

You should really search a lot more as you are thoroughly confused. There are still many differences between EU-2 and the rest.

Such as the fact that EU-2 nationals have to reside for a minimum of 6 months in the designated border area before being entitled to a G permit.

Et caetera et caetera ad nauseam.

They have to have lived there for 6 months before getting a G permit. That's not going to help the OP get to work faster.

EU-2 Staaten: Bei EU-2 Staatsangehörigen gilt weiterhin der Inländervorrang. Die erstmalige Erwerbstätigkeit ist bewilligungspflichtig. Stellenwechsel sind bewilligungsfrei. Die Kontrolle der Lohn-und Arbeitsbedingungen kommt somit nur bei der erstmaligen Erwerbstätigkeit zum Tragen.
http://www.awa.zh.ch/internet/volksw...n/eu_efta.html

Inländervorrang, Kontrolle der Lohn-und Arbeitsbedingungen
http://www.bfm.admin.ch/content/dam/...zgaenger-d.pdf
It's not mentioned anywhere that there is 6 months residency requirements.

Hum, maybe they changed that when they dropped the border zone. I'll have to check.

Anyway, a G permit still won't necessarily. They are still under quotas:

"les frontaliers ressortissants UE-2 sont subordonnés aux restrictions relatives au marché du travail (priorité des travailleurs indigènes, contrôle des conditions de salaire et de travail."

That's entirely correct, because you're looking at the wrong document.

That happens a lot!