[I've searched but not been able to find an answer]

Hi,

My contract with a Lausanne-based employer is to start on 1 March. I am an EU national and my new company will go for a B permit, based on the fact my contract is not time-limited. I've lived in Lausanne before and know how normally to apply for a permit and how long I waited last time.

My question is: Can I apply before 1 March for my B permit? For instance, can I apply from the UK or could I travel to Lausanne, go to the contrôle des habitants and set the wheels in motion, so that I don't have 5-6 weeks of not being able to get number plates, mobile phone contract, yet more problems regarding an apartment and all the rest of the stuff that's caused by not having a B-permit in my hand...?

Thanks,

Harvey

If you don't have an address in Switzerland you can't get a B permit.

[Thanks - not got 10 posts yet!]

I have friends in Lausanne. Could I 'reside temporarily' for 6 weeks with them before actually arriving? I don't mean to do anything other than avoid the problems I had last time while waiting for my permit to arrive.

HB

I think they will ask you to provide rental contract..

As an EU citizen you apply for the permit on your own. The company does not do this. You take your work contract to them. You will need an address. A hotel or a letter from your friends saying you are staying with them will do just fine. Then you change your address with them commune when you move.

Your permit will only be valid from the start of your employment though

Hi

I arrived in Switzerland on Saturday 26th November, ready to start my new employment on 1st December.
I went and applied for my B permit at my local Stadt office on Monday 28th November, had to show my employment contract, passport and letter from rental agent for the apartment, paid 85 CHF and 5 days later on 3rd December received a letter advising my permit was ready for collection, so I collected it Monday 5th December exactly 1 week after applying for it
Permit was dated from 26th November the day I arrived in Switzerland.
All in all a very good, effecient and quick service, and thanks to Frau Sara at the Stadt office was a very pleasant and friendly experience.

No. That's not true. As an EU he'll have no trouble coming a few weeks early. I mean he could come with no work as a "job seeker" so I can't imagine they will give him trouble if he has a job and just wants to come a bit early to settle in.

I'm an EU and came on the 23rd of September. Contract of employment started on 1st October. My permit is valid for 5 years from the 1st of October.

It may vary between cantons.

My Zurich permit the last time also only took a week.

In Lausanne my B permit took three months just to change cantons, and getting it changed to a C (even though I was within the C permit window) took almost a year from application to paper in hand (luckily my B was still "valid"). I'm wondering if the OP hasn't been through the "Vaud timeline" before (as he mentioned), going three months+ without a phone or trying to get an apartment on no permit kinda sucks.

My Zurich C permit is on track to take about two months but that is partly my fault (didn't bring the criminal and credit checks with me on initial application...because I wasn't told, but bygones).

As mentioned above, YMMV between cantons. Public service in Vaud is years behind what it is in Zurich.

You are right. I could vary canton to canton & even person to person! LOL.