Hi friends,

Last week I had a R1 interview( technical) with an MNC based out of Zurich for a Finance Manager position. I'm a CPA and CIMA with 8 yrs exp and extensive experience in Europe(2.5 yrs but never on work permit). I'm an Indian national but currently based out of Muscat, Oman. I'm positive that i will be shortlisted for the next round( final) round of interview.

I was wondering how difficult it is for the companies to sponsor a B/L permit. I know that preference is given to swiss nationals..then EU zone employee... and then other national with work permit and finally outsiders( third country). I have also extensively read through the forums that how difficult it is for the companies to get a foreign national (L/B permit). If this is case the , was my interview just a formality? or interviewing mean in any way show the intention of the company that they are open to hire a foreign national and can, if every thing goes positively, sponsor a work permit visa..

Guys appreciate your opinion on this.

Thanks
PS: The advt doesn't mention preference to Swiss/EU nationals.

unless you were an exceptional candidate and there were no other suitable candidates, i wouldn't get your hopes up too much.

i was interviewing recently and had a good candidate, but with a US passport, it wasn't worth the hassle when there were other good candidates without the permit issues.

In my opinion i think you have a good shot otherwise they would have mentioned that they only want Swiss Citzen/permit holder or EU nationals. I have looked extensively at a lot of job postings and i noticed most of them do mention exactly what they are looking for. I have been to Swizerland many times and i noticed Swiss are straight to the point people, they will not waste time interviewing a foreign person because of a formality, what do they have to prove and to whom? I believe they are open to hire someone and sponsor for the work permit granted they already know you don't have one.

Thanks for the quick reply. Any idea why do companies interview candidates when they very well know the visa hassles? I undstd it could be a back up plan ..but the when u have so many qualified people in your home country and without any visa issues....why hunt outside?Nothing exceptional about me other than my 3 yrs exp in Europe.. perfect suitability to the role and the recommendation from the Ceo of the company.

in this case it has a headhunter mess up. had i had more chance to screen the CVs before the first call, i would have cancelled, but i didn't notice until the end that the guy didn't actually have EU citizenship.

it's not impossible, but you need to be substantially better than the next candidate to warrant the effort (or maybe less of an effort for some companies) also, the visa can add delays which can be a big factor when you want someone quickly.

I agree if its an HR /consultant messing up .. I applied on the company's website and got a call directly from the hiring manager .. They very well knew my background ( Indian and currently in Oman).. Infact they already converted my Oman salary to CHF and asked my expectations so if its ignorance/backup plan then I'm surprised the way an internationally well know MNC works...

If you had an interview already and if they have already checked you salary level and ask for expectations and even call you knowing your status, that would indicate they are interested in you - right? If there were plenty local / EU applicants available they would not be contacting you at all - would they?
In my opinion if company(international) wants to hire person the permit issue is no big deal, just another bureaucracy issue that HR etc folks handle as business as usual. They most probably have a template document for permit issues already just fill in the blanks . Good luck.

If you are to be shortlisted for the next interview, you should ask the HR manager directly about this permit issue and whether they are confident to get it for you.

I would say if things proceed they will get the permit if they want. You can bring up the issue if you ẃant to. From their response you can read between the lines I they are interested in the applicant or not, but in my opinion as far as the process goes the employing company must have checked issues like work permits - otherwise they would not be on par with their task would they?

In short if they would not be confident getting permits they would not be contacting the applicant in the first place.

Well if you are coming on the recommendation of the CEO, they are not going to knock you back at the first hurdle now are they....

I would read it as an indication that they are willing to go through the process of supporting your application for a work permit, but that is all. Even if offered the job, the final out come will depend on the decision of the authorities. One thing you do have going for you is the fact that the application will be made early in the year when there are more permits available than later on...

This is simply not the case!!! I work for a Swiss multinational and over the past 2 years we've had 3 cases in our department where the authorities simply said "No" and no matter how much we tried it was still no.

There are a very limited number of permits available for non EU types now a days and the authorities husband them very carefully. If stats from the EU or CH show that there is no shortage of a particular skill set, you are going to find it almost impossible to get a permit in the norma course of events...

Maybe it might be easier if a potential candidate already had a work permit once in Europe/CH as it seems to be in this case ? The authorities might look at that if the person is coming back. Maybe not but maybe yes.

Give it a go dude... Please bear in mind, chances are very less due to permit restrictions.. Maybe you might get a L- permit. I even know cases (Indian national), skilled profis got kicked out from L-B conversion and even for a new L permit... Best of Luck

I am under the impression that, if an employer requests a visa/permit for a non-EU/non-Swiss employee, that they have to certify that there were no eligible candidates found within Switzerland or the EU with a skillset to match the job. (in other words, you have to be an exceptional talent).

The company has to show that it tried to recruit an EU/CH person and failed, that failure thou has to be boron out by the EU/CH labour stats as well...

Is that really true ? I thought once they had L, B was guaranteed.

You mean L to B conversion guaranteed?? Not really... As I mentioned in my previous post, I know a person who is a skilled IT professional got rejected with L- B conversion.. Finally he had to leave the country... that too they rejected it after 2-3 months of process... I am not sure, but I think the rejection was from BFM (Bern)...