Hello gentle readers,

I have a question that as far as my results went was not asked yet that some of you may have encountered before.
Came here in 2006 from a EU-8 country, started to work on the student B permit. Got my "real" 5-year B (same one that EU-17 are getting) in July 2007, LCF on June 30th this year, expiring Feb 28th this year. The renewed permit I expect to arrive any day now as I submitted the application mid December.

Simple question: assuming that the incoming B permit is still valid 5 years, does it mean that I will have 4.5 years of grace time to choose if I want to jump to the green ship from the white one? And suppose I can (I can't think of a good reason why I couldn't), would there be a particularly convenient spot to ask for the C permit? (for e.g. tax reasons, .....). I understand that in my particular case the C permit brings more of a practical disadvantage, but I just wanted to have this question cleared out.

Thanks a lot in advance and have a great weekend!

Cheers,

Juraj

You cannot apply for a C permit, if you have lived correctly it arrives after 5 / 10 years.

Right, thanks for feedback. Hmm, I was sure the lady over there said I can apply.
So the C arrives completely by itself? Does that happen when the LCF time is reached or when the permit spanning the LCF expires?

I think the following is correct.

If you are an EU citizen the B permit is renewed 4 times and on the 5th renewal you receive a C permit instead of a B permit. For other nationalities it takes another 5 years.

If you have a serious police record or break the conditions of the B permit, then it might take a year or more longer.

The rules say EU people (plus Americans and few others) get C after 5 years, others after 10, unless they go VINTA, I don't think the number of renewals plays role. If it did, then I would have been eligible for C after 20 years of being a B holder :-)
And yes, I've been behaving, no unpaid bills, no unemployment etc. Ok I guess I wait till the permit comes, then glide down to the office and ask.

The number of renewals is not the issue .. indeed B permits for EU citizens are valid for 5 years anyway.

Usually the C (on renewal of the B after 5 years) will arrive as a matter of course .. although an indication that they are changing it to C might be when they ask for new photos for the photo section of the permit (although I have heard some people say the B Permit photo section was simply reused for the C).

I have to disagree.

I was sent a renewed B permit and asked why and said i want a c permit for tax purposes. They told me to send back the B and they sent me a C

You should be entitled to a C after 5 years (in most cases), so ask in advance

The C is NOT aways automatic. If you are allowed a C after 5 years and they send you a renewal for a B you must specify that you want a C permit.

As for reasons to switch from a B to a C, I can't say. Sometimes you are better off paying tax as source others you are not. I do have to say, if you are not good with money you really have to be careful because you get all your money and have to save it to pay your taxes. This is difficult for some people not used to this system. I had a friend get into a bit of trouble with that.

Good luck!

if you're not married and without children it's better to pay tax as source - my husband's tax load increased quite a bit when we got married and he had to start paying Swiss taxes, and not only because of the "marriage penalty"

Okay, so two months after a letter came:
"Please send us your work contract and last salary statement".

I suppose the lady that I was submitting my application to couldn't have told me that while I was talking with her?

Humpf.

My last B permit renewal took 1 year after being here 5 years, married, separated with kid...etc (Kept asking for papers every 2 months, losing papers,...etc)

They're just way TOO SLOW