Dear community,
I have just been offered a position in a swiss company. I am a UK citizen, but I currently live and work in the USA. I have been offered a two year contract which I believe will be covered by a B permit.

My wife lives and works also in the US, but she is a Chinese citizen. We have two children under 2 years of age who are US citizens.

Questions- What visa will my wife and children get? will my wife have the same rights as me on the family re-union permit? Will she be able to find a job and work? Will my children have the same rights as other swiss children-access to school, health-care etc.

thanks in advance

Dear Dougal,

Welcome to the community.

Have you consulted the sticky covering EU citizen permit questions?

Thank you for directing me to that thread.

However, I read somewhere that Non-EU spouses of EU citizens could work in Switzerland (gain a permit) only if they were residents of an EU country prior to the application for swiss permits.

Is this true?

We are both green card holders (legal residents) in the US, but I and my wife hold UK and PR China passports, respectively.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

As far as I am aware, if you are granted a B permit, your wife will also receive a B permit which piggy-backs on yours, and which she can use for work purposes. Though, her potential employer will have to complete some simple paperwork first (though nothing as onerous as what your employer will have to go through, i.e. proving that you were the only suitable applicant for the job after having advertised the role within the EU and Switzerland).

Have a search for some threads in this forum - it has been discussed many times before

I concur.

this was my situation (wife is not EU citizen or US citizen) and I concur. US Green card status has no bearing. I am a US citizen though but don't that makes a difference regarding what the B permit allows.

Also, I will warn you, if keeping your US green card is a priority, that you make sure you cover this as well as theoretically keeping a green card requires to live in the US. There are special filings that can be made however.

Excellent point. Keep in mind also that by keeping your Green Card you will be required to file U.S. Federal Taxes.

and i presume that all jobs (including the starbucks sort) in switzerland require to be filled by swiss or EU nationals as first preference?

Of course.

Well, not exactly.... in that if a person already has a work permit then they can be considered for the Starbucks job right along with the EU & Swiss national. There is no hierarchy in choosing an employee once they already have a right to work.

Now, a non EU person will NOT get a work permit for a counter job.

well, let's say a foreign student in switzerland needs a part time job in starbucks.

University or high school? If you have a university permit, you should have the right to work 15 hours a week. I don't see why you couldn't work at Starbucks. You best bet is to ask them if they will hire you.

They will probably consider any Swiss candidate before foreign nationals i presume, even for this sort of jobs?