My wife and I moved to Switzerland almost two years ago when both of us were non EU citizens and we held non EU 'L' permits. I was employed and my wife was a dependant. When searching for a job for my wife, many companies were interested as she is a qualified software engineer, but backed off as soon as they realised that she had a non EU 'L' permit linked to my non EU 'L' permit. They asked us to come back once we received our non EU 'B' permit.

Now things have changed quite a bit. I became an EU citizen towards the end of last year (my wife is still a non EU citizen). Now everything became easy from my perspective and my employers have applied for an EU 'B' permit for me. Although they are hopeful that they would get a 'B' for me, they say that there is still a chance of me getting an EU 'L' permit for one year and thereafter for sure I will get a 5 year EU 'B' permit.

Now here are my questions…

• Say, I end up getting an EU L permit for twelve months, what permit would my wife get? With that permit will she be able to find work easily, i.e. will the companies be able to get a work permit for her easily. I understand that there are simplified work permit procedures for spouses of EU citizens, but I would appreciate if someone could shed some light on how 'simplified' this is

• Will it be any easier, if I get a an EU 'B' permit and as a result my wife gets a B as well.

• If I get an EU 'L' permit for a year, is it possible to change it to an EU 'B' within that 12 month period.

Basically what I am trying to find out is how easy is it going to be for my poor 'fully qualified, but non EU' wife to find a job here in Switzerland under the different circumstances.
Many thanks for your help.

If you get the "EU" L permit - which by all means is equal to a B permit but is delivered when the B quota is exceeded, normally your wife should get a dependent permit as well; which should entitle her to pretty much unhindered access on the labor market.

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	Will it be any easier, if I get a an EU 'B' permit and as a result my wife gets a B as well.

EU B and L are similar - the only difference is the quota. Most employers are aware of the "L in lieu of B scheme"

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	If I get an EU 'L' permit for a year, is it possible to change it to an EU 'B' within that 12 month period.

I think yes - provided that EU conditions apply to your country of origin.

Many thanks for your quick reply.

I am a British citizen and my wife is an Indian citizen. I take that your answers are still valid. Please confirm.

Yes, for Britain they are valid (it is for the new EU entrants that it varies). I should point out that there is no real point in applying for a change of the EU L during its period of validity - you will have to bear the costs (ok, aint a fortune) whereas if you wait the employer will bear them for you. The EU L should normally come with a letter confirming that it is pretty much similar to the B and should entitle you to the same treatment on the job and real estate markets.

Many thanks again. Just to confirm, if I get an 'EU' L permit, my wife would get an 'EU' L permit as well (as a dependant, but allowing her to work) and this applies to the EU B permit as well.

Correct. I forgot to mention that the "stabilisation" procedure i.e. the change of a L permit into a B permit has a 30 month stay prerequisite (which you seem to fullfill).

Many thanks but sorry to bother you again. When you find some time, please can you elaborate on the 'stabilisation' procedure. Do you mean that when we should have lived in Switzerland for 30 months before we can apply for a B. We have been here for 21 months so far.

Yes, if by chance (or lack thereof) an L permit is issued in lieu of a B one, it will automatically be renewed as an L permit until you reach the 30 month stay treshold.

I do not know the actual rationale of this procedure - however i think that this makes it more palatable to right-leaning parties than actually increasing the B quotas. In the end it works out pretty well, since most of us foreigners end up staying for a short period of time anyhow.

Interesting...it makes a lot of sense now.

I also take note that you say 'automatically'

I have had EU colleagues who had a L permit to start with but managed to convert it to a B permit in twelve months just by pushing the immigration authorities at the right time. I also have 'happy go lucky' EU citizens who had L permits to start with, but did nothing about it and they were automatically given L permits again.

Do you think the 'stabilisation' procedure will remain even after the B permit quotas get abolished in May 2007?

Well, quite probably the authorities might have some level of discretionary implementation of the 30-month stay rule - especially if it looks like the quotas will not be breached during the year. I cannot really say though.

Good question. I do not know to what extent this will impact the existing L permits (i haven't seen any official paper or position on that yet). I would suspect that upon abolishment of the quotas for the respective EU countries, the stabilisation will be done away with - presumably with some time lag until it trickles down to the local administrations.