Hi,

Im a New Zealand Citizen and have lived in Zurich for over 6 years now.

Recently a New Zealand friend received a C permit after having lived in Switzerland for 5 years. I was under the impression that non EU citizens had to wait 10 years before applying for a C.

As I was renewing my B permit I asked at my Kriesburo about this and was told that things have changed but its a bit of a lottery if I get a C or not and that if I fail the first time I should try in the next quarter. The person offered to place in the comment section that I would like a C permit.

When I went to collect my new permit it was still a B but strangely enough this time it was valid for two years and not one year like normal. So I asked again about the C permit and for the application form. This time I was told that I can only get a C after 10 years.

Afterwards I spoke to my NZ friend and he told me that he also had problems with people not being aware of the change but he did get a C.

Now I have come across more people, from Australia, Croatia, and Poland who have received a C after 5 years.

They told me that they had to provide a A2 level language certificate, credit check, criminal check, proof of employment, proof of not receiving social welfare.

Can someone point me to an official document that backs this up?

Social welfare = unemployment benefit as well??????
It would be silly if you payed into the system and then get penalized for becoming temporarily unemployed!

I remember reading on this forum that the Euro folks don't require the A2 language thing. Maybe someone could confirm that.

Btw I heard that the Swiss recently sent out letters to foreigners who were born in CH (or lived here from a young age) to apply for Swiss citizenship.

What is the time frame for non-EU and EU person to become eligible for Swiss passport?

Say an EU person lived 20years in Zurich (land of foreigners). Would he easily get the Swiss passport? What kind of cost is involved if he ain't married to a Swiss citizen? 4k...10k? How long is the process? Just curious.

Hi Boris,

I'm a Canadian and applied for the C-permit last year after living in St. Gallen for five years. The process might vary between kantons, but it required me to fill out a different form, indicate my social welfare status, and provide a credit report.

It's clear that the rules have changed in the last few years. The gentleman from the kanton who helped with my application made a number of phone calls and received conflicting information whether I was eligible after 5 or 10 years. I even received a formal rejection letter from Berne! In the end, this guy sorted everything out and I received the permit. I've already thanked him multiple times for his diligence.

It seems that you're eligible, but perhaps you need to go through the full application process. A side note on your B-permit application doesn't sound right. Good luck! chris

Hi Boris,

As you've probably become aware, it is almost always the case that the left hand of the Swiss bureaucracy doesn't know what the left is doing. It is very common to be given incorrect information both by the people you deal with, as well as by the people who advise those people. Add to the fact that many aspects of the system are changing and very few people actually know what is going on.

My advice to you is this: This forum contains many stories and questions concerning exactly the question you have asked. If I were you I'd go through the existing threads which cover this and profit from the experience of many people who have commented on this subject countless times before.

@jamaicanRUM - please raise issues/questions about Swiss passports on the many threads which cover passport questions. Thanks.

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Hi

Can you provide us with a list of the documents needed to apply for the C permit ? Language tests, employment, tax etc ?. Thank you very much.

I thought he did - the last line of his original post seems to contain the info you asked for. Your profile doesn't tell us your nationality, so I am only going to guess than you are non-EU. If you are EU, you don't have to provide anything.

Actually, we discussed part of this in this thread. Here is the link to the annexure required by non-EU residents applying for a C-Permit.

Thanks for the link. Its what I was looking for. I did have a look through the various threads on the topic but I guess I did not look at that one closely enough.

Thanks again