Hello All

This is my first post to the forum and after much searching/reading of other posts I have come to the conclusion I need to just ask my questions and hope someone can help me. I do apologise if they have been asked before.

I have been offered a job in Zurich and will be provided with my Permit B. So I am sorted! But my partner (also EU citizen) wishes to come with me and I would really like him to be here as well!!!

We have been together less than 2 years and it would appear that this would not be viewed favourably enough by the Swiss Immigration Authorities to get him a Permit B as well (I believe you need to have been together longer than 5 years or be married). It is also unlikely that in the first instance he will have a job offer. Fortunately I am in a well-paid job and can support my partner financially but he would, of course, like to work and perhaps set-up his own photography business.

I have read other threads on self-employment and it looks like this could be a possibility to getting him a Permit B but he would need to have had the business going for one year in the UK before he moves and show he can make a living (which he has not done). Alternatively for the first year in Switzerland I would need to support him - this is possible? Do you think the Swiss authorities would allow this?

What do you think would be our best course of action in the short and long term?
Should he apply for a job seeker permit?
Or could he apply for an L permit?
Or should we try the B-permit and go for the self-employed route?

Job seeker permit is what he will get, it is what the authorities deem as most logical. This is three months, can be extended once by 3 months if he proves he looked for a job.

AFter that, it is either getting married (if no job yet), or be lucky. Lucky meaning kanton Zurich being lenient on the recognition of his boyfriend status. But you would need to look into that; it is not a right at all. In my kanton, 12 years of being together was not enough, even when both being old EU. Had to go the marriage route.

Just to warn you on possible prospects down the line

Don't forget that this is CH and money is what makes things move... If you earn enough and can prove you have enough for two then he would get an extension as your dependant.

There seem to be no exact rules on what it takes to get a permit for an unmarried partner and all we have are anecdotes. The canton has complete discretion and there seems to be no "magic" number of years you have to live together. If you're in a stable relationship and are prepared to support your boyfriend financially, then don't chuck the towel in just yet. Give it a go.

Hi Guys

Thank you so much for the support and helpful advice. It is so very much appreciated!!

I'm just excited to be moving acrosss to Switzerland ;-)

thanks

C.

Highly unlikely. Non relations are not recognised as dependants.

I am in the same position, my boyfriend has a job in Lausanne and I am moving at the end of the month to join him. I have worked in Switzerland before, and held a L permit, but when I move over I will be unemployed and not sure where I stand permit wise. We have been together nearly 4 years and he holds a permit B. I will be taking a trip down to the commune in Pully but just wanted a bit of a heads up on which permit I should be able to get.
Sam

Have you thought that if your partner was registered as unemployed in an EU country, he could then apply to live here as a job seeker, and have his foreign unemployment payments sent here officially?

I was offered this choice as an unemployed person here. The Swiss would support me in UK for 6 months while looking for work, controlled through the British unemployment agency.

It is possible...

I have friends(a couple) from the EU-8, and they are unmarried. He(the boyfriend) was given a work contract here in CH. She(the girlfriend) was accepted as his dependent and received an unrestricted 5yr. B permit that mirrored his.

They reside here in Zurich.