============A permit is required before accepting any job=========


Legal base: Federal Aliens Law in German ; Federal Aliens Law in French


Gainful employment is any activity carried out as a self-employed or employed person, temporary or permanent, which is usually paid, even if no payment is received :

• for an employer which is based in Switzerland or abroad, no matter where the salary is paid
• as an apprentice, trainee, volunteer, sportsperson, social worker, au pair, artist, etc...

First employment : priority for residents

When a first employment is involved, priority will be given to Swiss nationals seeking employment or foreigners residing in Switzerland and who hold resident and work permits.
The employer is required to prove :

• that it has made every possible effort to find a worker on the Swiss and European local labour market, the latter if the application concerns a non-European national
• that it has notified the job in question to the Cantonal Employment Office by means of the Vacancy "We are searching" form and that the Office has been unable to find a candidate within a reasonable period
• that for the post in question it cannot train or have trained within a reasonable period a person available on the labour market

Conditions of employment, employment contract

Permits may only be granted if the employer is offering the foreign national the same salary and employment conditions current locally and in the industry and if the foreign national has adequate sickness insurance.

The employment contract must be enclosed with any application, whatever the period of employment.


Changing a job or place of work

Since the 1st of Jan. 2008 foreign nationals who hold an annual work permit (B Permit) must no longer obtain permission to change job, profession or canton and to change from employment to self-employment. Note this applies only to permits delivered for long-term contracts, not to short-duration or job-specific (i.e. project) permits. Legal base Art. 38 AuG / LEtr

Obtaining a visa - application and first entry into Switzerland

The prospective employer must do the application on behalf of the prospective employee. The vetting process can take up to three months. Once the authorisation to receive a work permit is delivered, foreign nationals must apply with it for the specific entry visa at the Swiss consulate / embassy of their residence. Upon entering Switzerland, the visa must be stamped by the immigration officers at the border. Failure to get a stamp may result in being required to exit and reenter Switzerland to get said stamp.

Types of permits - Permit / Duration / Requirements

note - those are general non-exhaustive examples



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• Economic interests
• Employee qualifications
• Priority for Swiss and European Union workers
• Compliance with local employment conditions
• Availability of quota
• Renewable until granting of settlement C permit after 10 years (USA + Canada 5 years)

• Important projects
• Career plan
• International joint programmes
• Sportspersons
• Up to 3 years,even a maximum of 6 years in certain cases

• Permit delivered for family dependents.
• Does not include work permission - this must be applied for separately (no quotas; indigenous priority does not apply anymore since 1.1.08)
• Renewable
• Possibility of conversion into C Permit

• Training, project, setting up IT systems, fiduciary review, extra labour in a very busy period, start-ups
• 4 consecutive months

• Management and development of a company when the presence of a manager is not required all year
• 120 days over 12 months

• Trainees in general and other foreigners managing projects (e.g. setting up an IT system, fiduciary review, expert opinion, etc.); European seconded workers for periods exceeding 90 working days
• Young people employed as au pairs aged from 18 to 30 years : Canadian, USA, Australian and New Zealand nationals (30 hrs work per week)
• Young workers qualified as health professionals and trained abroad who wish to develop their professional skills

• Cabaret dancers and other artists (Form A7)
• Maximum 8 months in a calendar year

• Third countries workers under specific circumstances
• Priority for workers on the labour market
• Compliance with employment conditions
• Employee qualifications
• Changing job, profession and canton
• Valid for 1 year
• Renewable

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SETTLEMENT PERMIT

Here endeth your quest...after a five year uninterrupted stay (EU + US + Canada) or otherwise ten (RoW).

Implications:

• Holders are not taxed at source anymore - regardless of income level.
• Holders can buy residences unrestricted to a primary residence.
• Holders can vote and be eligible on communal matters.
• In some cantons holders can apply and be enrolled in the police force.
• Moving and changing jobs is not subject to any authorisation whatsoever.
• The permit can be suspended for as much as four years if the holder wishes to move temporarily abroad for education or career purposes.
• The holder is entitled to unemployment (provided he contributed for the standard period to unemployment insurance).
• Holders can work independently without applying for authorisation.

Good effort, Shozza
The questions to this answer have already been posted btw

Could you please post the german version of permit types?

Thank you!

I think the letter designator is the same in German... or did you mean permits issued by Germany, in which case I don't have a clue.

like B permit, there are long term and short term, etc...

what are them in german, as appear in official letters?

Good information Shorrick but maybe a small caveat is required?

While the permit types and their application to various situations is clearly defined and published, the spirit of the law doesn't always match the letter and if an individual cannot see the permit type for their own situation it doesn't necessarily mean they won't get one.

For example, non EU employee of IT consulting company offered a 12 month contract received a 12 month L permit.

Thanks - I did my best, the spirit of the law is detailed on about one hundred and fifty A4 pages...

The situation you mentioned seems pretty much in accordance with the conditions for the short term L permit I bolded above - or maybe I miss your point?

You did great - it's a very useful summary.

The point was that it ain't black and white - my guy is not a trainee, not a manager, not a European seconded worker, not an au pair, and not a health worker.

But you are quite right - that is the perrmit he was issued.

What I'd like to avoid is a prospective Swiss immigrant going through the list, not seeing a match for them, and giving up so I thought a little caveat edited in to the post like "These are the permit types with typical situations but the authorities will also consider other situations that do not precisely match the examples." Too wordy, but you get the idea.

thanks for the overview

Nice guide Shorrick



Edit - I am a dumb ass - this is for Non- EU people

Quick questions:

What about working for a day or two? Like if someone is just flown over to lead a two-day training seminar? Would she have to have a permit then?

What about starting one's own company? Is that easier?

Thanks!

Rebecca

for a two-day seminar - no problem. But judging by your other posts, you need to marry your German partner to easily stay here long term

Shorrick, thanks a lot! Clairfies few points. But I still have a question. Upon getting original B permit how long are you required (if required at all) to stay in same canton with same employer? I heard something about 2 years, but am not sure at all it is so. Could you please enlighten me?

As non-EU your permit is tied to your employer and to the Kanton - you need permission to change and generally this is only given if your current role has ended early through no fault of your own. It is more unlikely such permission will be given before 12 months but there are exceptions.

Just as a little tip. If you are asking these questions it helps to say whether you are EU or not ie whether your permit is EU/EFTA or not. Given that you have said you are Russian I will assume the answer is no ie not EU.

When the permit is initially given it is finally approved federally and they hold your dossier for a period of 12 months. There is then a one month wait before the transfer to the canton is completed. At this point you can change jobs within the canton without approval federally which is a clear advantage - ie you have one less hurdle to jump over. However as soon as you change canton you are back to a federal approval AFAIK. So the answer to your question is there is not a limit but if you are instigating the move and you try and do this within the first 12 months you are likely to be rejected. If you are instigating a move within the canton after 13 months you are likely to be okay and if it is to another canton then it is up to the newly sponsoring company. Note if you are with the same employer and this employer requires you to change cantons this is never a problem.

But then this is Shorricks domain so he can confirm what I just said hey efendi!

Hi Shorrick,

My wife and I just arrived in Zürich about 6 weeks ago. She has started work with one of the big banks here and they have made all the arrangements for obtaining the permits, etc. We are both non-EU - she is American and I am Australian.

We are still awaiting the final permits - hers should be a long-term B permit and mine a resident's B permit - although we registered with the local Kantonal office shortly after we arrived.

We are currently living temporarily in Stadt Zürich, but are considering finding a place in Zug. My wife would continue to work in Zürich. Would we require permission to move to Zug as our residence, or is this only relevant if her place of employment were to change to a different canton?

Thanks.

Yes, you would indeed.

I am writing this to clarify further to Non EU B Permit holders to apply for the dependent visa for the spouse. May be we can stick it saperately.

The first thing is your spouse here on a non EU permit will have to apply for the dependent visa here in Switzerland. Then he will get a response from the Migrationsamt on what they need, a legalization or a verification. To start this process you need to get all the documents like Marraige Certificate (or even birth certificate if you have children) transalated in german from some approved translator.

Next step would be to submit the papers to the local embassy / consulate along with the letter from the Migrationamt, copy of employment contract and permit of spouse living in switzerland. A covering letter from the HR of the company would probably make it better. They will ask you for a deposit of SFR 1000 towards the cost of legalization and verification. When it is done then they send you the bill and balance amount.

After that submittion it will take anywhere between 1 to 3 months to get the marraige verified and legalized. They might visit your or your spouse's residence for the verification purpose, even the autorities who have issued the certificate etc. After they have verified or legalized your certificates they will internally send it to the Migrationsamt.

After Migrationsamt receives this they will send you a letter here which will state that your spouse and kids got an approval for dependent B Permit. You'll have to send this letter to your spouse. She will have to then send the passport and the letter to the embassy / consulate. They will stamp your passport with two months single entry visa. You can get it stamped and when you come here you can go to geminde / Krie Buro and register your self to get the B permit booklet in next 2 -6 weeks.

In the entire process you can call consulate and embassy to ask them the current status and when to follow it up next (beleive me it is like that ), sometimes not funny though).

Hope it helps. If moderators think it is not a nice place for this info then may be we can create another sticky.

More precise and valuable input is welcome (esp. from Richard and Shorrick)
Regards
T

A very interesting summary Shorrick. Thanks!

But how can I say what type of B permit I've got? For example, you can look at my permit.

I have also a question about my situation and changing my job. I'd highly appreciate it if someone could help me. You can find my question here.

Thanks,
AlefSin

I think it is not to early to start discussion about the new law (Bundesgesetz über die Ausländerinnen und Ausländer or Ausländer Gesetz) that will go into effect on 1.1.2008.

I have read the German version (no English version available) and have several questions, but first to clarify few points.
This law does not deal with EU/EFTA citizen only with Non-EU or Asylum.

Lets start with my example:
I will get (hopefully - it is in process) so called long term work B permit and my wife will get residence B permit (all applied together). According to current law and what I have seen in the posts in this forum she can't work without going through the similar process I have gone through (Non-EU process - we are US nationals).
Questions from the new law - is this going to change? Here are articles from the new law that could be interpreted that way (sorry they are in German):

Art. 33 Aufenthaltsbewilligung
1 Die Aufenthaltsbewilligung wird für Aufenthalte mit einer Dauer von mehr als einem Jahr erteilt.
2 Sie wird für einen bestimmten Aufenthaltszweck erteilt und kann mit weiteren Bedingungen verbunden werden.
3 Sie ist befristet und kann verlängert werden, wenn keine Widerrufsgründe nach Artikel 62 vorliegen.

This is more or less clear and it should apply to long term B permit (correct me if I am wrong).

The emphasis of this new law as they are advertising it is on family integration into the swiss society.
Article 44

Art. 44 Ehegatten und Kinder von Personen mit Aufenthaltsbewilligung
Ausländischen Ehegatten und ledigen Kindern unter 18 Jahren von Personen mit Aufenthaltsbewilligung kann eine Aufenthaltsbewilligung erteilt werden, wenn:
a. sie mit diesen zusammenwohnen;
b. eine bedarfsgerechte Wohnung vorhanden ist; und
c. sie nicht auf Sozialhilfe angewiesen sind.

and then Article 46 states the following

Art. 46 Erwerbstätigkeit der Ehegatten und Kinder
Ehegatten und Kinder von Schweizerinnen und Schweizern sowie von Personen miteiner Niederlassungs- oder Aufenthaltsbewilligung (Art. 42–44) können eine selbständige oder unselbständige Erwerbstätigkeit in der ganzen Schweiz ausüben.

My understanding is if I get B permit that classifies me into a category described in the Article 33 as Aufenthaltsbewilligung than my wife will get her Aufenthaltsbewilligung according to Article 44 and according to Article 46 she would be able to look for work without going through the process of proofing that she is the only one for the job ... (current Non-EU rules).

Am I just picking thinks I like to see here or?

What do other people think? I am attaching the copy of the law here for any other discussion.

Looking forward for your opinions.

Thanks