Hello everyone,

I currently hold a B permit and I am planning to back to study abroad for a year but do plan to come back to Zurich during breaks. I also have an offer to return to my current employer once i finished my degree.

My questions:
- Can I sublet my room without deregistering from my Kanton? If so, what and how does the subtenant declare their permanent address to the Migrationsamt?
- In case I have to deregister,can I still sublet my room?

Thanks in advance.
Kind regards,
Jean-Claude

You can sublet for as long as you want, that is independent of your residence or permit. But you must inform your landlord beforehand, and the rent can't be more than 10% above what you pay. Your landlord may take issue if you're no longer resident, that's at their discretion. Talk to them.

As for keeping your permit B, probably not. Talk to your Kreisbüro.

Be aware though that the job offer is probably non-binding and thus worth less than the paper it's printed on (do read the fineprint). If anything it's in the interest of your employer as it removes the need to search for someone else and train them to do the job while they still have the option to say "sorry, no job open" in a year's time.

The only piece of paper I might consider relying on (as in: perhaps build my plans on, but always with a plan B in mind) is a binding non-cancellable fixed-term contract without a test period with a predefined salary - and even then only if I was willing to assume that the employer will be still around in a year, i.e. it must have existed for multiple decades.

Thanks for your reply. The offer to return is binding as it's part of my contract to go for a sponsored education leave. I am hoping to get my C permit before I leave. Fingers crossed.

The part of the law pertaining to freezing permits:


Art. 50 Wiedereinreise nach Auslandaufenthalt zu Erwerbs- oder Ausbildungszwecken (Art. 30 Abs. 1 Bst. k AuG)
An Ausländerinnen und Ausländer, die sich vorübergehend im Auftrag des Arbeit-gebers oder zu Weiterbildungszwecken für höchstens vier Jahre im Ausland auf-gehalten haben, können Aufenthaltsbewilligungen erteilt werden, wenn:
a. die kantonale Ausländerbehörde (Art. 88 Abs. 1) vor der Ausreise die Wie-dereinreise zugesichert hat;
b. das Gesuch eines Arbeitgebers nach Artikel 18 Buchstabe b AuG vorliegt;
c. die Lohn- und Arbeitsbedingungen nach Artikel 22 AuG eingehalten wer-den;
d. die Gesuchstellerin oder der Gesuchsteller über eine bedarfsgerechte Woh-nung nach Artikel 24 AuG verfügt.
--------------------------------------------

Here are some existing threads from the forum on the topic of freezing permits:


https://www.englishforum.ch/permits-...ming-back.html



https://www.englishforum.ch/permits-...n-permits.html


https://www.englishforum.ch/leaving-...ts-frozen.html


Posters sometimes comment that only C permits can be frozen, but that isn't correct. We have examples of B permits being frozen on the board. The assessment is done on a per case basis, as a request is made to the respective Canton, and the decision is based on the facts of the case.
--------------------------------------

The part of the law pertaining to subletting:
Art. 262 (OR)
s. auch:
K. Untermiete
1 Der Mieter kann die Sache mit Zustimmung des Vermieters ganz oder teilweise untervermieten.
2 Der Vermieter kann die Zustimmung nur verweigern, wenn:
td p { margin-bottom: 0cm }p { margin-bottom: 0.25cm; line-height: 115% }
a) der Mieter sich weigert, dem Vermieter die Bedingungen der Untermiete bekanntzugeben;

b) die Bedingungen der Untermiete im Vergleich zu denjenigen des Hauptmietvertrags missbräuchlich sind;
c) dem Vermieter aus der Untermiete wesentliche Nachteile entstehen.
td p { margin-bottom: 0cm }p { margin-bottom: 0.25cm; line-height: 115% }td p { margin-bottom: 0cm }p { margin-bottom: 0.25cm; line-height: 115% }

3 Der Mieter haftet dem Vermieter dafür, dass der Untermieter die Sache nicht anders gebraucht, als es ihm selbst gestattet ist. Der Vermieter kann den Untermieter unmittelbar dazu anhalten.
td p { margin-bottom: 0cm }p { margin-bottom: 0.25cm; line-height: 115% }

td p { margin-bottom: 0cm }p { margin-bottom: 0.25cm; line-height: 115% }

• • td p { margin-bottom: 0cm }p { margin-bottom: 0.25cm; line-height: 115% }

• td p { margin-bottom: 0cm }p { margin-bottom: 0.25cm; line-height: 115% }

td p { margin-bottom: 0cm }p { margin-bottom: 0.25cm; line-height: 115% }
-----------------

There are loads of good sources online about subletting:

https://www.immoscout24.ch/de/c/d/im...schweiz?a=1489


https://www.vertragshilfe.ch/untermiete-schweiz/


https://www.comparis.ch/immobilien/r...ertrag-schweiz


https://www.homegate.ch/c/de/ratgebe...dies-zulaessig


https://www.mieterverband.ch/mv/miet...#tab-1-content <<<be sure to look at all 3 tabs



https://www.mieterverband.ch/mv/miet...ustimmung.html


https://www.mieterverband.ch/mv/miet...ntermiete.html


https://www.mieterverband.ch/mv/miet...ustimmung.html


https://www.mieterverband.ch/mv/miet...ustimmung.html


https://www.mieterverband.ch/mv/miet...etvertrag.html


An interesting legal case on subletting - 4A_570/2008

The keyphrase is "können Aufenthaltsbewilligungen erteilt werden", i.e. a (new) permit may be issued. That's different from keeping and putting on hold (freezing) an existing B, and may affect the number of acquired B-years on the path to a C permit. Thus "talk to the Kreisbüro".

Sublet is fine although I would second the advice above about the permit. Just make sure to find someone you trust for the sublet and get your landlord's approval, as that's required in most standard leases.