Hi all,
I'm new to this forum. I am non EU and so is my wife and kid. I have received a "permanent" offer from a well known company in Switzerland. HR of that company did tell me that "probably" I would be getting a B permit.
My questions is
Will my wife also get a B permit? If so, would it only be a residence permit ? Based on some previous discussion threads I understand that a B permit can "marginally or more than marginally" increase the chances of a spouse finding a job? I am just curious to know as how much it might actually help? Reason why I'm asking is because my wife is in IT and she has a good chance of finding a job in US once we get the Green Card (I'm in temporary work visa in US now) but not sure how it works in CH. Your answers will help me to make a decision on the offer.
Thanks a lot

If you get a B permit, your wife will get a B permit also (a "dependent" one). With that, she will be able to work. My husband and I are in the same situation.

If, however, you get an L, your spouse won't be able to work easily.

Thank you very much LiquidPaper. If you could, do you know how does B permit works? I'm assuming that I will initially get work+residence permit and my wife only residence / "dependent" one? Do I understand right? If so, are you saying that using a "dependent" permit she can find a job and using the job offer that she can get work authorization? Also, for my wife to get a job in this category does she have to be in a specialist/ creamy category where the employer is not able to find CH / EU national or is it not so? As you could imagine, I'm just trying to understand better. Thanks a lot for your great feedback.

I think this can be different for each applicant. I know people that came here with their spouses and have B permits that don't allow them to work. Your wife should get a permit that is tied into yours, meaning that if you lose your permit, she automatically loses hers also. If she does get the permit that allows her to work, she should be able to get a position at any company that is willing to hire her. I am actually here in the same situation as her, but as soon as we decided to let the company know we were coming over, I arranged some phone interviews and also received a job offer. Because of this, we were able to put my offer of employment in with the original visa application, which I think helped my cause.

Good luck.

I don't have appropriate law articles to back this up, but I think that if you get a B permit, your spouse automatically receives a dependent B permit that allows them to work, no additional permissions needed. Also, your spouse will be allowed to be self-employed (unlike you, the primary permit holder).

In my experience, most non-EU workers get issued an L permit. (Despite employers wishes) After two years, you can apply for a B. With an L, your wife is not entitled to work. Good Luck!

Thanks JPZ. Maybe we should start looking for a position right now for my wife in CH.

Thanks LiquidPaper. Your feedback is encouraging though from jivegirl and JPZ response I think there's lot of uncertainty too. Anyhow would like thank this forum for all the great feedback.

Thanks jivegirl.

Not true that you you get L permit if you are non-EU. Though the criteria is not official, but there must be a criteria depending on education, nationality, experience etc etc..

Rubbish.. it can't be different for each applicant. If you have B permit (dependant) you can work from the day your employer hires. They just have to declare it. No need to seek for federal and cantonal approvals which is the case for a Non-EU person seeking employment in Switzerland.

Though I'm not sure what happens to the dependant permit when the main permit is lost. Maybe they can switch the permits so that the main permit holder becomes the dependant...

If you are coming in the first half you're going to get a B permit which will allow your wife to work, if you're coming in the second half, depending on the month you can get an L permit which will make your wife's life a lot harder. Bern gives 2000 B permits every year to the newcomers, and as long as the year end approaches this quota depletes making the commune give you an L permit. But I'm talking based on your contract being local and a unlimited one. If you have a limited contract you will have an L permit 80%-90% depending on the duration (shorter or longer than 2 years).

The dependant cannot be switched, if the main person loses the permit, than the couple has to leave Switzerland. But the main person holding the permit can decide on the type of the spouse's permit, they were asking my friend if his wife wants to work or not, depending on that they gave her a B permit with permission to work.

Yes it can. If the dependant spouse is employed s/he is allowed to remain, and so is the (previously) main permit holder.

Nope. Nothing to do with unofficial criteria and everything to do with contracts and quotas.

Thanks a lot for all your posts. It provides a lot of clarity. My contract is unlimited and reporting date is June 1 - hope its not too late for the B permit quotas to have run out.
Maybe this is not the right forum to ask but what will be a good place to start looking for jobs for my wife in IT (C, C++, java programmer) in Lausanne area. Once again thanks for your support folks.

I have the impression that it also depends on your 'source country' - We are Australian and we got L permits for 2 years, then B permits.

I have met plenty of Indians who got similar - L permits for 2 years, and not all were awarded a B on the third year, some were cut loose and sent home.

I've met a few from the US who managed to get B permits straight-up but some were on limited contracts in very big multinationals - 2-3-4-5 years then return home...

I would personally plan for the worst - a lot of wives end up here not being able to work for 2 years. In Zurich a lot of them also seem to end up having children over that time, and it's a tough period, but I guess rewarding if you are planning to have children...

You won't know if it's an L or B permit for three months after you arrive...the authorities generally won't tell you...the whole B/L is a very sensitive issue for all new arrivals...so you can't wait until the permit is issued, then make up your mind later...

hi, i think the swiss system is actually quite corrupt when it comes to issuing permits to foreigners.

for example, many highly qualified people with university education and experience for the highly skilled jobs are turned down for a work/residence permit because they are non-EU.

while at the same time, low qualified(with high school) people are accepted into switzerland and given a B permit!

ie., i know of a woman in her mid 20s from croatia, with only a high school diploma, who has a croatian(non-EU) citizenship and is livign in switzerland for 4-years on a B! to make things worse, she has lived in germany for 10-years previously to switzerland but has no german citizenship...therefore i am very confused as to WHY did the swiss system give her a B-permit when she has a high school education and is working as a shoe salesman in zurich?

to make things really worse, this same woman is now working on obtaining a residence/work permit for her boyfriend from bosnia who has a high school education and is working in bosnia as a barman! and she says she expects he will receive all papers.

there are too many albanians etc, with low qualifications living in switzerland who have been granted B-permits,while highly qualified non-EU people are met with a quota system for permits and in almost all cases denied an opportunity just because they are non-EU.

I really guess there's lot of uncertainty about the type of permit we will be getting. We're Indian nationals and I have a PhD from US - don't know as how it might affect our situation but just thought will share with the forum. again, thanks for all your valuable feedback.

I suggest you buy this book I found it to be very helpful http://www.amazon.com/Living-Working...124891-3153618

You may also find some very usefull information on this website.

http://www.swissemigration.ch/index.html?lang=en