Hello,

I originally come from India. I got married last year to a swiss girl and I have been just given last week a family regroupment visa to enter switzerland. I was told that I will need to subsequently apply for a B permit within the first 14 days of my arrival. I have a few questions regarding this.
1) Where do I need to apply for the B permit. Is it a local commune or the immigration office (lausanne in my case)
2) I also have a job waiting at the University of Geneva as a post doctorate researcher. I was told that the B permit that I will get will be for a permanent residency and is not a work permit. Do I need to apply separately for work permit? If yes, where do I need to apply for it? My employer needs my B permit before he can make an offer letter for me and seems like B permit might take 2-6 weeks to arrive. Does it mean that I cannot get the offer letter which might be useful for me to get work permit and therefore delay me from starting my job?

I tried to look for answers to these questions in the forums but did not find specific to my case (non-EU). It will be great if someone can answer these queries for me.

Thanks a lot in advance,
Chetan

Do you have an entry visa issued by the swiss embassy in your home country ?

Then you enter within the dates given by the embassy, and register at the local Gemeinde within 8 days of arrival, and they will give you the appropriate forms to fill out for your work permission/residents permit.

It's not too complicated, I'm sure your wife can handle it, since she's a local...

Thanks a lot for this prompt response. I guess it should not be very complicated with getting the B permit once I reach there. Was just curious.

BTW, does anyone know how long it might take to get the B permit and will I be able to work before the actual card arrives?

Hi,

When I came with my wife, it took about 2-3 months to get the B permit but they said I could work in the meantime. It was no problem.

Some other advice, if you and your wife were living outside the country previously, make sure you register together. I registered before my wife and that caused some complications. Also we paid tax to the canton & Gemeinde where we were first registered, not where we lived at the end of the year. We only lived there 45 days but were taxed as if we lived there the entire year. This is not typical. So if you are both just coming here I would try to live initially in a lower tax place.

Another thing, you don't have to pay Quellensteuer (tax taken out up front) but maybe you want to? Normally B permit holders have to but spouses of Swiss citizens are an exception. I'm not sure if there is any difference in amount paid in the end. Maybe others can comment on that.

Good luck,
Dan