Seen the haemorrhage of EU nationals asking oft-answered questions, time comes for another sticky, in the form of Q&A this time.

(applicable to EU-17 countries)

Q. Can I travel to Switzerland without a visa?
A. Yes

Q. Can I search for a job in Switzerland?
A. Yes. You will be given a 6-month residence permit (three months as a visitor, three months jobseeker's permit) allowing you to reside here while searching for jobs.

Q. Is access to the job market restricted?
A. No. A work permit will be delivered automatically upon signature of the contract.

Q. Is my permit tied to the employer??
A. No

Q. Does this mean I can change jobs freely?
A. Yes

Q. Can I work as an independent?
A. Yes. See details here.

Q. Is my significant other allowed to come with me?
A. Yes.

Q. Is my significant other allowed to work?
A. Yes, provided the union is official (marriage, civil partnership), and regardless of nationality.

Suggestions...?

The Confederation has picked up upon our wisdom and have also set up a Q&A page.

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The opinions expressed above are not necessarily the opinions of management and in fact may be the opposite of that intended in order to confuse and obfuscate trolling readers.

Hi Shorrick,

Nice summary.

The only suggestion that I have is to update the question listed above to include confirmation that both non-eu and eu spouses of eu nationals are allowed to work. Maybe something like the following?

It would have saved me from having to search through the existing threads for the exact confirmation that I was looking for.

Just an addition to above bullet points:

check out this site for more information on EU< ->NONEU<-> Marriage-PERMIT and Work -Insurance-Divirce -Consequences related questions

http://www.binational.ch/en/fragen/arbeitslos.html

Also check out the links on ths left side when you open the links above for more information.

Hi Shorrick, thanks for the summary.

Regarding the last point, is the civil partnership meant for same sex partners only? Do you know any official link that I can find information on it? I've been searching the forum but there seemed to be very limited discussion about unmarried partner visa...

maybe a stupid question, but what happens after the expiry of the six months permit? Are you allowed to renew even if you haven't found a job?

All very useful, much appreciated

No, in general you can get away also with heterosexual relationship. Your commune's admin office should be able to guide you on this.

Good question, we are not that far into the application to know whether this will be treated by the book or some "L-permit-that-is-not" solution will be found.

My wife has accepted a job in Basel and has now been told by Employer that it is unusual for a work permit to be in place more than 3 weeks prior to the Work Start Date (1st Jan 2008). We are relocating from N.W. Engkland. This would appear to affect when we can "Move-in" to or even "Secure" our accommodation, ideally mid-November. As we are going to be at my Brother's wedding in Jamaica from 4th -18th Dec the situation is potentially untenable as we are told by our removal Co. that we also need a Residency/Work permit & proof of accomodation to import our household items. We may even have to consider seeking accommodation in France (and commute daily for work/school) if the permit requirements are not so strict for existing EU residents? I would greatly appreciate your brief perspective on how to address these issues:
1. How can we get the necessary paperwork to secure accommodation, import our furniture and so complete the move to Basel in November - i.e. accelerate Roches' standard protocol?
2. As EU citizens, do we require a work/residency permit to secure accommodation in France?
Any advice, guidance and/or direction would be gratefully received as I fear that our options are reduced by every passing day.

Well you can always ask Roche to send in earlier the required application, but I guess the determinant decision would lie with the Foreigners' Office in Basel. If Roche sends a nice explanatory letter they may well send it in advance. Else you could as well move in January...



Not exactly, however your wife will require a different permit if she works in Switzerland and it will only complicate things as you will need to go through the paperwork again when you move to Switzerland.

The summary is certainly useful, but all this is a bit more complicated. There are 27 member countries in the EU. The Swiss divide them in three groups.

• Group 1, also called EU-17 consists of the 15 countries that were members prior to the May 2004 enlargement + Malta and Cyprus

Your Q&A apply perfectly to EU-17.

• Group 2 (EU-8) contains the 8 other countries that joined in 2004.

For these countries, the answer to Q3 is different. Access to the market si restristed. The quotas are still applied, for example. Some other restricions exist as well.

• Group 3 is formed by Romania and Bulgaria, that joined this year.

Their nationals are treated as those of non-EU countries.

It's all explained in detail here:
http://www.bfm.admin.ch/bfm/en/home/...weiz_-_eu.html

Thanks guys - it's like a bottomless pit but I think we've got Roche on-side now and they are powering the work permit through with a view to facilitating our move in November as planned. We will visit for a look-see in a couple of weeks and hope to make a lot more progress on the ground.

Cheers again,

Eug&Em

Hi Shorrick

My wife and I are both holders of EU passports and would like to move to Geneva , however I would like to know if I can work abroad , say in London and live in Switzerland.

In my line of work its generally project work .

Any help will be much appreciated.


Kind regards


Paul

Well, even for EU people the residence permit is conditioned by gainful employment. That can be either employed of independent.

To your situation, I guess you'd need to set yourself up either as a sole trader or as a company, which will be contracted by your UK counterpart. There is already exhaustive information on this topic in different threads on the forum.

Thanks Shorrick , just found this on the Binational Website which I guess answers my question.

Entry regulations for citizens of EU countries (Bilateral Agreement on the Freedom of Movement of Persons)

Individuals with and without gainful employment who hold an EU passport are entitled to an entry, residence and work permit provided they carry health insurance and have at their disposal the financial means to take care of their living expenses. As far as choosing a job and place of residence are concerned, these individuals are equal to Swiss citizens.
s a consequence of the Agreement on the Freedom of Movement binational couples have a right of living together either in Switzerland or in any given EU country] without having to marry for reasons pertaining to rights of residence.

Based on the agreement on subsequent immigration of family dependents nationals of EU countries may bring spouses, children and parents into Switzerland as long as they are able and willing to pay for their living expenses. authorisation. Cantonal Authorities are vested with the power to grant pertinent residence permits.
As of January 1, 2005 the homepage of the Swiss Federal Office for Migration, BFM, will provide information on the categories of residence permits available to EU citizens and on how to obtain such permits:
www.bfm.admin.ch.

So what about the "new-EU" citizens? Sarik wrote that they are in the "second group", after "old-EU", Cyprus and Malta. I did not find any confirmation of this on the BFM webpage. I found something like that:

"In the winter session of 2004, Parliament approved the protocol together with the revision of the accompanying measures to prevent salary and social dumping. The referendum against the expansion of the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons was rejected by the Swiss electorate on 25th September 2005. The Agreement entered into force on 1st April 2006." (http://www.tiny.cc/K5nkY)

Does it mean that from 01/04/06 "new-eu" (with exception of Bulgaria and Romania...:|) are treated as "old-eu"?

No, they are treated as non-EU with access to separate quota numbers.

Are they ? (or are we ?) The answer to Mangiapoco's question is indeed "No", but ...

I believe you receive an EU/EFTA permit with most of the benefits, only the procedure is more complicated. You are not automatically entitled to your permit, it still needs to be approved.

Basically it should be similar to the situation with "old-eu" when the protocol was first introduced.

It is similar, except the differences re duration of stay, employer change and dedicated quota.

Thanks a lot for those very useful information.

But I've got a question on whether EU holder (EU-17) can apply for working permit-B if the working contract is only 50% workload?

Or i have to find at least two 50% job to make it 100% in order to gain a lawful permit-B to live in Zurich?

Thanks!