Hi all!

Just hoping for some information about the possibility of obtaining a) a residence permit and b) a work permit, as the non-EU spouse of a non-EU PhD student in Bern. I have previously held an L permit and worked in Switzerland for 2 years, but at the moment I have no permit.
I am wondering if it is better to now 'piggyback' on my fiance's B permit to get residence, and hopfully a job, or to try and find an employer first, and apply for all the permits independently.

I have searched the forum for some answers, but most of the threads seem to be from 2007, so I am hoping to get some more recent (and hopefully positive!) information, and especially tips from anyone who has been in a similar situation.

Cheers!

If you aren't married then this is a non starter.

We should be by the time I need to apply...

Good luck to you & do keep us posted. I have a similar situation too

Fixed that for you .

The outcome will depend on the nature of your spouse's permit - if a student then you may not have any right to work but if the Phd involves employment then you probably will.

Thanks for that!

Yep, he is currently working and studying, so hopefully that's good news for me!

resurrecting this old post... but would be helpful to know what happened to this? What type of permit you got and how easy/difficult was to get it..

Depends on what you're trying to find out. If you're talking about your spouse's permit, that'll depend on what type of contract they have and whether the quota limit for non-EU B permits has been reached. If it has, then they'd get an L permit instead and so would you as their dependent, but it wouldn't allow you to work.

If you're talking about a student permit, they're usually B permits so you would also get a B permit.

Just a word of caution -

I am on a non-EU student B permit (as a postdoc) with a non-EU spouse. When it came to applying for the family reunification permit for my husband the authorities made it very clear that it was not guaranteed that my husband would get a permit. They told me that the chances were high, but that as a student, I "did not have the right to family reunification".

In the end he got a B permit with full work privileges (so better than my own permit) so it all worked out nicely, but whatever you do, don't take it for granted that a permit will be issued, or what type of permit it will be.

Non-EU B permit holders don't have the right to family reunification under the FR programme, it's down to the individual cantons to decide if you can or not.

You are holding a residence permit (permit B)

Holders of a residence permit (permit B) are not entitled to bring family members to Switzerland under the family reunification programme. However, the cantonal migration authorities may make an exception if the third-country nationals holding the residence permit satisfy the following requirements:


The following requirements must be met in order for family reunification to take place:

• Your apartment must be large enough – by Swiss standards – to accommodate the entire family.
• If you are self-employed or not employed: you must prove that you have adequate financial resources to cover the living expenses of family members.

https://www.ch.ch/en/family-reunification

"Your apartment must be large enough – by Swiss standards – to accommodate the entire family". Does anyone know what it means?

Yes, it means you can't cram 5 people into a 1 bed apartment, or even a 2 bed apartment. But it also depends on whether those people are all adults or some children and if children what their ages are. So the answer is really no, because it depends on what the canton authorities say.

Just use common sense. If it's just you and the fiance/spouse then a studio might just be acceptable, but I'd look for a 1 bed place for preference. If 2 children under 5 as well then a 2 bed place would probably be okay, but think of moving up to a 3 bed later on when they need separate rooms.

I know many non EU people including myself who came here on L permit and also brought spouse under family reunification. In most of the cases main permit holder came Switzerland first and spouse came later because process takes more time. But it is also possible to come together as well. Process may be little different in different cantons but I never heard from anyone that main work permit holder was denied to bring spouse.

Just for clarification: is it correct that 1 bed means 1,5 pieces apartment?

Normally it is like this:

Number of rooms - 1 = Number of bedrooms

for e.g.
1 or 1.5 room = studio
2 or 2.5 room = 1 bedroom
3 or 3.5 room = 2 bedroom

The commonly used "rule" for housing is that the number of rooms + 1 has to be equal or greater to the number of people.

This does mean that a studio appartment (=1 or 1.5 room) should be acceptable for 2 people.

Thank you. Is it possible to find a studio which costs 1000 per month?

Yes, in ZH

I guess that apartment in Lausanne should be cheaper.

Housing in the Lausanne area is very competitive. A quick search on www.homegate.ch shows there are only 11 flats available right now with a price of 1,000 or less. If you go a bit further out you may have more luck, or if you opt to come first and just rent a room it would also save. Try doing a few searches yourself. You can even search in English, which is pretty handy.