Hello everyone
I was reading on the forum about how to get the C permit.
I am a non-EU citizen living in Switzerland since October 2000.
From 2000 to 2006, I studied in Lausanne at EPFL and so I had a student B permit.
From April 2006 to April 2010, I worked in a research center and my job position was a PhD student ("Doktorand"). From the authorities point-of-view, I was holding a limited-time contract since it was written on my B permit: "Mit Erwerbstätigkeit" and not "Ausbildung mit Erwerbstätigkeit".
In April 2010, I got the PhD diploma from ETHZ and then I started working in Zurich as a consultant. For this new job, I could get an "independent" B permit since I have an unlimited-time contract.
Regarding the Federal Aliens law (
Art. 34 AuG / LEtr), the years of study count for the C permit, if after them, we got 2 years of an "independent" B permit.
My question is: is it right that I will be able to ask the "anticipated" C permit from April 2012?
I ask you this question because when I sent a request to the migrationsamt of Zurich, they answered to me that I will be eligible for the C permit only from 2020

The reason is that they did not take into account neither the study years from 2000 to 2006 nor the PhD contract from 2006 to 2011. For the latter, they see it like a limited-time working contract rather as studies.
Any answers will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Regards
Dali