Hi everybody,

I was awarded a 3-year fellowship to do my PhD in Basel. I want to bring my wife with me. She is a well qualified architect, and also an illustrator and painter.
Our goal is that she can move with me, so that we stay together since the beginning, and that she can work in Switzerland.

However, I am not sure how can that be accomplished. So I have 3 questions:

1) Is it possible in any way that my wife obtain a visa to go together with me, or I *have* to go first? (I will have a student visa)

2) If she gets a residence permit, is it possible for her to obtain later a work permit or a study permit (if she decides to go on a specialization for example), already living in Switzerland?

3) If she gets only a residence permit, and not a work permit, can she still make money out of freelancing jobs or profiting from her artwork, for example?

I thank in advance anyone who can help with any or all of these questions.

All the best,

Ricardo

1) I think you will need to come first because you need to meet certain criteria before you wife can join you. They're outlined here:

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

The Swiss authorities will want to know that you earn enough to support you both while you're here.

2) I'm not sure if non-EU student dependent permits grant work rights as well as residence, but I assume they're similar to the normal permits in which case it will depend on which you get. If you get a one year B permit then although she will only have residence rights she can look for work and it shouldn't be too difficult to add that to her permit. If you get an L however, then it will be much more difficult for her to find a job because employers here have to give priority to Swiss/EU nationals when hiring.

https://www.bfm.admin.ch/bfm/en/home...zulassung.html

This should apply to non-EU dependents with B/L permits too, but the Swiss authorities have waived that for holders of a dependent B. L dependents still need approval from the Swiss authorities before they can be hired.

3) If she doesn't get work rights then no she can't earn money from any other activity. Residence means just that, live here only, but not earn money from any source.

Note that she is not allowed to freelance on either a B or L without permission from the Swiss authorities. Being self-employed effectively affects both her permit status and the various taxes/insurances that have to be paid.

https://www.ch.ch/en/becoming-self-employed/

http://www.kmu.admin.ch/kmu-gruenden...x.html?lang=en

Just to provide an update on this topic:

I submitted my visa request to the Swiss General Consulate in Sao Paulo simultaneously with the Family Reunification visa for my wife (i.e., before any of us come to Switzerland). Both visas were granted smoothly within a month, we came together to Basel and already got our B residence permits :-)

However, as advised by the consulate personnel, while possible, this process is not guaranteed to work for every family as it depends on a case-by-case analysis by the cantonal authorities.