Hello Friends

I am Indian student with an Indian Passport studying in Germany(I have a German Visa). I have got an Opportunity to do an Internship in Nissan Motors. But the HR says because of my Indian Passport I can only live in Swiss for 6 months. The HR wants someone who can finish the Internship and start working there..so that amounts to more than 1 year. Can someone pls give me exact info abt how long I can stay and work in Swiss?
If any particular procedure where I can get the visa/work permit for more than 1 year.?
thank you

Understand that your German student permit has no bearing on your status in Switzerland. How long you could stay here on an internship I don't know.

There is no way you can get a Swiss resident/work permit yourself - it has to be applied for by your potential employer and they have to prove to the Swiss authorities that they can't find a Swiss/EU national to do the job.

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

So for someone who's just a student they simply won't bother to apply as they know they'd never get permission to hire you - which is also why Nissan's HR department hasn't suggested it to you because they won't bother either.

Nissan will first have to apply for a permit for your internship. At the same time you will have to apply at a Swiss consulate in the country where you are staying now.

If you have a document from your university that this internship is needed as part of your studies, then it is quite straightforward, and Nissan will not have to prove that they could not find a EU person for the internship. You will get a L permit or a students B permit with permission to work for the duration of the internship.

However, later, if they want to employ you after your 6 month internship, Nissan will have to make a NEW application for your work permit. At this point, as Medea says, they will have to prove that they have looked extensively for a Swiss or a EU person to fill the job. Usually large companies like Nissan get the people they need, but its not 100pc guaranteed, and they are reluctant to start the paperwork unless you are highly skilled.

Thank you Kosti and Medea.
It was very crisp and clear.

Yes i have a compulsory internship letter from the university.
It is called Pflichtpraktikum(in German language)
Despite that I have received an rejection stating ,

I quote "Unfortunately, I regret to advise you that after careful consideration we will not be progressing your application further.
Although the managers showed great interest in your profile they have decided to select candidates that they can develop over a long period of time within Nissan International."

So is there anything I can say to them that will rethink their decision, because I could sense that the HR was really interested in recruiting me. But only because of legalities of Swiss I have been rejected" .

Thanking you in advance

The managers make the decision, HR does the paperwork to implement that decision. Your impression that HR wants to recruit you is baseless. Move on.

You are in Germany and want to work in the automotive sector.
A rather long list of names within Germany itself comes to mind.

Non EU masters students in German Unis have the right to do an internship, and get a German work permit automatically if they can find a job in Germany after graduation. Here you have the really high barrier of a work permit.

Don't understand why you are so focussed on Nissan in CH, when you have some of the best auto companies in the world in Germany itself.

No, not really. As a non-EU national you're at the back of the hiring queue here and at the moment have nothing special to offer to move you further up that queue. Nissan have decided that although you're interesting there's too much uncertainty over whether they'd be able to hire you long term and so have opted for other, easier to employ, candidates.

As Kosti says, concentrate on the German jobs market as you stand a much better chance of finding an internship/job there being that you're studying at a German uni.

From the link I provided:

"Cadre, specialists and other qualified employees will be admitted. "Qualified employee" means, first and foremost, people with a degree from a university or institution of higher education as well as several years of professional experience."

Graduate and go out and get those several years of experience, then you will have a much better chance of getting a job here.

Hello gsud1990,

Yes, as a student you can only work here (Internship or Master Thesis) for maximum of 6 months in a year. In case you do your Internship at any Swiss company and then you intend to do your thesis too, then you will have to wait for another 6 months to start with it.

Hiring a non-EU for a permanent job here in Switzerland is another process, for which the company has to do all the procedure to get a work permit for you. There is nothing you can do about it.

As Media mentioned, getting a work permit in Germany is not a big deal if you are hired by any German company. You can easily get a Blue Card (provided you meet the salary and language criteria) as you will be having a German University degree. Later after some years of experience you can try again for a job in Switzerland. Or other option is to do your Internship and then apply for a permanent job in Switzerland later after your master thesis. Well in this case, it is again up to the employer to get you the work permit.

So wish you good luck for your studies and job hunt !!

Cheers!!

Hi gsud1990,

FYI, I feel your application not being processed is not related to the visa formalities (the reply mail also says that indirectly as they were looking for someone for longer period).
I'm an Indian national studying from German Univ who is interning here for a period of 1yr. Internship is part of my curriculum and it's compulsory.

So the limit of 6 months of working on Thesis or internship (compulsory) for a non-EU is incorrect. I have seen many other EU nationals interning/working on Thesis for 1 year period.