Hi all I may go into unemployment soon as I could not find a job after my masters degree. I have worked in CH before so I am qualified for unemployment benefit. I am considering whether I should ask for unemployment benefit, fearing that it might affect my chance of getting my B-permit renewal in the future (or even upgrade to C permit). Having said that, having some financial support is always helpful as I am not sure when I could find a new job (but I remain positive).

Any thoughts?

I think this depends on the canton. In Neuchatel I was upgraded to a C permit while on RAV and was quite surprised.

Are you sure you'll get anything? RAV payments are based on what you earned in the last 6-12 months so if you've been a student then it's likely to be very little or even nothing if you didn't work part time.

I thought as long as you worked for minimum 12 months within the last 2 years? Then I think I fulfiled this criteria...

Yes, but if you haven't worked for 6 months and they base your payments on your last 6 months' salary figure then 6 months of zero is zero!

In Canton Fribourg, claiming ANY Social Benefits, even though you are
entitled to them will result in your expulsion after the expiry of your B.
Or If Applying for a C a denial.. They are getting tough in some places.
Best Luck

Social benefits is NOT Rav.....!

In that case, you can use the last 12 months.

Tom

It might indeed.

If you have a job at the time the decision on your permit is made, you should be fine. I had been on RAV benefits for a couple of months, then successfully applied for an early C permit once I got a permanent job.

It is actually the last six (of twelve) months of employment (within the 2 years prior to application) that count. Not the six (or twelve) months preceding the application itself.

I had a gap of 12 months (of voluntary unemployment) between my last job and a successful application for RAV benefits.

Wrong.

If the last twelve months gives you a higher average, then that is what is used.

Get your facts straight, please.

Tom

This is an important point as in many (European) countries unemployment insurance and social welfare are the same thing or at least managed under the same system. Not so in Switzerland.

Signing up to the RAV (and receiving Arbeitslosengeld) is something you have to pay into for a minimum of 12 months, after which you get to potentially draw a finite amount of money in return. It's not considered a big deal by most Swiss, who will have had to go on this at some stage in their lives.

Sozialhilfe is something that's actually quite hard to qualify for, as you really have to be close to broke before they'll give you a rappen and is seen as something, by Swiss, that you'd need to be pretty low on the food chain to get. It's also open ended, in that you can, and some do, receive it for decades and does not require you pay into the system.

When I went for my C permit, I wasn't asked anything about any of the insurances, but was asked to get a letter from the Sozialhilfe stating I'd received nothing from them in the previous two years. So, at least in canton Zurich, having received unemployment insurance should make no difference to your application for a B renewal or a C.

And, as he's been doing a Masters degree for I assume the last 2 years, then he'll stlll have zero income to calculate any RAV payments from - that's the point I'm trying to make to the OP. Or very little if he has been working part time as a student. He may qualify for unemployment, but I'm not sure he'd be paid enough to continue living here is what I'm getting at.

You are right. I did mean to write six or twelve. Thank you very much for spotting the typo and pointing it out.

What matters is that in order to determine the insured salary, one counts backwards from the end of employment, not from the moment of application. More precisely, the most recent six (or twelve) months of employment within the two years preceding the application are considered.

In other words, gaps between jobs have (almost) no negative effect on the insured salary if one has contributed long enough overall.

I worked for a couple of years in Switzerland before taking one year off to study Masters in Switzerland with no income during the year. So I assume I am qualified? Now is the end of the study year...

Yes, if it's only been a one year course then you should be able to claim as you have worked within the last 2 years.