Hello all!

Have done a search or two and thank you for the many useful things I've learnt! However, I'd like to ask a couple of specific questions:

My position: My husband has been offered a postdoc position at the university (in Zurich) for a year and a half, starting Sept 2008. We intend to arrive in Zurich at the end of July. As yet he has no contract and cannot be given one (officially) until he receives his PhD certificate (which might be a while!). We do have a letter from the university confirming the job. We both have British passports.

First Query: Clarification on what is required for a permit. As far as I can tell, we don't need to do anything in advance. We arrive in Zurich head to an office (?) and give them our passports, marriage certificate, birth certificates (?), address and wait for months on end to receive the permit! Is this correct and will it be a problem that we don't have a contract?

Second Query: If we have to hand over our passports for the appliation process, do they keep them for the duration of the processing time? Does this mean that we cannot travel out of the country while we wait for our permit?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Hi, I suggest you call the Swiss Consulate or Embassy in the UK and ask them all this information.

as i know, they don't keep you passport in progress of issuing you a permit, or else you have no identity document, right? (at least, they didn't keep my passport, me, US citizen)

Good, I was a little worried about that! Thanks for your answer!