Dear EFers, have a great weekend.

I wanted to pick your brain about my upcoming application to RAV.
I am living and working in CH for more than 5,5 years, first two years with L and the remaining part with B permit, which is prolonged annually. I am Turkish by citizenship. That makes me non EU and non EFTA :-)

I lost my job and as of May the 1st, I am on garden leave till the end of August. I am getting the last payment by the end of August and then I am all by myself. Married with no kids.

RAV told me that I can apply in August, and this will most likely be an interview in German.

Here are my questions that I need your kind help with your practical experience, please ;

-My B permit will expire in early December and the cantonal immigration authority told me that my permit can be prolonged if I have long enough period of unemployment insurance. I am asked to choose one of the 4 insurance companies. But do you know how this unemployment insurance period is calculated and if I can estimate myself how long will I get paid? Any tips here ?

- Second is about the interview language; I hate to say that I did not improve my German enough during this time and its a shame. Not a valid excuse, but I have always worked with Russia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Italy and Spain, and I was on the road for almost 75%. I was fine with English in Zurich. So what do you think about the RAV meetings’ language setting? Do I have any chance to run this one with English only? How would it look?

Thanks a lot for your input in advance and have a great day ahead.

Have you been looking for work since the day you were given notice?

Meeting will be in the local language. If you do not speak it well enough, it is up to you to provide someone to translate for you.

As you have worked for the past two years, insurance period should be 400 days, unless you are 55+ in which case it will be 520 days.

Tom

thanks, yes, I have made at least 20 applications, also wrote a business plan for a final interview which I was not selected; so I was quite active and still is! thanks a lot for your input.

This, definitely. Thanks for pointing it out, again. Too many people forget this aspect and don't take along an interpreter.

Not only will a RAV officer try to assess any unemployed person's level of the local language, there's certainly no obligation that the RAV officer should be able to accommodate anyone by speaking English (although some are generous enough to help by so doing).

I suspect the 120+ days is directed at people who were coming close to the end of their insured period.... buying time to try to sort out the mess... and avoiding them going to local social insurances.

Thanks a lot, I appreciate your comment. I am not sure if I get you right; did you mean that since I am getting close to my B-permit period, they might push the process further so that they avoid me getting money from unemployment insurance ? thanks a lot, good to see the potential risks here.

No, sorry I posted the comment into the wrong thread.


They will penalise you with a waiting period if you have not made a big effort to find another job.


Even though you are on 'gardening leave' you should start looking for work - and start writing down all your applications...



But anyway, August starts today, you will sign on this month and need to really actively start looking for work. 10+ applications.


My work situation was complex last year (one main employer plus three others, all inconsistent) - and there has been a huge delay in getting any money from the unemployment insurance. Coronavirus has caused a big amount of extra work for the RAV and unemployment insurance office. I would suggest contacting them and signing on ASAP.


The insurance will need to determine whether your unemployment was directly related to COVID or not .... this was a big problem in my case as I finished one job but had other contracts 'in process' which were all delayed and put me in the situation of not knowing when the contracts might be able to begin. So part of my unemployment was 'by choice' and part was covid-related....



Now things are improving for me, I managed to find a new job to pay the bills and the contracts that I was working on are also starting to come through, albeit much more slowly than normal and with lower working hours.

Whew, swisspea, that sounds quite stressful! I'm glad you've manage to find some new employment, though, and hope things continue to improve.

yes, after 10.5 years continuous employment, I signed on end of March and have still not received any money... the problem is not RAV - they have been very straightforward to deal with...its the insurance 'kasse' that did not cope well with lockdown (no systems in place for remote working) and then the delays trying to get all the right paperwork (wrong year on forms, wrong months, wrong totals and filing the wrong forms)...

March, April, May, June and July! That's an awfully long time to have to wait. Whew! I hope they get it sorted out, soon.

Log everything. Send them copies. Again and again. I know a man who faced the kind of nonsense you describe, and he kept making each bundle of what he sent them thicker, with copies of all the info previously and correctly delivered by him last time, with the relevant figures highlighted. Eventually they got it right. Hope yours does, soon, too.

Which ALK are you with? The UNIA ALK has been accepting everything by email since at least 2007, the first time I signed up.

I brought a former work colleague to help translate. The RAV paid for me to go on a 3 month A2 German course, and I got a telc certificate having passed the exam at the end. 🥳

Then they said “you don’t need your colleague anymore”... 😉

The AlK is Syna. They are going to pay up...eventually... everything is dotted and crossed....

Ah ok, thanks for your reply and happy to see that things are looking better for you. In fact, I was quite active during garden leave. I have made almost 30 applications so far and also had 2 face to face interviews. I was in the last 2 for an opening in a start up, but it did not work. I can bring in all these during the interview in RAV and hope that they will not be very harsh on me. thanks for the input.

Update, they back paid the unemployment insurance today....3rd September. I've already been 'back at work' for a month!

Lucky we could borrow money and I'm not the main income for the household!


So that's a claim covering April, May, June and July, paid first week of September!



Ouch!!!


Should add: I haven't received any actual calculation or documentation, just a lump sum in my bank account.