Hello guys.
I will summarize my situation, with the hope (unfortunately I have to hope that) that somebody has had a similar one and can advise me

My boyfriend and I both are living and working in Vienna for the last 3 years, we are both non-EU citizens. He has been offered a job in Zurich, the employer applied for his work permit, and he is currently awaiting approval for his work permit. During the application phase, he was asked by the employer whether he is married, meaning that they would apply for the dependent too. With all happening quick, unfortunately, we did not make previous background check to know that that would even be possible, because we actually would have gotten married sooner. However, we can still register a partnership here in Austria, or even get married, and I will soon try to join him on a separate application within the next months.

Now, my real question is: Considering that I have finished my Masters here & been a resident of Vienna for the last couple of years, is the procedure anyhow different for my application? I mean, do I still need to go to my hometown, apply from the embassy, and obtain all the necessary documentation from there? Because honestly, that doesn't make sense for me (I don't even get to have a police clearance because I have not been living there!).

Unfortunately I was not able to find any official instruction for this situation. If somebody has information, i would greatly greatly appreciate it!!!

Thank you!

As far as I know, non-EU persons must do the paperwork inside their home country with the Swiss embassy from there, sadly. I know how it feels haha I'm a non-EU person as well (I'm from Peru) and I'm gonna apply for the visa D in June after I finish issuing all of the documents they asked me for and will wait till August for the result.

The difference between our cases though is that you've got a Master's degree and been residing in Vienna legally for years, so they might consider your case differently. Since you probably have some kind of Austrian residence permit they might let you issue all the stuff even if you're inside Switzerland already, but because of COVID it's unknown.

If you have a specific question I think the best would be to send an email directly to the cantonal immigration offices of Zurich and ask all your questions and hope they answer and if they don't you may try calling them by phone. I've done that but in my case, I sent the email to the cantonal immigration offices of Fribourg I wish you the best of luck!!

Almost. The paper work may be the same or close to it, but as you're resident in Austria you can apply for family reunification at the Swiss embassy/consulate there. Your other half will have to show they can support you financially (since you're their dependent as far as the Swiss are concerned) and that the accommodation here is big enough for both of you.

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

If he gets an L permit it could be more tricky, but still possible. You'd need to contact the cantonal migration office to find out if it's possible and if so how best to proceed.

It's no good doing a registered partnership in Austria, because the Swiss don't recognised them. The only registered partnerships they do recognise are for same sex couples.

You deal with the Swiss embassy or consulate where you live, not necessarily in your home country. Assuming you still have a permit for Austria and live there, you should deal with the Swiss embassy in Vienna.

Note that if your partner gets an L permit (most likely), you are not entitled to family reunification. They can (and most probably will) grant it but it's not automatic, and you'll also get an L, which still doesn't give you the right to work the way it would if your partner had a B or C permit or were Swiss. The L spouse permit will give you the right to live in Switzerland with your partner, but any work you take up needs to be pre-approved by the authorities, has to be employed work (I.e. not self-employed) and from what I gather has to be in your field.

I assumed they were

They also said marriage so ....

Both are allowed for same sex couples in Austria.... maybe Switzerland will catch up sometime.

Thank you! I will try to contact them ) Wish you all the best too!

Oh! I did not know that the registered partnership only applies for same sex couples! (We are not same sex). But thanks for the info!

He will (hopefully) get a B permit, not an L. His soon-to-be employer there is a major telecom provider and we have heard that usually they do pretty well on the permits department. Thanks for letting me know about the Swiss embassy!

Thank you guys for all of your information and help. It was very helpful to hear that actually I can find support in the Swiss embassy here in Austria, I haven't thought about that before. The process of going back home to Kosovo and applying from scratch is such a painful procedure, I experienced the same to come to Austria in the first place So I wanted to very much avoid that from happening again!

As far as for the registered partnership goes, I also found out from you that in Switzerland it works only for same sex couples, here in Austria they have made it possible for heterosexual couples too, since it has become very much "a thing" here. So I guess, I will get married yuhuu

One more question, if my bf gets a B permit, that would mean that upon taking the same one, I wouldn't be subject to employment approval, right? I am very much free and able to work for whomever without any restrictions?

Iirc the Swiss voted on this recently and rejected it. Or maybe it's something that will be coming up for them to vote on in a referendum at some point.

And yes, with a family reunification permit you effectively bypass the non-EU hiring criteria. That's assuming your partner gets a B permit; if it's an L then any potential employer would have to request to hire you and meet certain labour and market conditions to get permission to do so.

Thank you for your reply!
And do you know, how is the permit type determined? Does the contract duration play a role? We were told that they will apply for a B, but we don't know if its gonna be 1 year or 5 years...or nothing actually as I said on the above replies, he will be employed by a telecom company so I assume with their enormous capacity they might play a role in determining a "better" permit option..

As far as I know, permit B generally allows the person to both work and study in Switzerland under certain conditions. It has a 1-year duration but it's renewable until the person meets the conditions to apply for a permit C (Usually after five to ten years of a non-interrupted stay in Switzerland, it may vary whether you're an EU national or not).

If you don't plan on moving from Zurich to another canton it must be fine but if you do you would have to wait until you have to issue the next permit B

For non-EU's it's renewable every year unless/until you get an open B permit which would be for 5 years.

There's no easy answer. Contract duration has an impact on getting an L vs B permit. Short term contract always get an L, since that's precisely what L permits are meant for. Indeterminate length contracts can get a B. But then there are quotas for the number of B permits for every quarter year. And some cantons have a practice of always giving L permits to newcomers for one or two years before giving them a B permit. That's really not what the L permits are supposed to be for, but that's just the way it is, it seems.

Update: His contract is unlimited. Does that mean that he might automatically get a B Permit or how do they calculate that? Sorry for repetitive questions, I am somehow worried that, considering that I already have a valid residence permit here in AT (which takes hell to take), I don't want to apply for reunification, then find out that some complication will arise, and screw up my current residency here don't know if that makes sense. But I guess, I will find everything out once applying

No, because as said, there are quota limits and there are fewer B's than L's available from those quotas. While a company can ask for a B, there's no guarantee that's what will be allocated. Assume it'll be an L and then maybe have a nice surprise if it turns out to be a B.