How long have you waited for Visa Authorization, B-Permit, Non-Eu, Canadian?

I am asking because Ive been waiting nearly 3 months now just to get visa authorization. I understand that 2 months is required to 'search' for someone either in Switzerland or EU to fill the position. But how long should it take after that?

3 moths and a week...no worries, it will come...

Has your employer actually lodged the forms in Switzerland ?

We are Australian. Our consulate general in Sydney has on their website that it normally takes 2-4 months for entry permit to be processed for work purposes. Once we actually arrived we got our L permits issued about 6-7 weeks after that...we didn't get B but were assured we would get B's on renewal in 12 months time (and we are pretty confident that our employer will jump up and down on the immigration authorities if that doesn't happen)...

The actual proving they have looked etc happened *before* we applied...so they didn't have any trouble demonstrating that they had tried to find someone - the job had been advertised for over 6 months locally and internationally with no suitable applicants...

Hope that makes sense. Our consulate general in Sydney, Australia, were able to tell us that our application had been lodged and was 'in progress'...which was reassuring

Also, I keep repeating this on the forum, but the consulate told me that sometimes the permissions come through (they are electronically dispatched to the consulate offices in each country) without enough identifying information - so the consulate might be sitting on your approval but because they can't track you down (eg. email, phone) they will take another week or two to write and send you a letter...I emailed and gave all my contact info and a polite email asking them if there was anything else I needed to do regarding the process, they emailed me back the right form and prices etc, and the official procedures, and then a week or two later they emailed me personally as well as leaving a polite message on my answering machine to let me know that everything had come through...the day it arrived!

I waited three months and in the end went back to the commune to see what had happened. I moved half way through the process and the two communes didn't speak to each other (despite me informing both in person), and so my application had been stopped. It was only when I went and enquired into the delay that they got things moving again - so it's worth double checking to make sure there hasn't been an administration hiccup along the way.

Thank you, your response is reassuring to me.

Thank you for your response. Technically its not quite the 3 month mark yet, but very close. Maybe I am being a little impatient is all

Canadian married to EU (so "like an EU") it took 6 months.

Sorry, but as a Canadian you are last in line, do not hold your breath.

Thank you for your reassurance. My employer has lodged the forms and everything. I don't think thats the issue. However, the job was more or less 'created' for me (as in, there was no previous job posting before). The Swiss Consulate in Toronto has been very nice, however, the visa authorization is still pending. I have also contacted the Office of Migration in Aargau and they informed my employer that it would take 1-2 weeks, but that was 2 weeks ago.

I was just curious as to the lengths of times other people were waiting. But Im willing to wait as long as it takes for this work permit. The job is definitely worth it

Here is my time-line. I'm American. My prospective employer is in Aargau.

I accepted the terms of their offer and signed my copy of the contract and delivered it to them along with a copy of my criminal record and two passport photos on Nov 5, 2008. I still haven't received the contract countersigned by them.

My employers wrote me on Nov 13, 2008 to say that Migrationsamt Aargau had approved the B permit application and that it was now Bern's turn to stare at my file.

I think I should currently be applying in parallel for a work visa at the Swiss consulate in the US. Here are the appropriate links:
http://www.bfm.admin.ch/bfm/en/home/...ensablauf.html
http://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home/...nf/visusa.html

But I don't yet have the countersigned employment contract. So, can't do much.

I haven't made any travel/relocation plans yet. I don't even have a vague idea as to when I'll be starting work.

Cheers.

...and don't do anything (like quit your job, sell your house, tell your wife, etc) until you have their copy signed and in your hands...

The waiting period is nowhere near as long as it would take for a Swiss national to work in Canada, even if they are married to a Canadian. This can take up to 18 months or longer.

I don't think many people realise how priviledged they are to earn the right to live and work in Switzerland without any ties to this country. The same cannot be said of many other countries, including Canada.

Here's what I would do:

1. Request the counter-signed copy of your work contract immediately (our employer actually signed it *before* they gave it to us)...

2. Ask the employer to confirm the date they submitted the application to the Immigration Authorities (we used the 'excuse' that we needed that to be able to follow up with the embassy at our end).

3. As soon as you have these two pieces of information, contact the swiss consulate general in your home country (I did this just via email) - politely enquire - I gave my name and personal contact information and the tone of the email was to inform them that an application for work permit had been submitted by our prospetive employer in Zurich, and I was 'just checking' to ensure that we were following correct procedure.

They replied with a standard instruction on what we needed to do, the details including cost, approximate time taken etc.

I would *expect* that the advertised time to approve the work permit and issue an entry permit would be from the time it went to the Immigration authorities in Bern, rather than the time taken at the Gemeinde (local) level. Our employer had already done all the necessary background work with the Gemeinde *before* they advertised internationally, so they knew their case was solid (they had also brought in Non-Eu employees before, so they had a fair idea of the process, although it was still very stressful and complicated).

Hope that helps and is a 'balanced' view of what is going on.

I too would be extremely distressed that they have not sent the counter-signed contract to you already. It takes under a week to send ordinary airmail from Switzerland to Australia...I'd expect US even quicker...in fact, our employer used 'ordinary' air mail cost them less than 10 franks, and our express courier with signature reply (we wanted proof of send/receive)...cost more than double that!

Good luck!

From 13 November the 'official' time in my opinion would be 2-4 months to approve and issue you an entry permit... we were lucky, ours only took about 6 weeks...but as I said the background work had already been done, Australians are accepted pretty easily, the Swiss embassy in Sydney is not particularly overworked, and all our paperwork was in perfect order...Oh, and my husband was on a very tight deadline to start the new school year and the immigration authorities were possibly keen to work harder on it because teachers are highly regarded and the shortage of qualified people in this area of work is well-known...

And it finally came... after 3 months

Hang in there fellow permit seekers...

I feel your pain.

Thanks, AbFab and swisspea for your advice

I finally heard from the prospective employers in Aargau today. They said I had been cleared by Aargau and the Federal Office for Migration in Berne. And that all that remained was for me to obtain a work visa from the Swiss consulate before showing up in CH.

Whew

So, more questions for the EF experts, before I go to the consulate. (It's at the other end of the country for me. Loooong hike, but I still prefer to be there physically than trust the mail system with my papers

1. Will the visa be dated to coincide with the start date of my employment contract? Or will it be valid from the date of issue? Is it single entry? Once I make a complete application at the consulate, is the visa issuance a matter of hours?

2. As an American, I don't need a visa to enter CH as a tourist. So, if I want to enter CH before the visa is valid, can I do so as a tourist and then somehow (at a later date) get this magic "entry stamp" that I'll apparently need before I can get the actual work permit from the canton?

3. Once I'm in CH, the visa is valid and I have the requisite entry stamp, I'm assuming the canton will start processing my work permit. How long is that expected to take? I'm guessing I cannot start work before I have the permit on hand?

This is for a non-EU, B permit for an indefinite-term employment in Aargau.

Thanks!